This is the latest in a series of conversations I have been having with an Afghan friend since the Taliban took power last year. I am not revealing his identity out of concern for his safety.
Dear David:
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they’ve consistently banned secondary schooling for girls. Recently they suddenly announced that girls would be allowed to go to secondary school, but then quickly rescinded that announcement.
Let me describe the situation for girls in rural Helmand province, which is typical of most of Afghanistan.
On a recent trip to one of Helmand's districts called Sangin, I talked with many people and asked them to describe their lives. A young man who appeared to be in his late twenties told me about his family. His father had two wives, and 15 children, six girls and nine boys. None of them are educated.
The young man said that there is not any active school in their village, but one former school, now a damaged skeleton of a building, that is occupied by the Taliban. The Talibs tell the people of the village that if they send their children to school they will become infidels. The people believe them so they send their sons not to school but to the seminary. No one talks about the girls going to school because it is considered shameful to even talk about women there.
Women have no rights in Helmand. A woman is considered to be her husband's possession. If a suitor comes for a girl, she has no right to accept or reject him, she must submit to whatever her father decides. The groom is expected to pay between $10,000 - $20,000 to his father-in-law, which in Afghanistan is an enormous sum of money.
Sometimes, girls are sold as second or third wives for large sums of money, even if the man is very old. When a girl goes to her husband's house, she has no right to protest her situation. Nor can she get a divorce. If she protests against her conditions, she will be beaten. Outside of the home, her name is never even spoken.
The Taliban are using the issue of improving the lives of girls as a weapon to try and get the rest of the world to recognize them as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. The girls are pawns in this game.
Meanwhile, the progress made before the Taliban took over has been reversed and now girls are trapped in their homes. They have little hope that the situation will improve anytime soon.
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