Taliban targets women's rights activists despite making grand promises

After the takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had promised they would respect the rights of women "within the limits of Islam," but things on the ground say otherwise.

The Taliban have been targeting women who had been staging protests against the regime. Some are even being tortured for their rebellion. A female protester told The Independent: "There are no words to describe what they did to me."

The publication spoke to five women who were detained and tortured in Taliban-run detention sites. The women had their nails pulled out, their ribs mutilated and their arms broken.

Samira Hamidi, Amnesty's Afghanistan campaigner said that at least 33 women have been detained by the Taliban. "These women and their families' paperwork, like passports, have been confiscated by the Taliban which means they cannot leave the country," she added.

The Taliban had been cruel to women during its rule in Afghanistan in the 1990s as well. Women were banned from attending schools. They were not allowed to step out of their houses without a male relative. If they violated these rules, they would be stoned to death or flogged.

Afghan politician Shukria Barakzai who was an ambassador to Norway says that the group is trying to "erase women from society."

"Every single day, they are trying to limit the women's movement and generally they don't like to see women – not in government or as a non-government organisation – but also they don't want to see women in schools and universities."

UN secretary-general, António Guterres also expressed concerns last month about the missing Afghan women. He had said that several women's rights activists have "disappeared" since the Taliban take over.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban have closed most girls' secondary schools since seizing control of Afghanistan, have abolished the Ministry of Women's Affairs, and have banned them from leaving the country.

"This is systematic discrimination and violence against women which has been going on and the silence of international community and organisations has been sad," added Barkazai.