In a sign of breaking the long stalemate, a Taliban delegation and a group of Afghan politicians met Wednesday in Tehran. While no progress has been reported in the intra-Afghan peace talks that started in Doha, Qatar last September, Wilson called on the Taliban to negotiate “in good faith and a genuine will.” ambassador in Kabul, Ross Wilson, in a tweet on Wednesday, warned that the Taliban’s growing violence violated human rights and triggered fears that “a system this country’s citizens do not support will be imposed.” In several districts of Takhar, Badakhshan, and Kunduz province that came under the Taliban control recently, local reports claim the Taliban issued similar restrictions on women and forced men to grow beards. In some of the mosques, during the Friday sermons, Mullahs say that the Sharia law should be implemented,” another Balkh resident told VOA. “It is possible that they impose more restrictions.
Afghan officials have since vowed to retake the lost districts.Īnother resident of Balkh, who requested anonymity due to fears of retaliation by the militants, said “salons were ordered not to shave or trim beards” when the Taliban controlled the district last month.
Since May, when the United States and NATO began withdrawing their remaining troops, the Taliban captured about 100 of Afghanistan’s more than 400 districts from government-allied forces. In interviews with news agencies and in published essays, the group’s leaders hinted at an openness to changing policies.īut in this year’s spring offensive, the Taliban’s actions have indicated otherwise. Last year, following its peace agreement with the United States, the Taliban leadership initially appeared to recognize this new reality and hinted at an openness to changing policies. Nahida, who requested to be identified by her pseudonym due to safety concerns, said the group’s new restrictions will be difficult for women to follow “since many of them are the breadwinners of their families and they have to work outside.”Īccording to the Afghan government, about 30% of the civil servants are now women who were not allowed to work outside their homes during the Taliban’s rule.
That changed after 2001 when the new Afghan government, supported by U.S.-led forces, introduced laws to encourage more girls to attend school and to have more women participate in the workforce. Before their ouster by the United States in 2001, the Taliban mandated Afghans follow a strict interpretation of Sharia law, forcing women to cover themselves from head to foot and preventing them from leaving their houses without a male companion.