'Afghanistan is a pot with no cover; anything can fall in it, anything can be taken'

The rights of Afghan women in their own country have hit rock bottom ever since the Taliban took over the country in 2021. On October 26, the Taliban’s Minister of Vice and Virtue, Khalid Hanafi, issued a new ban on women’s rights forbidding adult women from allowing their voices to be heard while praying by other adult women. While this left the Afghan women dismayed, the bizarre ban stirred headlines all around the world.

Days after the ban, the draconian regime’s spokesperson, Saiful Islam Khyber, denied the allegations that women are barred from speaking to each other, calling such reports “brainless and illogical”. However, he did not deny the fact that in an audio statement, Hanafi emphasised that adult women must refrain from performing “Takbir,” which means Islamic prayer or reciting the Quran aloud in the presence of other women.

What made the whole ordeal shocking was the fact that the latest ban came while the Taliban regime sought to gain international recognition. With the Taliban ruling Afghanistan for three years, the political winds for the group started to shift in the international arena. In the span of just a few months, dozens of countries have welcomed Taliban diplomats. But amid all this, the question of women’s rights in Afghanistan remained unanswered not only on the global stage but also within the country.

Hence, the whole ordeal begs the question of whether diplomatic conversations with the regime have somehow eased the pressure on it to roll back restrictions imposed on women in the country.

In an exclusive conversation with Firstpost, Afghan women’s rights activist Mahbouba Seraj shared her take on the latest ban and questioned the international actors forging ties with the Taliban. In the first part of the interview. Seraj walked us through the day-to-day struggles of women in Afghanistan. The second part will deal with the ramifications of international actors forging ties with the Taliban.

Taliban and the world

In January, China became the first country to formally welcome a Taliban diplomat and referred to him as Afghanistan’s ambassador. In August, the UAE followed suit. In the same month, Uzbekistan sent its prime minister to Kabul. This was the first highest-level foreign visit by any leader in the country since the Taliban took over in 2021.

Many believed that these initiatives were paving the way for the regime to earn international recognition. While all this was happening, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced this spring that the Kremlin was considering removing the Taliban from its list of designated terrorist organisations, which would make it the first country to do so. Meanwhile, activists started to wonder whether the Taliban would be called out for the violation of several human rights, especially making things harder for the women in the country.

In June this year, the Afghan group attended a rare United Nations-led conference of global envoys to Afghanistan. That was the first such meeting between the Taliban and other international actors held in Doha. While the gathering actively spoke about women’s rights in Afghanistan, not a single woman was allowed to attend the meeting. When asked about the lack of women’s representation in this regard, Seraj explained where the international community is going wrong.

• The world does not have a united voice on women’s rights

Seraj insisted that at the heart of the problem is the lack of unity within the international community concerning raising voices for women in Afghanistan or any other issue in the world. “Why these things are happening is because the world does not have a unique, united voice on any one of these issues,” she remarked.

“Every country looks at things according to its benefits,” she said.

However, Seraj emphasised that if something bad is happening in one part of the world, it will affect the other side as well. “We are responsible. Human beings living on the earth have equal rights on this planet, and they should be treated properly by their neighbours and by the people with whom they share this planet. Nobody really cares,” she said.

When asked if the diplomatic conversation with the Taliban has eased the pressure on the regime to roll back restrictions, Seraj gave an affirmative response. “Yeah, I mean, of course, because as I said, you know, the world, especially the Western world, they’re not talking from the same tongue,” she said.

“They’re not talking about having the same kind of help in mind or the same kind of criticism in mind. Hence, it is very much easier for the Taliban to believe that they can do anything they want the way they want,” she furthered.

• ‘China is not interested in the people of Afghanistan’

While commenting on how China became the first country to formally welcome a Taliban diplomat and refer to him as Afghanistan’s ambassador, Seraj said that Beijing has its own vested interest in the country. “China has its own plans for Afghanistan. China is not interested in the people of Afghanistan. China is not interested in human rights. China is not interested in the rights of women,” Seraj asserted.

“What China is interested in is really what is underneath the ground in Afghanistan. They want it and they will get it,” she said.

In February, reports started to emerge that China and the Taliban are involved in top-level meetings between officials, new mineral deals, and the upgrading of transport routes between the two countries. The prize in all these diplomatic efforts is access to Afghanistan’s wealth of untapped mineral resources — as well as a market for Chinese goods. The Central-South Asian country is home to several high-value natural reserves of copper, lithium and other rare minerals. These reserves remained untapped for decades due to the persistence of turbulence in the country.

“They really need to have some kind of rapport with the Taliban because they are the ones signing these deals. A country like Afghanistan has no cover; we call ourselves a pot with no cover. So anything can fall into it and anything can be taken away from it without anybody knowing,” Seraj lamented.

Catch-22 situation with International tribunals

It is a known fact that the bans introduced by the Taliban against Afghan women are gross violations of human rights. When asked if anyone had taken the issue to international tribunals like the International Criminal Court, Seraj laid out what she called a “catch-22” situation. While speaking on the condition of women in the country, Seraj went on to compare the Taliban regime to that of South Africa’s Apartheid regime. The only difference between the two is the fact that while South Africa witnessed racial apartheid, Afghanistan is witnessing a gender-based apartheid.

“There’s no doubt that what is happening in Afghanistan is a crime against humanity and many have called it apartheid. This is a gender-based apartheid. The whole world has to sit down, believe in this, all of them, in a unified way and then decide what they want to do,” she said.

The 76-year-old activist went on to ask what kind of punishment can one give to the regime. “The ones that are responsible for this right now, they’re governing Afghanistan and they are governing who? The people. And the people of Afghanistan are going to be the ones that will pay for it,” Seraj said, referring to any decision to impose economic sanctions. Another aspect of the story Seraj pointed out is the fact that to pursue a case against the Taliban in an international tribunal, one has to recognise its regime.

“The international court cannot be implemented in any country if the country is not recognised officially. And if the government is not recognised officially, this doesn’t mean anything. Who are they doing this to?” she asked. “If the international court gets involved Taliban will get recognition. So it’s a catch-22 situation,” she concluded.

While the Taliban rub shoulders with foreign dignitaries, women in Afghanistan are still looking for people around the world who raise their voices for the voiceless.

This is the final part of the two-part interview with the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Afghan activist Mahbouba Seraj. Click on the following link to read the first part.