To be shocked this isn't getting more coverage?

There's no need for shame. There are already pp below talking about their dps going in and fearing for their lives

Would you go? Or someone in your family?

Women’s lives in Afghanistan are worse than ever before. This image was taken pre-1979 when women had so much more freedom in every sense. Since then war and the rise of the Taliban has now reduced them to slavery.
I think the ‘war on terror’ post 9/11 remains a hugely contentious issue. If you were around at the time, the need to seek out and destroy those involved was huge.
There are so many facets involved, and of course since so much controversy over whether weapons of mass destruction actually existed. It is now called an illegal war, and the blame here in the UK still rests with Tony Blair.
However, some interventions from our side did help
ordinary citizens. At the time of the withdrawal of allied forces there were young women in schools, Universities and employment enjoying some level of freedom. Not to the same level we enjoy in the West, but a definite improvement.
That has all gone now.
Here in the UK I feel we are now in a media situation where nobody wants to mention the situation as it stokes up past arguments about whether we should have invaded at all, the mistakes made, and the absolute chaos of our forces’ withdrawals.
As with all wars and oppression, women suffer most.

The Today programme has fully covered this. An Afghan woman spoke out about it earlier this week on the programme. During the course of the piece, she said she is continuing to teach girls on line, in Afghanistan. I can’t believe such bravery.

No other state has recognised the taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

Various states are talking to them unofficially, not least because the UN is providing money so the Taliban can buy food from China, other states nearby. The UN food programme in Afghanistan is currently feeding about half the population there.

www.dw.com/en/life-in-afghanistan-dire-as-taliban-mark-3-years-of-rule/a-69937540

Most Muslims don't consider their views representative of Islam, in the same way most Christians do not consider the views of the let-the-mother-and-the-baby-die crowd of anti abortion people in America representative of Christianity.

but why? We should be more ashamed that we sent the British army in ill equipped to deal with it! And if they get injured they are left to fester.

Would you be happy to go there? All these people that are disgusted - please, go and fight yourself!

thank goodness Labour are funding tje MOD even less.

I was intrigued by what you claimed Zarah Sultana said, so couldn't help but look it up. I think you need to go back and re-read it, because you have misunderstood. She has used irony.
https://x.com/zarahsultana/status/1827329888807735528

Really not. So educate me like I suggested to

@ChallahPlaiter
FYI my source is a close Jewish friend who I'm sure knows what she is talking about!!

I'm wondering what pp think can be done

You’ve got thousands of uneducated religious zealots happy and honoured to die for their cause. How can anyone take that on and expect to win.

Bet the Taliban couldn't believe their luck at being left 1000s of crates of arms and munitions.

It’s kind of hard to answer that because there’s not really such thing as a “traditional Jewish life”. It varies so widely. Some women avoid contact with their husbands during their periods, some use the mikvah (ritual bath) for a number of purposes including after menstruation, some chose to cover their hair or wear a wig, nobody is forced to sleep on the floor or avoid contact with everyone. Or even cut a hole in a sheet!
But you can be Jewish and do some or none of the above, for example if you’re Reform.

that is brilliant @GreyCarpet and doesn't surprise me in the least. What does worry me, though is that you rarely see any Muslim dare to publicly go against Islamic edicts and expectations- and you almost never see Muslim apostates (Salman Rushdie an obvious exception and we know what happened to him)- whereas you see Jews for Palestine, Father Ted, paedophile priest jokes, Christianity mocked in the west. I don't necessarily agree with all of those stances but I'm thrilled that people feel able to say such things. We need to be able to talk about (and even mock) Islam in the same way we do other religions and ideologies- at the moment we're terrified and shut down the conversation with accusations of racism.

I don't want the outcome for forces to go in again. Does anyone?

