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UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi Women at the UNICEF-supported Mirza Mohammad Khan clinic in Afghanistan.

A Timeline of the Taliban's assault on women's and human rights

AUGUST 2021:

  • Declared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as form of government.
  • Declared amnesty for opposition and former pro-republic officials and urge women to join Taliban’s government.
  • Carried out house to house search looking for journalists and individuals with ties to the republic and Western forces.
  • Banned music in public.
  • Ordered imams to bring them lists of unmarried women aged 12 to 45 for their fighters to marry.

SEPTEMBER 2021:

  • Announced a caretaker government.
  • Indicated they might temporarily implement the 1964 Constitution.
  • Announced ban on co-education.
  • Announced re-opening of high schools for boys but makes no mention of girls.
  • Banned protests and slogans that don’t have prior approval from Taliban.
  • Replaced women’s ministry with ministry of virtue and virtue.
  • Ordered shopkeepers to deface mannequins in their stores.
  • Ordered professional/working women to stay home until further notice.
  • Banned women from attending and teaching at Kabul University.

NOVEMBER 2021:

  • Banned foreign films, comedy and entertainment shows that are considered offensive to Afghans.
  • Armed Taliban took control of the Afghan Independent Bar Association.

DECEMBER 2021:

  • Issued special decree about women’s rights, outlined the importance of women’s consent during Nikah, that a woman is not property, but a noble and free human being…
  • Banned long-distance road trips for solo women. The Vice and Virtue order said women traveling for more than 72 km (45 miles) should be accompanied by a mahram.
  • Banned drivers from playing music in cars and having women passengers without hijab.
  • Dissolved election commission, ministry of peace and ministry of parliamentary affairs.

JANUARY 2022:

  • Ordered coffee shop owners in Herat not to allow women in if they are not accompanied by a mahram.
  • Promised to reopening schools and universities.

Note: In January the Taliban met with representatives of the US, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and the European Union and Norway in Oslo to discuss Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis.

FEBRUARY 2022:

  • Ordered NGOs to replace board members and those in leadership positions with Afghans living inside Afghanistan.
  • Ordered universities to enforce gender segregated classrooms.
  • Banned women from traveling abroad without a mahram and without a legitimate reason.

Note:  In February the Taliban in Geneva signed a document vowing to “facilitate principled humanitarian action in Afghanistan and to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers and aid…”

MARCH 2022:

  • Ordered closure of schools for girls’ grade 7 and up.
  • Declared women must not be employed in offices and must not leave home. The order was issued by the ministry of interior and signed by Qari Ihsanullah Sohail, Chief of staff of deputy for security affairs.
  • Ordered men to grow beard or risk being fired.
  • Banned the broadcast of all foreign TV series.
  • Dictated different days for men and women to visit parks.

APRIL 2022:

  • Banned TikTok and PUBG insisting they were leading Afghan youths astray.
  • Banned poppy cultivation through a decree.
  • Announced three days of week for female and three days for male university students.

MAY 2022:

  • Dissolved the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. The Decree was signed by Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi, second deputy PM, Najibullah Haqani, acting minister of communication and information, Mawlawi Saif u din Na’ib, Deputy of Administrative Affairs, Mawlawi Hamdullah Nemani, acting minister of urban development, Mawlawi Abdul Qadir Ahmad, second deputy of the Afghanistan Bank.
  • Issued recommendation and implementation plan regarding proper hijab. The order was signed by Sheikh Mawlawi Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Sheikh Mawlawi Abdul Hakim, Sheikh Mawlawi Noor Mohammad Saqeb, Sheikh Mawlawi Shahabudin Delawar, Sheikh Mawlawi Faridudin Mahmood, Sheikh Mawlawi Nurullah Munir, Sheikh Mawlawai Noorul Haq Anwar.
  • Ordered female TV presenters to cover their faces on air.
  • Stopped issuing driving license to women.
  • Issued order that women are not allowed to use public transport if they are alone.

Note: The Al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri renewed allegiance to the Taliban leader.