World Lit

Taliban and the people of Afghanistan


The country of Afghanistan was occupied by the Russians until 1989. Then, in 1996, a group of men called the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. The Taliban originally fought against the Soviet Union while they were occupying Afghanistan in the 1980’s. They expanded and emerged in Afghanistan politics in the early 1990’s and eventually captured Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul, in 1996. The Taliban oppressed the people of Afghanistan greatly by instilling fear through their severe regulations and actions.

The Taliban is infamous for the way they treat women in Afghanistan. First of all, women are required to wear a burqa or chadri, which is an outer garment that covers them from head to toe. This burqa contains a net over the eyes that allow the women to see a small range of their surroundings. The reason for this strict regulation is that the Taliban believed that women should be modest in public (due to their interpretation of the Koran. Women are not allowed to show their skin outside of their homes. If even a centimeter of skin is shown, women are subject to being beaten, flogged, or tortured on the streets. Along with wearing the burqa outside of their home, they are required to be accompanied by a male relative. Women are not allowed to walk alone and are punished even if they walked with a non-related male. Women are also not allowed to be fashionable and cannot wear jewelry, nail polish, and white shoes. If they are caught red-handed wearing nail polish, their fingers may be cut off by members of the Taliban. The Taliban are unreasonably cruel to the women of Afghanistan.

The Taliban also prohibited women from working. Before Taliban occupation, Afghanistan had allowed its women to hold occupations, but now that women are not allowed to work, they are virtually under house arrest. Because women are not able to work, family incomes decreased and therefore made it more difficult to hold a comfortable life. There are many women whom do not leave their houses because they cannot work and really do not have a reason for going outside. Women also do not leave the house because of fear. For example, in the book My Forbidden Face, Latifa’s mother, who was once a well-known doctor, refused to leave the comfort of her home because she couldn’t work and feared the Taliban.

Lastly, the Taliban also got rid of many schools in Afghanistan and created religious schools for boys. Girls were denied education and whoever attended school had to study the Koran. In My Forbidden Face, Latifa aspired to be a journalist. However, her dreams were torn away from her when women were banned from attending school and were forced under house arrest. This act not only denies equal rights to women, but also exceptionally lowers the level of education of Afghanistan. This is because students are only studying the Koran and not other more important subjects that will come in handy in the future.

The Taliban state that their actions are justified by the Koran. However, in reality, all they are doing is destroying the country of Afghanistan. They are ruining the lives of the people of Afghanistan by rapidly changing the rules of society and introducing terror. They destroyed schools and prohibited women from working and learning. Furthermore, their atrocious behavior around women is definitely affecting them mentally and emotionally (like Latifa’s mother in Forbidden Face). I believe that the Taliban must leave Afghanistan in order to improve the state the country. As long as the Taliban are in Afghanistan there will be gender discrimination, useless tortures, and probably an unsuccessful future.