Taliban’s latest attempt to punish women could backfire

The Taliban have brought in the new year by stepping up their campaign against women and girls in Afghanistan.

Having already banned women from education and employment, the regime is now targeting women on the streets for their appearance. This is a dangerous new phase in the Taliban’s attempts to dominate women and girls and erase them from public life.

The Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has reportedly detained and imprisoned dozens of women and girls in Kabul for “non-compliance” with Taliban edicts on observing hijab.

This includes several instances of Taliban officials intercepting women and girls on the street in the Taimani and Dasht-e-Barchi areas of the city before detaining them. The Taliban claim these women were “spreading and encouraging others to wear a bad hijab” and wearing makeup.

Last year, the movement ordered all women to cover their faces in public and decreed that male family members were responsible for enforcing these strict rules. At the time, the Taliban told women the best option was to “not leave their homes at all if possible” because it was “the best option to observe sharia hijab.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the arrests on January 8, stating that “a number of women were transferred to relevant areas for modeling,” and claimed they were released after two hours.

But this is contrary to reports that many women are still detained and that some were beaten by the Taliban or stripped naked and sexually abused.

Heather Barr, associate human-rights director at Human Rights Watch, has claimed that these women faced “torture and are being subjected to horrible preconditions before being released.” Barr also claimed the Taliban were threatening to