The day after the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, a handful of women protested on the city’s streets. They held up signs and chanted, demanding women’s rights.
Two days later, protesters – led by women – marched with the Afghan flag adopted in 2004, a rebuke to the Taliban.
It is difficult to overstate how brave it is for these women to do this in the face of a group known for violent reprisals, no toleration of dissent, and notorious for its abuses against women.
Many are speaking out, too.
Mary Akrami, head of the Afghan Women’s Network, says the Taliban must engage with women’s rights leaders. If they try to impose rules upon them: “I’ll just say clearly, and I say bravely, it is not acceptable to the women of Afghanistan.”
Pashtana Durrani, another activist, was equally blunt: “As much as they feel entitled to this land, I am as much entitled. It’s as much my country as theirs and right now we fight back, we ask for our rights.”
