A group of women in Kabul in a symbolic move by dancing to a “Taliban song”, protested restrictions on women and a recent statement attributed to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada who said they have succeeded to change women’s behavior in Afghanistan.
Footage sent to media by women shows a small group of women, wearing burqas and have written “women, life, freedom” on their hands. The footage also shows the women dancing to a Taliban song.
“We wanted to spend some happy moments together and put on a show of being happy, while the reality is that the happiness of Afghan women has been buried under the ground for almost two years,” said a woman protester.
A statement by the women also stated: “We protesting women, on behalf of the brave and courageous women of Afghanistan, to protest against their material and spiritual rights, which were violated by the Taliban and even denied the right of women to enjoy the divine nature. Today, in a move titled ‘Dance in Despair’, we raise our voice and express our complaint to the international community and the (UN) Security Council.”
“We are brave women who are in prison, but we will never surrender to this fascist group,” said a protester woman.
In response to the Taliban leader’s words, the women said that deeds are already right and will not back down from their rights.
The women reiterated that they are protesting against the “environment of suffocation, suppression, arrest, kidnapping and forced disappearance by the Taliban” in different ways.
The protests are taking place as the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently said in a letter to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women that they pay “special attention” to women and their rights in Afghanistan.
Earlier, the European Parliament called the anti-women policies of the Taliban “gender apartheid”.
