In defiance of a crackdown on dissent, a group of Afghan women demonstrated in Kabul on Saturday. They wanted to urge other countries not to formally acknowledge the Taliban government before a UN session the next week.
Since the Taliban retook power in 2021, demonstrators who opposed encroaching restrictions on women’s rights have been physically assaulted or imprisoned. Security forces have also dismissed into the air in order in order to evacuate some rallies.
The occasional gatherings of a handful of women have nevertheless persisted.
Before a summit in Doha that will allegedly debate a “durable way forward” for the nation, some 25 women walked through a residential neighbourhood in the Afghan capital on Saturday.
During the brief march, which went no more than ten minutes and ended without a run-in with the police, the women chanted “Recognition of Taliban — violation of women’s right”.
Some chanted “Afghan people, hostages of Taliban” and “We will fight, we will die, we will take our rights.”
Only Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia officially recognised the former Taliban government, which governed from 1996 to 2001.
Amina Mohammed, the UN’s deputy secretary-general, said last week that envoys will discuss “baby steps” towards recognition at the Doha meeting beginning on Monday.
“There are some who believe this can never happen. There are others that say, well, it has to happen,” Mohammed said in a talk at Princeton University. “The Taliban clearly want recognition… and that’s the leverage we have.”
The “de facto authorities” of Afghanistan have not received an invitation to the Doha summit, according to the UN. “Recognition is not an issue,” a spokesman stated on Friday. Shamail Tawana Nasiri, a 26-year-old protester, told AFP that any talk of official acknowledgment “will give the Taliban motivation.” “For those of us who are oppressed, and our rights taken away, it increases our concerns,” she added.
At the meeting on Monday, the UN will also give an update on aid efforts, which have been hindered by a Taliban government decree prohibiting Afghan women from collaborating for the international organisation.
