By Rukhshana Media
A large group of women, including girl students and teachers who marched under the banner of the Taliban in the central province of Daikundi, told Rukhshana Media that the Taliban provincial officials forced them into the pro-Taliban demonstration.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, a large group of women marched in Nili, the capital of Daikundi province, holding the Taliban banners and calling “Death to America” and “Death to Joe Biden.” They demanded to release Afghanistan’s frozen funds.
“I didn’t know about the protest. At around 9 am one of my colleagues took us to the [Taliban’s] education directorate in disguise of a meeting,” one of the protesters, a teacher in a private education center, who spoke in condition of anonymity, told Rukhshana Media.
Once they arrived at the meeting place, she says the Taliban gunmen handed them the group’s flag and slogans and forced them to walk in the street.
Radio Nasim, a local radio station in Nili, reported that the Taliban officials called the working day off for government employees, and the city was visibly surrounded by the Taliban gunmen who were facilitating and securing the demonstration.
This was a stark contrast to the women’s rights protests in Kabul, where the Taliban gunmen beat the protesters with rifle butts, batons, and paper-spreads.
At least eight people, including four women’s rights activists, have been abducted in Kabul by the Taliban in connection with women’s rights protests, family members, and activists say.
The demonstration in Nili came to a halt when the protesters changed the slogan and started calling for the reopening of the school.
“When women started calling for the rights to education and reopening of schools and universities, they dispersed the crowd,” the teacher told Rukhshana media.
Since the Taliban took over in mid-August, women have staged protests across the country, demanding their rights to work, education and political inclusion.
The Taliban has responded violently by beating and abducting women activists who participated in women’s rights protests.
Zahra Mohammadi, a dentist and a women’s rights activist is the latest victim of abduction by the Taliban according to friends and activists.
The Taliban repeatedly denied having a role in the systematic disappearance of the activists, family members and eyewitnesses confirmed the group’s role in targeting critical voices.
New York based Human Rights Watch said the Taliban’s response to the arrests of the women activists shows they “intent to eradicate critical women’s voices through unlawful use of force.”
