‘I Was A Policewoman, Now I Beg In The Street’, Rukhshana: Life For Afghan Women One Year After The Taliban Took Power
14
August 2022
• ‘I Was A Policewoman, Now I Beg In The Street’, Rukhshana:
Life For Afghan Women One Year After The Taliban Took Power
• U.S. Announces $30M to Empower Afghan Women
• Azerbaijani Female Gymnast Wins Silver Medal At V
Islamic Solidarity Games
• "I Want £1,000 A Month... Or Pictures Will Be
Posted": Twisted Conman, Threatening To Post Sexual Images Of Them Online
• A 'Good Girl' and a Rebel, Two Female Arab Lawmakers
Are Unlikely to Make It Back Into the Knesset
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/afghan-women-taliban-afghanistan/d/127708
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‘I Was A Policewoman, Now I Beg In The Street’, Rukhshana:
Life For Afghan Women One Year After The Taliban Took Power
An Afghan woman walks
through the old market while a Taliban fighter stands guard, in central Kabul
on May 3, 2022. Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
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Zahra Joya
14 Aug 2022
Students, mothers, widows, workers and artists explain
how their world has altered under ‘gender apartheid’
One year ago, the Taliban swept through Afghanistan, taking
control of the country amid the chaos of the US and UK troop withdrawal.
Now women’s lives across the country have been
fundamentally changed, their rights curtailed and freedoms restricted.
Campaigners have called the Taliban’s orders to deny women education, remove
them from their jobs and force them back under the veil a “gender apartheid”.
Over the past month, Rukhshana Media has talked to
women across the country about their experiences of living under Taliban rule.
I was walking home alone when I turned down a deserted
alley and found two Taliban with guns over their shoulders. They shouted I was
a prostitute because I was unveiled, and demanded to know why I wasn’t wearing
the hijab. They pointed their guns in my face, and one of them had his finger
on the trigger. I lowered my head and said: “It won’t happen again.” When I got
home, I sat and cried for an hour. I said to myself: this is a warning for what
is coming next. Since then, I have fallen into a deep depression. I can’t bear
to look at all my colourful clothes in my closet as they remind me of
everything I have lost.
After the hijab order was announced, I was caught by
Taliban fighters. They asked why I was not wearing the hijab, and although I
have no intention of following their orders, I apologised and thought they
would let me go. But they visited my home and told my family the next time I
was caught in public uncovered I would be arrested. Since then, my father has
rarely allowed me or my sisters to leave the house, and says we can’t go to
university. Even my brothers now know what I wear and where I go at all times.
In June, I was travelling with my brother and we were
stopped at a checkpoint by Taliban fighters. Firstly, they questioned us
separately to understand if we were related to each other, then they asked for
our national ID cards. When my brother said we didn’t carry our ID cards with
us, they got angry and one of them hit him with a rifle and was about to fire.
We were made to sit there for two hours, and then we had to call our families
to bring ID cards so we could return home. Since then, I do not dare to leave
the house.
Even though it is not mandatory we are being forced to
wear the black hijab to be allowed to enter university. Once we’re inside,
women are under constant surveillance. There are hijab notices on the doors and
walls. I never imagined that one day, in Bamyan, all female students would be
forced to live like this. I can’t believe what life is turning into here.
My friend and I were chatting on the bus on the way to
work in the Hazara Shia neighbourhood of west Kabul when suddenly the world
around us exploded. We found ourselves in the middle of carnage. Since the
Taliban took control, security has deteriorated and our bus had been bombed by
IS militants. We later found out that many people were killed. I was wounded in
my leg and chest, and my friend in her right leg. When the bomb went off,
everything changed for me. After the Taliban took over, things were hard but I
continued my work and was determined to live bravely. Now, after the attack, I
live in constant fear. The pain of my injuries has been excruciating. I’ve gone
through five surgeries and can’t go to the bathroom or dress myself without
help. But the psychological wounds are also deep. I have to pass the place
where the bomb exploded to get to my doctor appointments, and every time I feel
the vehicle shaking, the heat of the explosion and the sound of people
screaming. It keeps repeating and repeating in front of my eyes when I try to
sleep.
Life has not been easy for a long time. I lost my
husband in an airstrike five years ago, and before the Taliban took power I
worked and sold street food to support my children. Now I am not allowed to
work. The Taliban has given me and other widows a card to claim a sack of
wheat, three litres of cooking oil and 1,000 Afghani [£9] every three months,
but this is not enough to keep our family going. I live with three other
widowed women and their children, but our rent is 4,0000 Afghani a month and we
can’t pay it. If we can’t work, I’m worried we will starve.
