Women banned from universities sliding back to the taliban of the ‘90s

Women banned from universities sliding back to the taliban of the ‘90s

With few internal pressures, the Taliban regime, it seems, can trample on the rights of citizens, particularly women, with impunity. The constraints of the international community in such a situation must be recognised and addressed urgently in multilateral fora.

Earlier this month, there was a glimmer of hope from Afghanistan. Against the grain of its policies since resuming power in August 2021, the Taliban regime had allowed girls in 31 out of 34 provinces to appear for their secondary school examinations. Girls had not been allowed to attend school for over a year. But that hope, tragically and predictably, stands belied. Last month, women and girls were banned from parks, swimming pools, gyms and other public spaces. This week, the Taliban has reportedly banned women from universities in Afghanistan. With this latest move, it is undeniable that the country has been plunged back into the regressive, authoritarian, misogynistic rule that was the hallmark of the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1990s. It is also a sign of the limitations of the leverage the international community has to influence the Afghan Taliban.

In the last few weeks alone, in addition to the actions against women citizens, the Taliban has brought back public flogging and executions. These “policy” decisions put paid to the notion that the regime’s desire to escape sanctions and gain international legitimacy post the US withdrawal would force it to maintain at least the veneer of following global norms with respect to human rights. A year later, even those states that had recognised the Taliban in the ’90s — Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan — have not done so this time. The Pakistan security establishment was not-so-subtly jubilant at the return of the Taliban. As the Taliban’s closest ally, it saw the negotiated US withdrawal as a diplomatic and strategic win, in no small part because regime change undermined New Delhi’s position in the country. But that relationship too seems set to sour, as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has renewed hostilities against the army: Earlier this week, the TTP attacked a counter-terrorism centre and took hostages and on Thursday, the Pakistan army stormed the building, and claims to have killed all the hostage-takers.

The need for international legitimacy, economic logic and even the imperative of maintaining a cordial relationship with its closest “ally” — it seems that the Taliban is relatively immune to these pressures. The West is preoccupied with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the economic and geopolitical crisis that it has engendered. With few internal pressures, the Taliban regime, it seems, can trample on the rights of citizens, particularly women, with impunity. The constraints of the international community in such a situation must be recognised and addressed urgently in multilateral fora.