It's bloody and people lose lives and unless you stay indefinitely you have to leave and the another oppressive regime takes over

@DoloresHargreeves ,

‘It's also laughable to think that the fucking Taliban of all people would care about western women marching. They care so little about women in their own country they've passed a law that stops them reading aloud and stops them from talking to anyone who isn't in their household. You think they're gonna say oh no, oh look, what a shame, protests in London? ‘

I didn’t say women. What would make a difference to them would be men and, most importantly, Imams and religious leaders.

And me, as a Jewish man, marching, would probably incentivise them further!

What they are doing isn’t is the Quran and I am sure most modest Muslims would abhor it but they are doing it under the cover of Islam. They need to see global Islam loudly and proudly condemning them and shouting ‘not in my name’.

It's shocking and appalling and shows how far down the news agenda women's rights are, all over the world.

I've never looked at it like that. Yeah, women aren't really considered people, are they. I mean with Saudi we're also v reliant on oil so we (ie governments) don't want to piss them off, but that's no excuse for the rest of us.

That must be incredibly hard as a teacher to see such inequality day to day!

Let's see you marching then. It's poor form to use one tragedy and people's reactions to it in order to try and undermine the severity of another.

It's also laughable to think that the fucking Taliban of all people would care about western women marching. They care so little about women in their own country they've passed a law that stops them reading aloud and stops them from talking to anyone who isn't in their household. You think they're gonna say oh no, oh look, what a shame, protests in London?

The only reason to march is to put pressure on your own government to do something. The Palestine marches try to put pressure on our government to in turn out pressure on Israel to stop bombing Gaza.

What specific outcome do you want from our present government? I guess we could try and incite a war. Raising awareness seems like a good move, as well.

Of course we don't want those awful views to be spread but we also don't want to be alarmist and suggest that this is a 'Muslim problem' inciting islamophobia which the UK already has as seen recently in the UK

Very well said, Busybeemumm, and in any case it's not a "muslim problem" since there's nothing in the Holy Quran which calls for what's being done, which is why countless ordinary muslims are just as appalled as anyone else

What it is is a cultural problem, driven by men possessed of an almost stoneage mentality who are unfortunately backed by too many of the male population, and no matter what the western interference that's not going to change unless the Afghans themsedlves want it to

Muslim does not imply Taliban any more than Christian implies Jehovah’s Witness.

Also, source please

@DoloresHargreeves ,

‘Frankly, right now, who gives a fuck why the Taliban has done it? Why do any of you care whether in a hypothetical universe a Christian Taliban could have done the same? This tragedy is happening now, in this world, before our eyes.’

But, what is your point? What would you like to see happen?

Until global Islam stands up for women’s rights and condemns what is going on in Afghanistan, the Mullahs will just keep on with their brutal repression.

Ok so educate me- are Jewish women allowed to touch others during their monthly period? Do they have to go to a place for a 'purifying bath' after their period? Do they have to cover their hair, usually by a wig after marriage? Of course not ALL Jewish women but ones which want to lead a traditional Jewish wife.

But how many people read the newspapers or their websites? The Daily Heil may be one of the busiest websites on the internet, but the traffic is mostly vacuous celebrity crap. Stop a random selection of punters on the street and they're more likely to care about whether a couple from a Z-list "reality" show is splitting up than they are about a civil war in sub-Saharan Africa or women's rights in Afghanistan.

BBC News runs international focussed programmes very late and in the early hours, or as off-peak slots. But look at the main evening news on BBC1, ITV1 and Channel 4 which remain the main broadcast news programmes and the lack of international breadth.

I honestly don't see the reason to generalise or compare on this thread. Why do some posters seem to want to say something about Muslim men in general, or compare reactions to Palestine?

Perhaps the thought is that the oppression of women is only bad if it could happen to us in the UK too. It's bullshit.

These women in Afghanistan are real women. They are being prevented from speaking. A law passed by the Taliban has done this to them.

Frankly, right now, who gives a fuck why the Taliban has done it? Why do any of you care whether in a hypothetical universe a Christian Taliban could have done the same? This tragedy is happening now, in this world, before our eyes.