NEW DELHI, Mar 29: Pushing Afghanistan further back to the dark ages, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supremo has announced in a voice message on state television that women in Afghanistan would be publicly flogged and stoned to death for adultery and also vowed to continue fighting against Western democracy.
In his message, Akhundzada stated that women’s rights supported by the international community conflicted with the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. “Do women want the rights that Westerners are talking about? They are against Sharia and clerics’ opinions, the clerics who toppled Western democracy,” the head of the Taliban in Afghanistan said.
“I told the Mujahedin that we tell the Westerners that we fought against you for 20 years and we will fight 20 and even more years against you. It did not finish [when you left]. It does not mean we would now just sit and drink tea. We will bring Sharia to this land. It did finish after we took over Kabul. No, we will now bring Sharia into action,” Akhundzada said.
“You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death. But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery. We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public,” Akhundzada warned in a bold message to the Western world. He said this shows Taliban’s dedication to Islamic law ignoring Western ideas about women’s rights.
The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 ousted the Taliban from power, but they never left. The Western-backed government that had run the country for 20 years collapsed, and the Taliban regained power. After coming into power in 2021, Taliban carried out revenge attacks against those who worked with the Americans or worked with its government.
Taliban also reimposed the harsh interpretation of Islamic law that they relied on when they ran Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Back then, women were barred from attending school or working outside the home. The women had to wear the all-encompassing burqa and were accompanied by a male relative whenever they went outside. The Taliban banned music, cut off the hands of thieves, and stoned adulterers.
The Taliban supremo’s remarks have sparked outrage among Afghans, with concerns about the deteriorating rights and safety of women in the country. Tala, a former civil servant from Kabul, expressed fear and frustration, describing the daily imposition of restrictions and rules on women.
“As a woman, I don’t feel safe and secure in Afghanistan. Each morning starts with a barrage of notices and orders imposing restrictions and stringent rules on women, stripping away even the smallest joys and extinguishing hope for a brighter future,” she said.
(Manas Dasgupta)