Persecution of Women in Public Facing Jobs
'I Am Very Afraid': Women on the Front Lines of a New Afghanistan
Al Jazeera article ''I Am Very Afraid': Women on the Front Lines of a New Afghanistan" can be used to support the factual claims and legal arguments made by the applicant. The following are relevant excerpts, as well as the link to the entire article.
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"We had been investigating the killings of women in Afghanistan since the United States signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020. Such killings have been rising, with record numbers documented by the United Nations: 219 women killed in the first six months of this year, compared with 138 during the same period in 2020. But it seemed very few people had been held accountable for these murders." Pages 1-2
"More than 70 girls, bombed on their way home from school in Kabul in May 2021. Two judges shot in Kabul in January 2021. A journalist shot in Jalalabad on her way to work in December 2020. The list just kept growing. And there were few reports of investigations and arrests of those responsible." Page 6
"The Taliban now says it will govern inclusively, inviting women to join its government, and pledging that it can continue to be part of the workforce as long as it is 'in accordance with Sharia law.' But many Afghan women are not convinced. They remember the Taliban which subjected women to public beatings, which forced them to wear burqas, and which refused to let them go to school." Page 8
"It is a special kind of fear when women speak to me about the Taliban. It is the fear of going back to a dark time of subjugation and imprisonment. The fear of losing control over one’s own destiny. The fear of no longer being able to dream. Most of the women I know are in hiding, afraid that the Taliban will find them, asking whether I can help them leave the country. Some have already left, not knowing if they can ever return." Page 9