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The Taliban, who are fighting with Afghan forces to take control of much of the war-torn country, issued a statement instructing local religious leaders to provide them with lists of girls over the age of 15 and widows under 45 give, it says in reports. The Taliban have reportedly promised to marry their fighters and take them to Waziristan, Pakistan, where they will be converted to Islam and reintegrated.
“All imams and mullahs in conquered territories should provide the Taliban with a list of girls over 15 and widows under 45 to be married to Taliban fighters,” the letter said on behalf of the Taliban’s Culture Commission, according to the Sun.
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The latest dictation comes as the Taliban took control of many key districts and border posts with Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan after US and NATO troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years. Afghan security forces and military have shown little or no resistance, often left without supplies or reinforcements.
Previously, women in Afghanistan’s northeastern Takhar Province were urged not to leave their homes alone and men were urged to grow beards as they also make dowry regulations for girls as the Taliban enforce their version of Islamic law.
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Under Taliban rule, before they were displaced following the US-led invasion in 2001, women in Afghanistan were not allowed to go to school, work outside the home, or leave their home without a male escort. Violators were publicly humiliated and beaten by the Taliban religious police.
Now Afghan elders say the Taliban will take away their daughters, forcibly marry them and turn them into slaves. “We have felt depressed since the Taliban took power. At home we cannot speak loudly, listen to music or send women to the Friday market. They ask about family members [Taliban] Subcommander said you shouldn’t keep girls over the age of 18; It’s sinful they have to get married, “Haji Rozi Baig, an Afghan elder, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying.
“I’m sure they’ll come the next day and take my 23- and 24-year-old daughters and forcibly marry them,” Baig said.
Also read | India proposes a 3-point roadmap for Afghanistan at the meeting of the SCO group
The Associated Press reported that 140 civil society and faith leaders from the United States, Afghanistan and other countries “committed to the education and rights of women in Afghanistan†have called on President Joe Biden to establish a UN peacekeeping force calling for “to ensure that the cost of the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is not paid in the lives of schoolgirls.”
In the May 14 letter, they also called on the US to increase humanitarian and development aid to Afghanistan “as an important security strategy” to empower women and girls and religious minorities such as the Hazaras.
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