The Taliban regime governing Afghanistan has been infamous for their stringent and often limiting rules applied only for the female sex. From closing down educational institutions for women to restricting their employment, and even altogether banning their presence in many public spaces, the Taliban Government turned back all the freedom to exercise the civil rights that females enjoyed while the US army was in the country.
Notably, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Human Rights Commission in Afghnaistan has been erased under the Taliban regime.
In their latest blow to the feminine existence, couple of days ahead of the International Women’s Day, reports by AFP, has suggested that the Taliban regime is now forcing women to go back to their abusive husbands.
They are being forced to return to their husbands they has divorced.
Divorces annulled in Afghanistan
The AFP talked about Marwa, whose abusive ex-husband broke all her teeth. Marwa was one of a small number of women who, under the previous US-backed government, were granted a legal separation in Afghanistan.
However, Marwa has now resorted to hiding with all of her eight children as the Taliban government forces her to reunite with the monstrous husband.
According to AFP, when Taliban forces swept into power in 2021, her husband claimed he had been forced into the divorce and commanders ordered her back to his clutches.
“My daughters and I cried a lot that day,” Marwa, 40, whose name has been changed for her own protection, told AFP.
“I said to myself, ‘Oh God, the devil has returned’.”
The Taliban commanders have annulled several divorces in the country, dragging women back into abusive marriages.
Domestic abuse in Afghanistan
In what United Nations called “gender-based apartheid”, women are facing the worst nightmare with no right to fight domestic abuse, no right to separate from their legally married abuser.
According to the UN’s mission in Afghanistan nine in 10 women will experience physical, sexual or psychological violence from their partner
Divorce, however, is often more taboo than the abuse itself and the culture remains unforgiving to women who part with their husbands.
Under the previous US-backed government, divorce rates were steadily rising in some cities, where the small gains in women’s rights were largely limited to education and employment.
According to AFP report, under the Taliban government divorces are limited to when a husband was a classified drug addict or has left the country.
(With inputs from AFP)