By: Rukhshana Media
At least three young women have reportedly committed suicide in the past two days in three different provinces of Afghanistan, according to official sources.
While the circumstances of each death are not well known, it’s consistent with increasing numbers of suicide among girls and women as Taliban restrictions force many girls and women into oppressive situations. There are no official statistics available to accurately measure the increase.
In Badghis province, an 18-year-old girl has hanged herself, according to the Taliban’s local administration. Ahmadjan Hanzala, the Badghis governor’s spokesperson identified the victim in a newsletter on Thursday as Bibi Zahra, a resident of Dehestan village in Abkamri district. No further details were provided.
In Helmand province, local sources with knowledge of the family told Rukhshana Media a young woman committed suicide Thursday by consuming poison in the Khomari area of Nahr-e-Siraj district of Helmand province.
A source said the motive was likely domestic violence and that the woman had been married only three years ago to a much older man around 60 years old. She had been accused of theft by her husband’s family. They had one child.
“Her husband had also threatened her with death and divorce,” her close relative told Rukhshana Media. “After a lot of mental stress, she took poisonous medicine at her husband’s house and died while being transferred to the hospital.”
In Sarpul province, a young woman died on Wednesday when she threw herself into a water well in Sayad district’s Angashka Arabia village.
Asadullah Omari, the Taliban provincial police chief, told reporters that the victim was 22 years old and had a mental illness. He also said an investigation is underway to establish the proper cause.
Taliban officials have said the main cause of murders and suicides is violence and family disputes.
However, psychologists have told Rukhshana Media that the exclusion of women and girls from work and education as well as their lack of access to basic rights has caused the increase in the number of suicides.
“Education and work restrictions with domestic violence, including forced and under-age marriages under the Taliban rule are leading women into mental illness and ultimately to suicide,” a psychiatrist, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told Rukhshana Media.
The Taliban also dissolved the Ministry of Women Affairs and other interest groups supporting the defence of women. Many women have reported that attempts to seek help from the justice system or divorce abusive husbands has brought even more violence against them, including from the courts and judges. The widespread violation of women’s rights also includes persistent harassment from Taliban guards and authorities if they travel alone.
