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Afghan women face systematic erasure from public life under Taliban rule five years after U.S. withdrawal

Five years after the U.S. withdrawal, the Taliban have established a system of "gender apartheid" that has largely excluded women from public life. While travel influencers showcase the country's scenery, many Afghan women remain confined to their homes, facing an indefinite ban on secondary and higher education and being restricted from most professional jobs. Recent legislation, such as the "Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" law, requires women to cover their faces in public and forbids them from singing or reading aloud outside the home. These restrictions have led to a surge in child marriages and a mental health crisis, with women's suicide rates now exceeding those of men. Despite these hurdles, many women are bravely fighting for their freedom by opening secret schools and documenting violations online. While the Taliban administration claims to be committed to women's rights within the framework of Sharia law, the reality for many is a state of legal subordination to their husbands and a lack of access to essential services like healthcare, where women are often forbidden from being treated by male doctors.

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