Afghan Women Want To Have A Chance To Build Their Future, Says US Embassy

The women claimed that they have been sexually abused, tortured and forced to work in prison, and witnessed children being beaten and killed.

The Guardian newspaper published a report on Friday, November 29, in which women arrested by the Taliban for begging were interviewed.

All of these women said that due to their inability to find jobs, they had no choice but to beg in the streets to provide for themselves and their children.

Zahra, a 32-year-old mother of three, said that after her husband, who served in the army of the former Afghan government, disappeared, she was forced to move to Kabul and beg in the streets for food. Her husband disappeared after the Taliban came to power in August 2021.

"I went to the government offices in my area and told them that I was a widow and asked for help to feed my three children," Zahra said, adding that they said they couldn't help me and told me to sit next to the bakery and beg.

Zahra said that she was not aware of the Taliban's laws prohibiting begging until she was arrested.

“A Taliban car stopped near the bakery. They took my son by force and told me to get in the vehicle,” she said. Zahra claimed she spent three days and nights in a Taliban prison and that initially she was made to cook, clean and do laundry for the men working there.

She was then told she would be fingerprinted and have her biometric details recorded. When she resisted, she was beaten until she was left unconscious. She said she was then raped.
“[Since being released] I’ve thought about ending my life several times, but my children hold me back,” she said. “I wondered who would feed them if I weren’t here.

Another woman, Parwana, was begging in Kabul with her four-year-old daughter in October 2023. She was held in Badam Bagh Prison for 15 days and was raped and tortured in prison.

Parwana also said that she and two other women were raped while in detention, and that the attacks caused her severe psychological trauma and depression.

According to Parwana, the Taliban had even arrested children who were cleaning people's shoes in the streets. "The Taliban used to tell us women why you don't get married, beat us and forced us to wash dishes and clean up," she continued.

Along with multiple reports of rape and torture of women arrested under the anti-begging laws, former detainees also told the Afghan news outlet Zan Times that they witnessed the abuse of young children in prison, with one woman alleging that two children were beaten to death while she was in detention.

"No one dared to speak," she said. If we chatted, they would beat us and call us immodest. Seeing those children die in front of my eyes is something I will never forget."

The death of detainees rounded up under anti-begging laws is factored into the wording of the Taliban’s new law, in which Article 25 states: “If a beggar dies while in custody and has no relatives or if the family refuses to collect the body, the municipal officials will handle the burial.”
Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, women have been denied the right to work, which has led to an increase in poverty, especially in female-headed households.

On May 20, 2024, the Taliban's Ministry of Justice announced the law on collecting beggars and preventing begging.

The law was signed by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Ministry of Justice said in a statement that "according to this law, people who are healthy or businessmen and have a day's food are prohibited from begging."

With the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, unemployment and poverty rates have risen sharply, and the number of beggars, especially in the capital Kabul, has increased significantly. According to UN figures, about 24 million people in Afghanistan are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Baloch said that the number and identity of the detainees will be announced soon by Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior.

At a press conference in Islamabad on Friday, November 29, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baloch said that the participation of foreign nationals in political protests in Pakistan is "illegal". She stressed that foreigners should stay away from Pakistan's political affairs.

This is not the first time that Pakistani authorities have reported the arrest of Afghan citizens during protests in the country. Pakistani authorities had also announced the arrest of Afghans during protests by supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in mid-October.

Pakistan's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, claimed at the time that Afghans were involved in the PTI protests, and that at least 120 of them had been arrested. However, PTI officials had denied the claim that Afghans were involved in the protests.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson has announced the arrest of Afghans in the recent protests while the Pakistani government has recently made living conditions difficult for Afghan refugees in the country. The Pakistani government also announced that Afghan refugees must obtain special permits to live in the country's capital.

Of these, 1,400,000 people have POR residency cards and 800,000 have ECC cards. 600,000 migrants do not have official residency documents.

