Kabul– On International Women’s Day, the Taliban released a statement asserting that Afghan women live in security with their rights protected, even as the United Nations condemned ongoing restrictions on their employment and education.
Since seizing control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban has barred education for women and girls beyond the sixth grade, limited most employment opportunities, and restricted access to many public spaces. Last August, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued laws that further curtailed women’s freedoms, including bans on women’s voices and uncovered faces outside the home.
The Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, posted a statement on his official X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday. While he did not directly reference International Women’s Day, he claimed that the dignity, honor, and legal rights of women remain a priority for the Islamic Emirate, the Taliban’s self-designation as Afghanistan’s ruling government.
“In accordance with Islamic law and the culture and traditions of Afghan society, the fundamental rights of Afghan women have been secured. However, it should not be forgotten that the rights of Afghan women are being assessed within an Islamic and Afghan society, which differs from Western societies,” Mujahid said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations reiterated its call for the Taliban to lift the bans on women’s education and employment. Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN Mission in Afghanistan, stated, “The erasure of women and girls from public life cannot be ignored. We remain committed to investing in their resilience and leadership, as they are key to Afghanistan’s future.”
Alison Davidian, the UN’s special representative for women in Afghanistan, emphasized the global community’s responsibility to act. “The world cannot accept a future for Afghan women that would never be tolerated elsewhere. Our response to this erasure is a test of our commitment to women and girls everywhere. We must stand with Afghan women as if our own lives depend on it—because they do,” she said.
The Taliban remains isolated from the West and has not gained international recognition as Afghanistan’s official government, primarily due to its severe restrictions on women and girls. Reports indicate that the number of women working in the media sector has drastically declined. The Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization reported that only 893 women are currently employed in media, a stark decrease from the 2,756 who were working before 2021, according to Reporters Without Borders. Additionally, nine provinces reportedly have no women working in media at all.
The declining presence of female journalists, driven by the Taliban’s discriminatory policies, represents what rights organizations call a “concerted effort” to erase women from Afghanistan’s media landscape.
On Friday, UNESCO hosted a high-level conference in Paris focused on the plight of Afghan women and girls. Participants included Hamida Aman, founder of the women-only radio station Radio Begum; Fawzia Koofi, a parliamentarian from the former Western-backed Afghan government; and Richard Bennett, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, who has been barred from entering the country.
In an apparent reaction to the event, Saif Ul-Islam Khyber, spokesman for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, criticized international conferences on women’s rights. “Recent international conferences held under the name of women’s rights expose the hypocrisy of certain organizations and European Union foundations,” he claimed.
Despite the Taliban’s insistence that Afghan women’s rights are safeguarded, human rights organizations and global bodies continue to express alarm over their systematic exclusion from education, employment, and public life.