Until the Taliban took power, I worked as a police
officer. My husband had died but I could support my two daughters on my police
salary, I could give them everything they needed. Now I have lost my job, and
the Taliban have been hunting down women who worked in the security services. I
am still terrified they will find me. For the past seven months, I have been
reduced to begging on the streets to feed my girls. I sit all day on the street
under a burqa so that nobody recognises me and informs on me. I don’t recognise
who I have become. One day, two boys threw some coins at me, and one said I was
a prostitute. I went home with only enough to buy two loaves of bread for my
children, and cried all night.
When I was told I wasn’t allowed to go to school, I
was depressed and had no motivation to work and study at home. But I kept
telling myself I had to keep going for a better future and for my dreams. I
need to find ways to keep learning despite the ban on girls going to school. So
now every day I study English at home so I can apply for a scholarship, and
maybe some day study computer science abroad. I am still trying to achieve
something for myself.
I should be in grade 12 but I’m not allowed to go to
school. After the Taliban took power, I decided to turn challenge into
opportunity, so now I buy raw materials like beads and fabric from the market
and sell them on to women who make traditional clothing in their homes. I’ve
made some money, and now I want to use this to start a factory of my own if the
situation improves. I’m proud I can now help to support my family.
Female journalists in Afghanistan are at increased
risk of violence and extremist attacks as conflict between the government and
Taliban worsens.
I have invested more than half my life working as an
artist, making traditional wood engravings and designs. I was the only female
engraver in my region and have created over 1,000 artworks. Since the Taliban
came to power, making art is a dangerous job. Being a woman and an artist is
even more dangerous. The Taliban said I can continue with my engravings, but I
know it is impossible. I am self-censoring because I don’t feel safe. I used to
engrave faces and figures but now I mainly print verses of the holy Qur’an on
wood. I have to find another way to survive and to forget art. I used to spend
every day in my studio but now I just go back every one or two months to dust
off my engravings and tools. I’ve auctioned off most of my equipment, and my
friends are advising me to leave Afghanistan. My Iranian customers tell me to
move to Iran, where my work will be valued. But I tell them: I will stay in
Afghanistan, some day things might change.
In the darkest moments and when there is no hope, we
tried to follow a path that can never be closed, and it is the path of books. I
come from a family of poets and writers, and I have a master’s degree. Two
months into the Taliban rule in Herat, myself and four friends decided to form
a book club. The first book we chose was a Persian translation of The Clown, a
1963 novel by the German writer Heinrich Böll. We hold our meetings in secret,
but soon others heard about what we were doing. Now we have over 40 members
from all walks of life, and hold discussions on Telegram. Some of us try to
meet every two weeks to discuss and critique world literature. We choose books
that are available to us in Afghanistan but also say something wider about the
world, many about the hardships women have had to ensure through history – what
they did to make those days bearable. We also read books written by people who
lived through the second world war, as we can all identify with those
survivors. It is a struggle to keep the
Source: The Guardian
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U.S. Announces $30M to Empower Afghan Women
'Technology has opened a lot
of doors for me, and I want to give girls and women the same tools that I had,'
says Roya Mahboob [Photo courtesy of Gabriela Maj]
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By Arif Ahmadi
14 Aug 2022
KABUL, Afghanistan – The United States on a press
release Friday announced a $30 million commitment to support gender equality
and women’s empowerment in Afghanistan, amid increasing restrictions and
ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country.
The announcement, through the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), came days after at least 71 economists and
experts – including Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz – urged Washington to
release Afghanistan’s central bank assets.
“Enabling Essential Services for Afghan Women and
Girls” activity will increase Afghan women and girls’ access to social
protection services; provide resources and support for women-led civil society
organizations working to advance women’s rights in Afghanistan; and increase
women’s economic empowerment through skills and business development training
and entrepreneurship support.
Since the takeover last August, the Taliban have
“sharply restricted” the most fundamental human rights for Afghan women and
girls, where many women are deprived of schooling and work – except in certain
professions, such as health.
“In most provinces, girls have not been permitted to
attend school beyond the sixth grade, and women attending university face
significant harassment,” the US press release stated. “Violence against women
and girls overall has increased.”
“Female human rights defenders and journalists are
targeted and threatened by the Taliban for speaking up for their freedoms, and
the Taliban has increasingly restricted the space for women-led civil society
organizations to operate freely and independently.”
United States Government reaffirmed its commitment to
stand with Afghan women and girls, saying the USAID funding will provide direct
support for Afghan women’s civil society organizations, which have been the
backbone of Afghanistan’s decades-long movement for women’s rights.
“As women and girls face rising rates of gender-based
violence in Afghanistan, this funding for UN Women will also provide women and
girl survivors of violence with access to free and safe accommodation, legal
aid and healthcare, psycho-social support, counseling, and vocational
training,” the release wrote.
