Monitoring Desk: Afghanistan has become a jailed country for single mothers who try to feed their families. Women now face prison if they try to do any business even sitting on the four walls of their homes because women used to visit local markets to sell value addition products and buy raw materials for production.
There is no record available with anyone about how many women have been jailed under Taliban rule since August 2021 except the leaked documents showing 1,300 Afghan women are in jails for ‘not following civil rules’ while lynching and beheading of women is mostly done publically therefore that record is available.
The issue of a ban on women working outside the home was raised by human rights and women’s rights organizations during the UNGA annual meeting but concerns were oversights and the interim Afghan government was invited for a meeting on human rights issues and women’s rights organizations were not allowed to sit in the meeting under the instruction of Taliban delegation. It was reported that such soft treatment of Afghan Talian was brokered by the Biden government with whom Afghan Taliban had wonderful relations and were getting financial support from the Biden administration.
Under Taliban rule, women had been banned from appearing in public alone or traveling for more than 72km without a male chaperone. Now working at home has also been banned, according to independent media of central Asian states. Multiple UN agencies reported an increase in child and forced marriage, as well as gender-based violence and femicide with impunity. The Taliban progressively dissolved the institutional framework of support for survivors of gender-based violence that had operated under the former government. There were widespread reports of women and girls suffering from depression, in some cases leading to suicide.
Now leaked documents confirmed that official databases have revealed Taliban imprisoned at least 352 Afghan women and detained 1,081 others between March 2023 and March 2024. The total number of women in jails is still not known.
A significant portion of the leaked files at “Talibleaks” show 18,000 citizens are in Taliban’s custody.
According to the leaked records, the total number of detainees in prisons and detention centers across Kabul and the provinces amounts to around 18,000 individuals, including 16,507 men and more than 1,300 Afghan women. The total number of detained and imprisoned women includes 1,374 Afghan women and six foreign women. The list, dated 5 October 2023, indicates female detainees and prisoners across other provinces: In Parwan – 19 prisoners, 25 detainees; Sar-e-Pol – 18 prisoners, 17 detainees; Jowzjan – 18 prisoners, 55 detainees; Kandahar – 14 prisoners, 45 detainees; Takhar – 35 detainees; Farah – 19 prisoners; Ghazni – 13 prisoners, 36 detainees, and Khost – 26 detainees.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Communications has accepted that documents from multiple government departments have been leaked and preliminary investigations central government database has not been compromised.
In an official statement, the Taliban’s Ministry of Communications said: “Based on the leaked documents, many belong to departments that previously lacked dedicated systems.”
It is believed that leaked could be a result of the “Afghan Intelligence and Indian Intelligence collaboration” because Indian partners could have access to sensitive data of the Afghan government as they are working very closely with Afghan Intelligence all over the country.
After this development, Mullah Hibatullah, the Taliban’s leader, issued a decree banning the “public and physical” presence of intelligence personnel in all government institutions, particularly within the Ministries of Defence and Interior. The decree mandates that intelligence officers withdraw from these ministries and other governmental bodies immediately.
