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In early July, when Taliban fighters seized territory from government forces across Afghanistan, some of them walked into the office of Azizi Bank in Kandahar and ordered the 9 women working there to leave.
The gunmen escorted them home and told them not to return to work. Instead, according to the three women involved in the case and the bank manager, they explained that male relatives could replace them.
“It’s really weird not to be allowed to work, but it’s like that now,” Noor Khatera, a 43-year-old woman who works in the bank account department of Azizi, told Reuters.
“I taught myself English and even learned how to operate a computer, but now I will have to find a place where I can work with more women.”
This incident is an early sign that some of the rights won by Afghan women may be reversed in the 20 years since the overthrow of the hardline movement.
The Taliban have been steadily occupying the country since the U.S. troops began to withdraw in May and entered the capital on Sunday.
During the reign in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, women could not work and girls were not allowed to go to school. If women wanted to venture out of the house, they had to cover their faces and be accompanied by male relatives.
Under the extremely strict interpretation of the Sharia law by the Taliban religious police, women who violate the regulations are sometimes humiliated and publicly beaten.
In recent years, in negotiations for a political settlement that has so far been inconclusive, Taliban leaders have assured the West that women will enjoy equal rights under the “Islamic system”, including the ability to work and receive education.
‘Someone please stop this’
According to the two female cashiers who witnessed the scene, a similar scene was staged in Bank Milli, a branch of Herat, two days after the Azizi Bank incident.
Three Taliban fighters with guns entered the branch and warned female employees not to show up in public. The women there gave up and sent male relatives to replace them.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid did not respond to requests for comment on the two incidents. Spokespersons for the two banks did not respond to requests for comment.
Regarding the broader question of whether to allow women to work in banks in areas under his control, Mujahid added that no decision has been made yet.
He said: “After the establishment of the Islamic system, it will be decided in accordance with the law. God is willing and there will be no problems.”
The United States and other Western powers worry that the Taliban will take back many of the freedoms that women have won.
In the 20 years of deployment of US-led troops in Afghanistan, achievements in women’s rights have been touted as one of the greatest achievements, even though these achievements were mainly achieved in urban centers.
Since the beginning of peace talks between the Taliban and the US-backed Afghan government last year, Afghan women working in journalism, health care, and law enforcement have been killed in a wave of attacks.
The government blamed the Taliban for the most targeted killings, and the Taliban denied the assassinations.
A spokesman for the Afghan government said: “The Taliban will regress freedom at all levels, and this is what we are opposed to.”
“Women and children suffer the most. Our troops are working hard to save democracy. The world should understand and help us.”
Dozens of educated Afghan women asked for help and expressed their frustration on social media.
Radha Akbar wrote on Twitter: “With the collapse of every city, the collapse of the human body, the collapse of dreams, the collapse of history and the future, the collapse of art and culture, the collapse of life and beauty, our world It’s all collapsing.” “Someone please stop this.”
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