“The funding will also help UN Women respond to the
urgent and immediate livelihoods needs of Afghan women, and help them build
income security through private sector partnerships that will create job
opportunities and help Afghan women launch or rebuild their micro, small or
medium businesses,” the statement further elaborated.
Meanwhile, a sum of $80 million is considered to the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and another $40 million
of aid is allocated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“Today the United States… announced an $80 million commitment
to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to improve food
security and nutrition for Afghans experiencing severe food insecurity,
including women, women-headed households, and smallholder farmers and herders,”
the USAID’s statement reads.
Earlier the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and
Livestock (MAIL) said the recent floods have severely affected the farmers and
gardeners in Afghanistan, seeking support from the international community to
tackle the ongoing crisis.
“As much as aid is provided, it is effective for the
Afghan agriculture sector,” said Musbahuddin Mustayeen, a spokesman for the
MAIL. “The agriculture lands and canals have been affected, and the livestock
have been lost.”
The ongoing political crisis since the takeover last
August has “hit hard” private sectors in Afghanistan, where businesses were
halted and put to uncertainty.
Source: khaama Press
https://www.khaama.com/u-s-announces-30m-to-empower-afghan-women/
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Azerbaijani Female Gymnast Wins Silver Medal At V
Islamic Solidarity Games
Sadraddin Aghjayev
14 August 2022
KONYA, Turkiye, August 14. Azerbaijani female gymnast
Madina Mustafayeva won a silver medal in aerobic gymnastics competitions at the
V Islamic Solidarity Games, Trend reports.
A member of the Azerbaijani aerobic gymnastics team
Madina Mustafayeva, ranked second in the women's individual program.
The V Islamic Solidarity Games are taking place in
Konya, Türkiye, from August 9 through August 18.
In total, athletes from 56 countries of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation are participating in the games. The
competitions are held at 14 venues in Konya. According to the results of the
competitions, 355 medals will be awarded to athletes.
Source: En.Trend
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/society/3632706.html
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"I Want £1,000 A Month... Or Pictures Will Be
Posted": Twisted Conman, Threatening To Post Sexual Images Of Them Online
By Rachel Smith
14 AUG 2022
Two women have described how they were 'trapped by
shame' after being taken in by a conman who led them to believe he would marry
them. Zeashan Mahmood faked the possibility of a future before blackmailing
them into handing over more than £80,000.
Married Mahmood, 30, from Preston, coerced the women
into sending sexual images of themselves, which he said he would send to their
family and friends if they did not pay up. He then posted them onto a porn
website, with degrading captions and encouraged other users to share them
around. “I started to believe the names he called me”, one victim said.
“It got so bad I would walk past people in the street
and feel they knew what he had said about me.” The woman, who lives locally,
said the threats left her feeling so scared she started to sleep with CCTV on.
“I felt trapped, with no way out”, she said. “I couldn’t tell anyone because it
was so shameful.”
The other victim, who lives in New York, said she was
in survival mode and relapsed into self-harm. The twisted blackmailer made rape
threats to her and her sisters and left her feeling that suicide was her only
option, reports LancsLive.
But Mahmood told her: “Killing yourself isn’t an
option. You do that and I’m coming for your family. I want £1,000 a month from
you. If you don’t do that, pictures will be posted.”
Sentencing Mahmood to seven years and three months in
prison, Judge Heather Lloyd said Mahmood targeted the women, who were of Muslim
heritage, knowing that his threats would bring shame upon them. One victim was
especially vulnerable as she has autism and dyspraxia. Over five years she
handed over more than £65,000 to Mahmood after he told her he had video footage
of her kissing another man at a cinema.
At one stage he set up fake social media profiles and
posed as his own twin brother to tell her Zeashan had died from cancer.
However, he continued to extort money from the vulnerable young woman using
fake social media accounts - leaving her penniless and unable to buy basic
essentials.
The woman later told police she initially thought
Mahmood was "a kind person who accepted her flaws" but said he had
two sides to him and the other side was "mean and nasty". She met
with her abuser at hotels in Manchester where they would have sex.
She said this was the only time he showed her he
wanted to be with her, but thought this was just him "being a man".
As far as she was concerned, she wanted to marry him and they would effectively
be married if she slept with him, she said.
Source: Manchester Evening News
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A 'Good Girl' and a Rebel, Two Female Arab Lawmakers
Are Unlikely to Make It Back Into the Knesset
Hanin Majadli
Aug 13, 2022
Take Ibtisam Mara’ana and Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, for
instance – Arab female Knesset members from left-wing Zionist parties, the
Labor Party and Meretz, respectively. They followed opposite paths in their
short political careers, but the outcome is expected to be similar: You’re out.
Source: Haaretz
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/afghan-women-taliban-afghanistan/d/127708