Hundreds of Afghan women fully covered from head to toe marched in Kabul holding the Taliban white-and-black flags on Saturday in a show of support for the hardline Islamist group. They were seen in photographs holding printed banners and were being escorted by Taliban soldiers carrying rifles and machine guns. Saturday’s demonstration came after several protests in Kabul and other cities in Afghanistan earlier in the week called for women’s participation in the government and called for their right to education and jobs. Taliban fighters have tried to scuttle such demonstrations, often led by women, by firing into the air to disperse protesters and effectively banned such shows of defiance.
“Women who left Afghanistan cannot represent us,” one of the pro-Taliban banners read. “We are satisfied with attitude and behaviour of Mujahideens (Taliban),” read another.
Daud Haqqani, director of foreign relations at the education ministry, said the protest was organised by the women, who asked and been granted permission to demonstrate. The Taliban curtailed women’s rights in Afghanistan during their last regime from 1996 to 2001, but they have claimed that this time they will allow them to attend university as long as classes are segregated by sex and they wear an abaya robe and niqab. Women may work “in accordance with the principles of Islam”, the Taliban have decreed without giving out details about what they mean.