The Pakistani newspaper Business Recorder on Friday (November 29) quoted the UN refugee agency as saying that 700,000 Afghans who arrived in Pakistan after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan are planning to leave Pakistan for another country.

In November 2023, the Pakistani government forcibly deported undocumented immigrants, a move that has caused economic problems and severe psychological pressure for Afghan returnees. Many of the returnees described these behaviors as "degrading" and spoke of the seizure of their personal property.

On the other hand, according to international organisations, more than 20 million people in Afghanistan are struggling with poverty. Meanwhile, the Taliban's rule has caused many aid organisations to suspend or significantly reduce their activities due to policies that are "anti-human rights and against the rights of women and girls”.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced on Wednesday, November 27, that after December 31, Afghan citizens will not be allowed to stay in Islamabad without an official permit. The order comes as Afghan refugees claim to be taking part in anti-government protests.

Rustam Shah Mohmand, Pakistan's former ambassador to Kabul, has criticised the new decision of the Pakistani Interior Ministry to expel Afghans from Islamabad, calling it unfair. Afghans have been targeted in Pakistan because of internal political differences, he said.

In response to the request of Western countries for the broad participation of Afghan political and civil institutions, Qomi said that the fight against narcotics should not be politicised.

In an interview with ISNA news agency, Qomi stressed that technical and specialised issues should be separated from political issues and that the issue of combating drugs should not be allowed to become a tool for political pressure.

According to the report, he made these remarks in response to some criticisms from Western representatives, especially the United States and the European Union, who stressed on the need for a broader participation of Afghan political and civil institutions in these meetings.

Hassan Kazemi Qomi also quoted the Russian envoy as saying that he strongly opposed the West's attempt to politicise technical issues and warned that if this process continues, Moscow will not participate in future negotiations.

He added that Russia has stressed that it will not allow the United States to use the Anti-Narcotics Task Force for its own political purposes, arguing that it is a technical and specialised working group and should not be politicised.

The first meeting of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force, which is part of the Doha Process, was held on Thursday, November 28.

UNAMA announced that this task force will provide the ground for coordinated interaction with the Taliban.

It is not yet known whether any of the women, Afghan civil society and Taliban opponents were present in the working group.

The third Doha meeting was attended by the special representatives of countries for Afghanistan on June 30 and July 1. Taliban representatives were invited to the third Doha meeting, but women, civil society, and political opponents of the Taliban were not present.

Domestic media outlets had previously reported that the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran had dismissed Qomi from the position of Iran's special envoy to Afghanistan. According to reports, Alireza Bikdeli has been appointed as the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran for Afghanistan.

The six countries called on the ICC prosecutor to address the ongoing and systematic violations of the rights of Afghan women and girls.

Chile's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday (November 28) that "due to the deterioration of the situation and the critical situation of Afghan women and girls, the situation in the country has been referred to the International Criminal Court".

The ICC prosecutor has resumed investigations into Afghanistan in 2022. Previously, the investigation into Afghanistan was halted in 2020 at the request of Afghan authorities.

The signatories of the petition called on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to pay attention to the situation in Afghanistan, and in particular, the situation of Afghan women and girls, who face continuous and systematic violations of their rights.

The six countries have asked the ICC prosecutor to consider crimes committed against women and girls since the Taliban came to power in 2021 in its investigation.

The referral of this case to the Hague Court shows that the international community is deeply concerned about the human rights situation in Afghanistan.

Calling on the ICC prosecutor to pay attention to the systematic and ongoing violations of the rights of Afghan women and girls could increase political and diplomatic pressure on the Taliban. This is especially true if the ICC's investigation is concluded and evidence of crimes against Afghan women and girls is found. Such an investigation could lead to international condemnation and even more sanctions.

One of the consequences of this action is the possibility of prosecution of Taliban leaders and other officials responsible for human rights violations. If the Hague Court decides to prosecute, serious charges such as war crimes and crimes against humanity will be brought against Taliban officials. This could affect the personal security of Taliban leaders and lead to their further international isolation.