To mark International Women’s Day, a human rights defender shares her story anonymously.
Last week I had to attend the funeral of one of our relatives.
On the way, near a crossroads, I saw cars stopped at a traffic light.
Suddenly, I realized that the Taliban members were there.
They call them Muhtasibeen – I don’t know the exact English word.
He is from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices, wearing white coats like doctors.
Afghan women wait for food rations. Image: AP
They used to stop local transport vehicles and look inside, especially in the section where women sit. Seeing the women without burqas or chadars, he took the keys of the vehicle and ordered the driver to remove them all.
It was a terrifying moment. I was scared. I had a hijab and a winter coat, but no burqa or chadari.
My hands were shaking, my body was cold and I didn’t know what was going to happen. He was inspecting every car.
I recall that in the last few weeks the restrictions in Herat province have increased drastically.
These Taliban members enforced strict rules on women wearing white coats, preventing them from walking freely in the streets under the excuse of “improper hijab”.
Afghan Taliban soldiers. Image: AP
On January 13, the Taliban arrested a group of women from densely populated areas of the city for wearing the Arabic-style hijab.
I remembered the story of the previous day when a couple was stopped on the road and the husband was beaten because the wife was not wearing a burqa. That memory made me even more afraid. Even my husband was terrified.
I suddenly remembered his big winter scarf; The kind worn by Afghan men. I took it and covered myself. When the Taliban member looked into our car, he probably thought it was two men and not a woman.
We passed the crossroads safely, but I was shaking.
When I was a child, I believed that white coats symbolized doctors: help, healing, kindness.
I never imagined that one day they would use it to terrorize people, beat them and harm them.
Image: Reuters
‘Endless Suffering’
Since the Taliban took over, they have changed the meaning of everything for women.
While the world is busy with other crises, the Taliban uses this silence to harass, oppress and torture women and girls in Afghanistan.
In the past, when there were security problems, police or army forces stood at the crossroads to protect the city.
Now, Taliban trucks and members of the Ministry of Virtue stand only to enforce dress codes on women.
It’s incredible. In my opinion, this is part of a system that erases women from public life.
Recently they stopped rickshaws in Herat, alleging overcrowding.
But I believe the real intention is to make movement more difficult for women.
One of the women’s group shared her experience. She needed groceries and easily took rickshaws.
Now, rickshaws are banned, she waits for a long time at the bus stand. Eventually, some taxis arrived, but the drivers refused to take her unless she paid the highest fare for the shortest distance.
She walked the whole way alone and tired.
“As soon as I got home, I burst into tears. It’s painful – being a woman in Afghanistan is endless suffering,” she said.
Another taxi driver told her that the Taliban had instructed them not to pick up women or girls not wearing a chadari or burqa.
Now even local transport is restricted for women. And yet, despite all this, there are brave women who refuse to obey.
Image: AP
‘Quiet act of resistance’
These Taliban muhtasibeen who try to scare everyone – they see women wearing burqas but don’t wear them.
These women walk freely until they reach a crossroads, then quickly put on the burqa, pass and take it off again.
The Taliban see it, but they can’t do anything.
It’s a quiet act of resistance, a way of saying: “You can control the streets, but not our souls.”
These stories make me deeply sad.
I remember that in early November, the Taliban ordered female teachers, nurses, doctors and patients to wear the burqa to enter schools and hospitals.
And while all this was happening, the world turned.
Taliban members at a checkpoint. Image: Reuters
‘we forgot’
The latest letter from the White House is painfully clear: the US government has shifted its foreign policy to focus solely on its own interests, cutting foreign aid and abandoning the global consensus.
The letter proudly proclaims the end of “endless wars” and a new era of “peace through strength”, but nowhere mentions the suffering of Afghan women.
Nowhere does it acknowledge the cruelty we face. The message is clear: we are no longer a priority. We have forgotten.
Today, Afghanistan may not be a place of interest or interest to the US and European nations, but they are responsible for shaping history – and our lives – this way.
A Taliban fighter next to an anti-aircraft gun in Khost province. Image: Reuters
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Their silence and neglect gave the Taliban space to erase Afghan women and girls from public life.
The international community is busy with other headlines – Venezuela, Iran, Greenland – and the Taliban are using this silence to tighten their grip.
They are erasing us from public life, from streets, from education, from hospitals, from transport.
A world that was once full of hope is now silent.
We are still here. We are still resisting. But we are alone. Will the world listen to the voices of Afghan women and stand with us?
I urge the international community not to abandon women to the Taliban’s climate of fear.
