To be shocked this isn't getting more coverage?

They left because a democratic government could not be established.

Regardless of whether the Taliban have a single AK47 or enough equipment to arm ten battle groups, the way women are treated in Afghanistan is squarely down to religious practices.

I have an Iranian friend who left Iran over 20 years ago due to the regime

She's blindsinded by the apathy in this country towards Islamist regimes worldwide- (at least among the media/chattering classes)- I'm ashamed, frankly

Except silencing women has no basis in Islam.

Thank you for this. I’ve set up a Direct Debit after reading through their site. They are doing such important and practical work. What a brilliant organisation.

Oh please, neither the Brits, Soviets or Americans gave a shit about Afghanistan or Afghans.

It’s heart breaking what’s happening there but let’s not try and rewrite history to portray the West as liberators.

RAWA was the leading women's rights group in Afganistan prion to the US/UK invasion. As well as international campaigns, they ran underground schools for girls. I'm not sure if they're still going, but if they are, they're worth donating to.

Times Radio currently covering it.

Does anyone know if a protest is planned outside the Afghan Embassy in London?

my idea is that women all over the world stand outside the Afghan embassies and sing - raise their voices in a way that the Afghan women can’t .

It is racist to stoke violence and make suggestions that Muslims will overtake the UK by 2050 as @Blondiebeachbabe did. It's doesn't have to be one or the other does it? Afghan clearly has major issues in how it treats it's women and girls- as do other countries! This fact doesn't detract from Afghanistan in anyway.

Bollocks

@Zebedee999
Do you know anything about how women in traditional Jewish households are treated? All behind their religion eg no touching anyone during periods, sleeping on the floor, having to wear wigs etc.
@Blondiebeachbabe it is racist to imply the Muslim invasion is coming to the UK by 2050, by implication that their laws will come with them hence stoking the kind of ignorant racists mobs we have been on the streets of the UK in recent times.
@AInightingale I didn't state anything about Islam and race as I was stating that Blondies comments are racist and alarmist in reference to her thinking that UK will be overtaken by Muslims by 2050 not proven by any facts.

It was Obama, "akshually".

it doesn't fit the massive bias in the media
they're a bunch of cowards

I feel the same way, OP. In fact, I've always felt the same way about Afghanistan: it's as if we allowed for a Hell on Earth, where we concentrate all the unthinkable evil to women. I think the same of other super rich and famous arab countries that have legal slavery but are very cool for soccer players and the likes of them VIP people...
Hell on Earth 💔

To be fair, the miniskirt pictures are of brave women who were bucking convention. It wasn't standard. Still, heartbreaking to see how quickly these women have had their lives destroyed.

I wish there was something that we can do. I'll donate what I can, but it doesn't feel like anything close to enough.

Agree, but wasn't it trump who initiated that?

It's not accidental. They are sending the message to women that women should exist purely as they relate to men. They are letting the women know that they are being locked up and erased from society, that human rights no longer apply to them, for no other reason than their existence mildly inconveniencing men. It's a made up excuse calculated to let women know exactly where they stand.

Have you seen those pictures online from the 1970s of female uni students in Afghanistan, wearing mini skirts and sandals?

Heartbreaking juxtaposed with ones from this year of women fully garbed in black.

One of the main issues were that voters in the US no longer wanted to see anyone in their family killed in Afghanistan and didn't want to stay indefinitely

Pressure to end that kind of involvement will be heard domestically

Quote: "The Taliban published a host of new “vice and virtue” laws last week, approved by their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, which state that women must completely veil their bodies – including their faces – in thick clothing at all times in public to avoid leading men into temptation and vice."

Bloody hell, wouldn't it be easier to just make men wear blindfolds?

You are wrong.
Soviet Union had influence in Afghanistan since 1919 and provided it with military and economic assistance all this time so progressive attitudes were there during Soviet Union influence.

To counter Soviet Union, the US has started sponsoring mujahideen (Islamic extremists) to bait USSR to invade to fight them. Which they did (to disastrous consequences). Mujahideen then morphed into Taliban. The USA also sponsored Taliban proper. So it was the fault of the Western governments.

White Christians are benign compared to Islam. Christianity is also a religion not a race. There are Christians of all races all over the world.

They moved millions of pounds worth of weapons into the country and then walked away effectively arming the Taliban to the teeth. They had effective control of the cities, casualties were low, they could have stayed until a democratic government could be fully established.