‘I begged them, my daughter was dying’: how Taliban male escort rules are killing mothers and babies

[IwantToRetire]

Heartbreaking.

Yet another example of how Taliban fundamentalism is not just destroying women's right to an equal life, but is actually killing them.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/apr/03/i-begged-them-my-daughter-was-dying-how-taliban-male-escort-rules-are-killing-mothers-and-babies

I only read a few comments on that AIBU thread.

Not just that clearly some are commenting without bothering to even read the specific claimants, but then slap dash cliched responses with obviously no idea that the UK has signed up to the Human Rights Convetion.

We may think the US has gone a bit mad under Trump, but it sometimes feels we are only an egg shell width from falling into that mindset.

How can anyone think that sending 24 women in not to death, to violence and deprivation is compatible with being part of a supposedly civilised society.

How depressing.

It was a horrific article. Agreed that it is the rawest form of misogyny possible, the unleashed worst kind of power expression. I guess in Afghanistan the only way for men to feel powerful is to create a society designed to torture and kill women.

It’s appalling. No wonder Afghanistan is the only country in which women’s suicides outnumber men’s. Horrific.

This doesn't really belong on this thread other than as an indication of (some parts) of Afghan male culture.

Whether this persists under the Taliban I dont know.

https://aoav.org.uk/2025/bearing-witness-to-silence-how-uk-soldiers-were-traumatised-by-and-were-ordered-not-to-stop-the-rape-of-boys-in-afghanistan/

Paradoxically, while homosexuality is punishable by stoning in Afghanistan, the practice of bacha bazi persists. Its endurance is tied to Afghanistan’s rigid patriarchal and hierarchical social structure. In a society where gender segregation is strictly enforced, and interactions between men and women are heavily restricted, bacha bazi is often rationalized as an outlet for suppressed sexual desires. This disturbing normalization of abuse underscores deeper issues of toxic masculinity and the commodification of vulnerable individuals.
https://intpolicydigest.org/bacha-bazi-is-seeing-a-revival-under-the-taliban/

It does persist under the Taliban. This is the Home Office's most recent Country Policy and Information Note on unaccompanied children from November 2024 which confirms that it is still a problem. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-country-policy-and-information-notes/country-policy-and-information-note-unaccompanied-children-afghanistan-november-2024-accessible

@DuesToTheDirt I think it's a mixture of all those things. Most religions are anti-women, some more so than others. I think being anti-Western is a big part of it. Also anti-Americanism.

The contempt for women and the child abuse are all part of this vile male supremacist cult. What would it take to make international authorities stand up for women’s and children’s human rights, in Afghanistan and other countries where women are treated as bits of property?