The self-proclaimed Taliban government does not have the right to create and enact laws for the people of Afghanistan.

The self-proclaimed Taliban government does not have the right to create and enact laws for the people of Afghanistan.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue under the Taliban regime, although a small part of their administration, has been one of the largest anti-human rights and oppressive institutions over the past three years. This institution has been a key enforcer of the decrees and orders of the group’s absent leader, aiming to instill fear, suppress freedom, and establish an extremist, traditional, and misogynistic society. The Ministry has turned the enforcement of Sharia law into a tool for repression and interference in various aspects of society, even intruding into the most private parts of citizens’ lives. Over the past three years, this institution has continuously harassed, insulted, humiliated, interrogated, detained, tortured, and even killed Afghan citizens, especially women.

The self-proclaimed Taliban government lacks any form of domestic or international legitimacy and has no right or authority to create and enact laws, especially those that violate the privacy and civil liberties of Afghan citizens, particularly women. The so-called “Virtue Law” of the Taliban has no legal or legitimate standing.

What they refer to as the “Virtue Law” once again proves that the Taliban are neither capable of change nor flexible. Instead, they are increasingly determined to suppress, restrict, and widely violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of Afghan citizens, especially women. The lack of serious pressure from the international community and the United Nations has emboldened the Taliban’s self-proclaimed government to systematically oppress and eliminate Afghan women and girls from society, imposing the compulsory Taliban-ISIS style of dress and the forced covering of women’s faces, which is neither Islamic, humane, nor in line with Afghan culture.

The world is witnessing widespread human rights violations in Afghanistan while the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue recently claimed, through false and misleading statistics, that they have ensured the inheritance rights of women and prevented harmful customs and violence against them. However, we clearly remember that in their early days in power, the Taliban abolished the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and replaced it with the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue. Over the past three years, the Taliban’s misogynistic policies, particularly under the guise of Sharia enforcement (Afghanism and Islamism), have made Afghan society more patriarchal and traditional than ever. Women are regarded as inferior beings or second-class citizens, seen as slaves rather than as equals to men. The Taliban’s medieval misogynistic policies have instilled such fear in women, especially in the provinces, that they are afraid even to mention their right to inheritance, let alone claim it.

The notorious Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue, which has spared no effort to oppress Afghan women over the past three years, claims to prevent violence against women. However, recent reports indicate that over two thousand women, including female protesters and human rights activists, are imprisoned by the Taliban for merely opposing their oppressive and misogynistic policies.

Over the past three years, the Taliban have deprived millions of Afghan women and girls of even their most basic rights and freedoms. The cycle of deprivation and repression by this group continues to expand and intensify every day. How can a group that itself promotes and executes violence, oppression, and injustice against women, kidnaps, imprisons, and even subjects women to harassment, abuse, and sexual violence, claim to defend women against violence?

While the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue publishes such statistics claiming to defend women’s rights in Afghanistan, over the past three years, no credible domestic or international institution has published or confirmed such data. On the contrary, reports indicate that the human rights situation, particularly for women under the Taliban’s misogynistic rule, has worsened and become more concerning. The Taliban have systematically, intentionally, violently, and cruelly oppressed Afghan women, confining them to the four walls of their homes.

The Taliban’s statistics, which are largely propaganda, are part of their ongoing strategy to exploit women’s issues, particularly their inheritance rights. On one hand, they seek to cover up their crimes against humanity, especially against Afghan women, and on the other hand, they shamelessly attempt to deceive public opinion and the international community. The recent travel ban imposed on Mr. Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, is rooted in this issue. The Taliban are attempting to increase pressure on the international community and the United Nations to extract more concessions and gain recognition for their self-proclaimed government, for which we demand immediate and decisive action from the United Nations.

The Taliban must understand that a woman’s right is not limited to inheritance, and inheritance rights are not something invented or created by this group or their absent leader. Inheritance is a God-given right, one of the rights of women in Islam, but it is not their only right. Afghan women, like men, are human beings and citizens of the country. They must enjoy all their human and Islamic rights, including the right to education, access to schools and universities, political participation, active presence in society, and other civil, political, and citizenship rights.

Over the past three years, the self-proclaimed Taliban government and their Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue have not only oppressed women but also harassed, beaten, insulted, and humiliated men, youth, and other segments of Afghan society, even in the streets of Afghanistan, trampling on their human dignity. Therefore, we call on the people of Afghanistan to stand up and fight against this common pain, not to fear the Taliban, and to resist the tyranny and oppression of this group, especially their interfering and oppressive Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue.

We urge the people of Afghanistan, especially women, to stand against the oppression, crimes, and repression of the Taliban, rather than tolerating and circumventing these restrictions. If they remain silent today, they will become the slaves of this group tomorrow.

While we expect that focusing solely on the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue should not whitewash the overall crimes and anti-humanitarian actions of the Taliban, we emphasize that the abolition of the Ministry requires serious internal and external pressure, especially from the United Nations and the international community. The atrocities of the Taliban should not be overlooked, and the policy of appeasement, bargaining, and supporting the Taliban in power under the guise of engagement must immediately end. There should be strong and sincere support for the struggles of the Afghan people, particularly women, against the Taliban.

We, in the Purple Saturdays Movement, call for meaningful and enhanced sanctions against Taliban officials and urge the United Nations and its member states not to hesitate under the pretext of engagement and to pave the way for the prosecution of the Taliban, especially the leaders of this group.

We once again emphasize that supporting an alternative to the self-proclaimed Taliban government is crucial to ending the gradual death of the Afghan people, especially women. We believe that the best alternative to the Taliban’s self-proclaimed government is a “legitimate, democratic, and decentralized government.”