The Taliban chief in a decree says women should not be thought of as “property” and must consent to marriage.
The Decree
On Friday, reclusive Taliban Chief, Hibatullah Akhunzada announced the decree, “Both (women and men) should be equal, no one can force women to marry by coercion or pressure”.
However, there was no minimum age set, which was previously held at 16. They also added that a widow will now be allowed to remarry 17 weeks after her husband’s death, choosing her new husband freely.
More Developments
The Taliban leadership has gone on to order Afghan courts to treat women fairly and have a just system of inheritance as next of kin to widows. They also ordered government ministers to spread awareness about women’s rights among the common folk.
“This is big, this is huge … if it is done as it is supposed to be, this is the first time they have come up with a decree like this,” said Mahbouba Seraj, executive director of the Afghan Women’s Skills Development Center speaking from Kabul on a Reuters Next conference panel on Friday.
Also Read: The Taliban Story In Pictures: Journey Of Taliban Since Their Inception In 1994
Part of it may be due to the international community freezing billions of dollars in funds for Afghanistan, due to the previous lack of women’s and human rights in the region.
Roya Rahmani, the former ambassador for Afghanistan to the United States, shared her optimism about the same and reinforced the likely attempt of the Taliban to win over the international community.
A New Era?
The previous era had shunned women to a large extent wherein the Taliban banned women from leaving the house without a male relative and full face and head covering and girls from receiving education. The Taliban had also set up rules for men where they had to grow beards and banned the playing of music.
The Taliban claim that they have changed their ways and have promised freedom of expression, women’s rights, and amnesty to officials who worked under the previous government of President Ashraf Ghani. With due consideration, the people of Afghanistan still remain skeptical for obvious reasons.
If the reports provided are true, this is a great step for Afghanistan and the future seems to be on the right track. Although journalists have faced severe restrictions and several reports have emerged of Taliban troops involved in revenge killings of former officials, it is not all bad because of the fact that they are pointing their noses in the right direction in some humanitarian aspect.
Is it their time to shine now?
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Indian Express, India Today, Al Jazeera
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This post is tagged under: Taliban Take Over Afghanistan, Taliban Afghanistan cartoon, Taliban Afghanistan, Taliban news, Taliban news today, Afghanistan under Taliban control, US troops withdrawal, US troops withdrawal Afghanistan, Afghanistan defence, Taliban take over Kabul, Afghanistan, Taliban, Kabul, Taliban resurgence, Women in Afghanistan, Women’s Rights
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