Afghan Women Hold Demonstrations in Kabul And Ghor Against Taliban’s Policies

Members of the Afghanistan Women's Justice Movement and Afghanistan Women's Political Participation Network were present during the demonstration.

Sources close to the protesters told Afghanistan International that the Taliban did not prevent the demonstration in front of the UN office at first, but at the end of the protest when the protesters were on their way home, they deliberately rammed their vehicles against the protesters and injured three of them.

The source added that the Taliban vehicle ran over the foot of one of the protestors.

Restrictions on women’s participation in the labour market have contributed to the decline, the report, Employment in Afghanistan in 2022: A rapid impact assessment, stated.

“Restrictions on girls and women have severe implications for their education and labour market prospects,” said Ramin Behzad, Senior Coordinator of the ILO for Afghanistan.

Emphasising that female employment levels in Afghanistan have fallen steeply since the Taliban administration took over in 2021, it also added that male employment levels are down seven per cent in the same period.

It stressed that the only reason why the figures haven’t dropped further is because of home-based self-employment, which has become the predominant form of women’s participation in the labour market.

“Providing equal access for all young women and men to quality education and training as well as decent and productive employment opportunities remain a key challenge and priority for the future of the Afghan economy and society,” he added.

The report found that for young people, aged 15-24 years, the impact on employment has also been severe and disproportionate.

Youth employment is estimated to have decreased 25 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 relative to the second quarter of 2021.

The report added that in the fourth quarter of 2022, total employment (both formal and informal) is estimated to have been 450,000 lower than pre-transition levels, and more than 900,000 lower compared to a hypothetical scenario without a change in administration.

In addition, labour incomes have been hard hit and are increasingly volatile, especially hurting households struggling from rising food and consumer prices.

Meanwhile, Taliban sources told Afghanistan International that two people have been arrested in connection to the disappearance of the said Polish citizens.

One of the two Polish citizens had a dual citizenship in Canada and Poland.

The two Polish citizens are reportedly of the age 22 and 24 years and had travelled to Afghanistan from Warsaw. However, it is not clear why they had travelled to Afghanistan.

The Taliban had announced on Saturday that in an operation, they had killed six IS-K members in district 14 of Herat city.

The Taliban police command in Herat province said that a woman had been killed and another IS-K member had been injured in the operation.

The Taliban has always denied the presence and activities of IS-K in Afghanistan, but from time to time the group launches operations in different parts of Afghanistan and claims to kill IS-K members.

This is while over the past 18 months since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, IS-K has carried out deadly attacks in Afghanistan.

The international community has also repeatedly said that Afghanistan has become a haven for international terrorists.

The Taliban dispersed the girls and asked them to leave the vicinity of the university.

The girls had been students at Kabul University who have been banned from higher education by the Taliban in late 2022.

These female students have said that the university is closed to them, but they have come to study outside the university.

The symbolic protest of these Afghan girls happened on the first day of the reopening of universities for boys in Afghanistan.

According to the decision of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Taliban, on Monday, the university classes started for male students, but the ministry has not announced any change in their decision about allowing education for female students.

The Taliban announced in August 2022 that Afghan female students were not allowed to go to university until further notice.

The Taliban’s decision to ban higher education for girls has been met with widespread protests by male and female students and criticisms from international organisations.