Afghan women banned from parks

[ArabellaScott]

It's always depressing starting these threads, because there seems to be little to nothing that anyone in the UK can do about the situation.

But in the spirit of bearing witness:

'Women are banned from visiting parks in Kabul by the hardline ruling Taliban.
... Women were also recently barred from swimming pools and gyms in the capital.'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-63756621

One heartening note is this women's library:

'Activist Laila Basim has co-founded a library for women. It has thousands of books in different languages on diverse subjects.

"With this we want to show the Taliban that Afghan women won't stay silent and our second goal is to expand the culture of reading books among women, particularly those girls who are deprived of education," she says.'

Thank you for sharing Arabella.

I read on the BBC the other day that children were being drugged by their parents because they couldn't afford to feed them and it was cheaper to buy drugs (anti d's by the sound of it) and it stopped them crying from hunger. It's all so sad :-(

I wonder how possible it might be to get in touch with Afghan women to let them know they've not been forgotten. How is the comms situation, is there internet, a postal service?

The women's freedoms and horizons are being constantly eroded.

This will be impossible for poorer areas, but what about supporting an online school? God, it feels like the entire country is one big open air prison if you have a vagina.

There are some actions you can take here, although I don't know if it's me or these seem to be letters with nowhere to go ... will urging the 'international community' to do something actually help?

www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/location/afghanistan

I looked at Amnesty, fwiw. They had a petition to the UK government. Again, I can't see how this is going to actually achieve anything.

I've made a small donation to LNF. Afghan women qualifying as doctors seems like a good thing

Not forgotten

www.facebook.com/groups/992728194917788/

Afghan Women facebook group has updates and features various stories using #LetAfghangirlslearn and #StandwithAfghanGirls

www.facebook.com/BritishAfghanWomensSociety

Thank you for voicing my thoughts and feelings.

Not forgetten.

Over 400 British soldiers ( the vast majority being young men ) were killed and a further 2000 injured, many seriously, in what turned out to be a futile attempt to affect change. These statistics do not measure the ongoing suffering that many servicemen will endure through the rest of their lives.

All this being the case, what do you suggest , in practical terms, is done now ?.

That wasn't the framework I was using, though the invasion surely wasn't actually intended to help Afghan women but for quite different political reasons? I hate wars and the useless deaths in them, and I am sorry for them.

My framework is to try to see if there is anything we can do (other than donating) to increase the attention to what women and girls in Afghanistan are facing. Somehow get together and create a meta website by all women's organisations to focus on this group (and others in similar circumstances)?

It's not immediately practical but might be a goal to work towards. Organisations which should address these don't do so now.

Thank you for this thread and the links.

though the invasion surely wasn't actually intended to help Afghan women but for quite different political reasons? I hate wars and the useless deaths in them, and I am sorry for them …………..

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks in America, Britain deployed to Afghanistan with the US and other allies to destroy al-Qaeda, and the Taleban that had backed them. And It is the Taleban that are imposing their oppressive regime today. Nothing you propose will have any influence on their medieval mindset.

Thank you. What limited, pathetic men to do this.

Due to an earlier thread I started donating to the Linda Norgrove Foundation. Whether it makes any difference i have no idea. It's just something. Not forgotten.

It’s horrifying.

Not forgotten.

I'm glad I found this thread I suppose in solidarity but agree it feels completely helpless and hopeless. I will definitely look up the links for organisations supporting women.

It makes me angry and upset at the prospect of girls not being able to access education. The article on BBC news yday said girls/women were not allowed to attend university without wearing iirc a burkha, but surely university will be compketely inaccessible for the next cohort if they haven't had a secondary education...? I have a 16 year old DD in sixth form and I can't imagine her and her friends being denied the right to learn.

What is the rule surrounding parks, swimming pools etc? Are children allowed to go? What is the cut off point? I feel naiive but it seems unbelievable to watch women and girls being totally disregarded in such a blatant way.

Children can go, yes, the article described fathers taking their children to parks/rides in the park.

It's not being disregarded so much as actively persecuted, I would say. Sheer woman hatred.

Yes you're right I couldn't think of the most appropriate word.
I'm still unsure where the cut off point is. Imagine how depressing to be a tween/teenage girl and realising how small your world is about to become and how limited your choices will be.

This is terrible. 😔

It's hard to encompass the general acceptance of the scale of that level of woman hatred and to see that it's plainly sustainable with no sign of rescue for the women whose lives are so circumscribed.

David Aaronovitch

twitter.com/DAaronovitch/status/1598756109640138768

Thank you

I have said this before, but no education for girls means no female nurses, midwives or doctors. No health care at all for females. Women are going to die in childbirth, in pregnancy and from conditions that are treatable. The ignorance and hatred of the taliban is just horrific.