Click to see full-size image
On August 17th, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that life for women in Afghanistan would be different than it was 20 years ago.
The rights of women in Afghanistan will be respected “within the framework of Islamic law”, he said.
The spokesman said women would be free to work but gave little detail about other rules and restrictions.
He repeatedly said that all Afghans must live “within the framework of Islam”.
Between 1996 and 2001, women had to wear the all-covering burka, and the Taliban also disapproved of girls aged 10 and over going to school.
In the news briefing, Mujahid answered several questions from the international media about what women’s rights could look like under a Taliban government.
“We are going to allow women to work and study within our frameworks,” he said. “Women are going to be very active within our society.”
Meanwhile, a photograph began circulating social media on August 17th, together with a story.
A woman was shot and killed by Taliban members for not wearing a burqa in Takhar province.
In Kabul, Taliban vehicles packed with armed militants were recorded on video patrolling residential areas for activists and government workers. Gunshots can be heard as they accelerate down the street.
The Taliban is encouraging women to return to work and girls to go back to school, where headscarves are being handed out, according to The Associated Press.
But a damning photo shows a woman in district Taloqan, Takhar province, lying in a pool of blood as her parents and others crouch around her, a pitcher on the ground nearby.
She was shot and killed for going out without a burqa.
An unnamed Afghan and former State Department contractor told Fox News that Taliban fighters had set up checkpoints throughout Kabul, in some cases beating civilians trying to get to the airport and escape the country.
“There was kids, women, babies, old women, they could barely walk,” he said. “They [are in a] very, very bad situation, I’m telling you. At the end, I was thinking that there was like 10,000 or more than 10,000 people, and they’re running into the airport … The Taliban [were] beating people and the people were jumping from the fence, the concertina wire, and also the wall.”
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
