Written by Melissa Eddy and Victor J. Blue
Hundreds of women, many of whom are wearing full-length dresses, their faces covered with black veils, held up signs in support of the Taliban and its strict interpretation at a university auditorium in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. Many of them were in English. Islam, which includes separate education for men and women.
The Taliban said the demonstration at the Shaheed Rabbani Education University, which was followed last week by anti-Taliban protests by Afghan women demanding equal rights, was organized by women’s university lecturers and students.
Ever since the United States and its allies left Kabul on August 30, leaving Afghanistan under Taliban control, the country’s women have been at the forefront of protests demanding that their rights continue to be respected.
Taliban leaders have responded to those protests with violence, beating up participants, including women, and insisting that anyone taking to the streets for public demonstrations must first be cleared from their caretaker government. .
The education ministry of the caretaker Taliban government said the women in the pro-Islam protest on Saturday had sought and obtained permission to hold the event.
“Unlike other demonstrations in Kabul, this is the second women’s protest that was non-violent and journalists were allowed to cover the protest freely,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The women also welcomed the plan for separate classes for boys and girls in all universities and institutions and promised that they would work to strengthen the Islamic emirate in Afghanistan,” the ministry said.
But the presence of Taliban fighters, the efficiency with which images and official statements of the incident were circulated and its timing – on 11 September – indicate that the demonstration was not sanctioned by the Taliban but was likely organized by it.
Standing on a stage decorated with large white flags, some women who took part in Saturday’s demonstration criticized recent anti-Taliban protests, insisting that women should go along with the Taliban’s strict policy that women Covers the whole body.
One woman said anti-Taliban protesters joined last week’s march just to become famous in the West.
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