Taliban Leaders Declare Women ‘Free’ but Rights Activists Not Impressed

Afghanistan’s terrorist Taliban leaders issued a decree outlining the rights of women under the regime, but getting an education or finding a job was not included.

However, women’s rights activists there were not impressed and dismissed the proclamation as Taliban posturing for the international community and not the women, CBS News reported Monday.

The decree that was attributed to the Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada reportedly banned child marriage and said “no one can force a woman to marry by coercion or pressure.”

A photo of what appeared to be the “Special Decree” was posted Friday:

Special Decree Issued by Amir al-Momenin on Women's Rights https://t.co/OEZYqiCE7R pic.twitter.com/Y4xdq0gIQa

— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) December 3, 2021

The CBS report continued:

Child marriage and forced marriages are common across much of rural Afghanistan and have been for centuries — even under the U.S.-backed government that held sway for 20 years until the Taliban’s takeover in the summer. Girls are often given away as brides to resolve disputes and settle debts between rival tribes and families. Low-income families will commonly marry their young girls to much older men in exchange for a large payment or dowry.

The Taliban’s recent declaration said, “A woman is not a property, but a noble and free human being; no one can give her to anyone in exchange for peace deal and or to end animosity.”

Meanwhile, women activists urged the international community to pressure the Islamic Emirate to maintain the rights of women, TOLO News reported.

“Dozens of women gathered on Sunday in Kabul to express their dissatisfaction with the decree issued by the Islamic Emirate’s supreme leader regarding Afghan women, saying more inclusivity is needed,” the outlet said.

Video footage showed the women holding signs with phrases such as, “I don’t want any more slogans I want my right to work and be educated” written on them:

In addition, the “Taliban must allow” shelters and other institutions for Afghan women to be reopened to guard them from “further violence,” a human rights watchdog stated Monday, according to TOLO News.

Amnesty International voiced concern about the situation regarding Afghan women, the outlet continued:

“To protect women and girls from further violence, the Taliban must allow and support the reopening of shelters and the restoration of other protective services for survivors, reinstate the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and ensure that service providers can work freely and without fear of retaliation,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, as quoted in the statement.

“Women and girl survivors of gender-based violence have essentially been abandoned in Afghanistan. Their network of support has been dismantled, and their places of refuge have all but disappeared,” she added. “It defies belief that the Taliban threw open prison doors across the country, with no thought of the risks that convicted perpetrators pose to the women and girls they victimized, and to those who worked on survivors’ behalf.”

The organization also urged the international community to supply long-term funding to protect the women.