Four Years of Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan - Do You Care?
Four years. That’s how long Afghan women and girls have been living under a regime that treats their existence as a threat to public order. Four years of being denied education, jobs, public life, even the right to walk freely on their own streets. FOUR YEARS OF GENDER APARTHEID. And now, in 2025, here’s the new absurdity:
- Foreign women are being welcomed as tourists snapping photos at museums, sipping tea in city squares, smiling at the same landmarks that Afghan girls are banned from seeing. A 35-year-old American tourist walks through Kabul and says she feels the hospitality. An Afghan woman of the same age? She’s forbidden from walking alone, forbidden from studying, forbidden from working. The double standard isn't subtle but staged. Tourism is a new project, part of the Taliban’s PR campaign to rebrand itself as "open for business" just not for Afghan women. The contrast between foreign curiosity and local captivity is chilling. But what does it say when foreign women can explore Afghan culture more freely than Afghan women themselves? Source: https://www.afintl.com/en/202507308511
- Meanwhile, Afghan journalists are disappearing into detention cells. One was accused of “moral corruption” for reporting on the plight of women. Others have vanished for promoting basic rights or accepting foreign grants. A ministry named “Propaganda of Virtue” operates as prosecutor, judge, and jailer. The rule of law is a theatre without a script just iron bars and loudspeakers. Fifteen journalists are currently in Taliban custody. Most of them, the outside world will never hear about. Source: https://www.afintl.com/en/202507316588
- In October, a People’s Tribunal will take place in Madrid led by Afghan civil society, not governments. Afghan women will speak. Civil society groups will present evidence. International judges will listen. There’s no legal power behind it, but that’s not the point. Documentation is power. Testimony is memory that refuses to be erased.
Source: https://www.afintl.com/en/202508015983
And memory matters. Especially now. Russia has formally recognised the Taliban. China’s dealing with them. European governments are restarting deportations. Behind closed doors, many have decided to treat this regime as just another government. Afghan women are being buried alive in the same breath that countries are shaking hands. But they are still speaking. They are collecting data, telling stories, building archives of pain and resistance. They are not asking to be saved. They’re asking to be heard and to not be forgotten while the world moves on. This isn’t about diplomacy or national interest or regional strategy. This is about a generation of women being erased on purpose. You don’t have to be a policymaker to take a stand. Say their names. Share their stories. Keep this conversation alive.