The Taliban arrested human rights activist Zarifa Yaqubi and several of her associates at a Kabul press conference last Thursday. Their whereabouts are unknown, as are any charges they may face.
Yaqubi was photographed participating in a protest staged in Kabul in early October to speak out against the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education and the lack of human rights for women. Another activist sent me videos she filmed of women walking toward a local university, demanding “Let us in!” After half a day of protesting, the activist said the Taliban arrested and beat some young women before shooting their weapons to disperse the crowds. She showed me video of Taliban fighters brandishing guns, and of women screaming as they fled amid gunfire. She also sent an image of a Taliban fighter taking video of the protesters. Though most women wore coverings to obscure their faces, others like Yaqubi may have been vulnerable to identification.
TALIBAN BLOCK AFGHAN WOMEN FROM TAKING COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS IN ‘DIFFICULT’ SUBJECTS
Between the Taliban’s restrictions on the movement of women and the difficulty of acquiring travel visas, female protesters have limited options to evade the meat grinder that is the Taliban’s Afghanistan. Escape has become similarly difficult for countless stranded Afghan allies. With Qatar set to host the World Cup in late November, paltry evacuation flights bringing several hundred Afghans to safety each week will soon cease until January. Snow, a lack of modern technology, staffing shortages, and confusion over responsibility for running Hamid Karzai International Airport may make further winter flights difficult.
The U.S. put a great deal of trust in the Taliban on its departure from Afghanistan. That faith was severely misplaced. Among other grievous misdeeds, a Taliban affiliate harbored a senior al Qaeda terrorist, while the Taliban continue killing former Afghan government personnel and ethnic minorities, arresting innocents, crushing media freedom, and stripping women of basic human rights. According to UNICEF, the Taliban’s ban on girls’ secondary education has kept around 3 million girls from attending secondary school. The Taliban have not been so stringent in enforcing their opium ban. A recent report from the United Nations suggests that opium cultivation expanded by 32% in 2022, making it one of the most profitable years in recent history.
Unfortunately, U.S. government agencies have been close-lipped about fallout from the Taliban’s reign of terror. The same applies to their abysmal record for processing up to 435,933 applicants and family members awaiting special immigrant visas and referrals to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Even the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction recently reported that “the non-cooperation of several U.S. government agencies” made it impossible for the group to account for the $1.1 billion in U.S. government assistance sent to Afghanistan since August 2021.
The Biden administration’s faith in the Taliban has had disastrous effects. Any future U.S.-Taliban talks must be predicated upon the reopening of girls’ schools and the release of women protesters and others jailed arbitrarily. Senior Taliban leaders should be presented with incontrovertible evidence of their fighters’ crimes, with U.S. negotiators outlining direct consequences should such hostilities continue. To continue treating the Taliban as a trustworthy partner would be an unconscionable betrayal of the Afghan people.
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Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
