'We cannot speak': Activist on women's lives under Taliban rule

Now imagine a place. And we wish you didn't. Where women are not allowed to even speak in public. That place is now Afghanistan under the Taliban. They recently imposed the most serious restrictions yet on women and girls, who must now also fully cover their face and bodies, cannot read or sing out loud, and must have a male chaperon outside the home, and cannot even look at men who are unrelated to them. A true dystopia nightshirt mitten is an Afghan human rights activists now with the Atlantic Council, who's campaigned for international recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan and beyond. And she joins us now from Washington. Warm welcome to the program. Thanks for being with us. Thank you for having me. You know, when we talk about erasing women from public life, that seems to be what these edicts are designed to be. It's now we have to remind everyone more than three years since the Taliban took over. It was, in fact, a chaotic evacuation that led to the U.S., its allies ending its 20 year occupation. And now women are completely isolated. Can you give us a sense of just how dehumanizing the situation is for women and girls right now? Under the Taliban? Thank you. before coming here, I went over the stories of some of the women that I usually talk to in, in the campaign ahead of the third anniversary of the Taliban. We collected some stories on how these draconian, decrees impact their lives. on a daily basis, I came across this, story of, high school students who haven't been able to go to school for the past three years. and she wrote to us, that she has tried to commit suicide, two times so far. And then she doesn't know what others think, but she, thinks she will go insane. and then I was talking to another, another group of women, and they inside Afghanistan. they were saying, yes. The law, that the Taliban just published says, women can go out for, basic needs, survival. things like food, or, medicine. But, they were like, we cannot speak, we cannot show our faces, and we have to have a man to chaperon us outside. So when you see that in context of Afghanistan, that's actually de facto denial of having access to these basic needs. That's, that's there. and this is when you when we speak about this, it's not just any act, but it's the Taliban laws. that just got, expanded and intensified. when they, when they published, they are 114 pages of, ministry of the Minister of Voice, in virtual law, and that in 35 articles, actually criminalize, the face in the very voice of women. and this is not, something new. It's, continue continuing continuation of a series of decrees that have been issued since they came to power. It isn't new, but it's certainly seems far more draconian than even was the case a few years ago. You know, you are so right to mention the mental health, and there is a mental health crisis on the ground, right? Right now, and many can imagine why. I want you to listen now, to a story that we did recently regarding the suffering of these women and girls. Listen, huddled on the floor over schoolbooks. 16 year old Arzu meticulously copies the English sentences, her neat cursive writing a display of devotion to furthering her education. My heart was in our care. Make it home. Learning new words makes me happy, she explains. But she. But this scene was unthinkable just eight months ago, when we first met Arzu in the same room on the outskirts of Karachi in Pakistan. Arzu was bedridden, her skeletal frame wasting away from it was nice and well. Every breath she took and movement she made, causing unbearable pain. Also is from neighboring Afghanistan and it's there. In her home. In July of last year, she tried to kill herself. Can you talk to us about. This is the first time the teenager, whose identity is hidden due to security concerns, is able to speak to us about what led her to that point. Oh, What was I thinking on that day? I felt like everything was over. I glanced at pictures of my classmates and felt a deep sense of longing. I was overwhelmed by hopelessness, and that's why I drank battery acid, convinced it would end my life. A situation so overwhelming. We do. We are happy to report that so is now making a remarkable recovery. But because she's receiving lifesaving treatment, if I hear you correctly, you hear a lot of stories of desperation. What are your worries as these new edicts take hold in Afghanistan? so as the time passes, through the Taliban, system get more established and the institutionalized and systematic, nature of, the regime, get more draconian and harsh on women. My main concern is the trajectory. It's it's, on the life of women and girls in Afghanistan. We wouldn't be able to reverse it for decades to come. So that's why inside Afghanistan, gender apartheid campaign. in Gender reporter today we are calling for the international community to respond and act and criminalize what's happening in Afghanistan. Why? For a girl going to school when it's banned, it's not a crime yet. and I think seeing especially this new law that is, as I told before, continuation of, many other, draconian laws that basically has imprisoned women inside their houses should shake the countries of humanity. And then I think as a global community, we are we should be responsible and act, to respond to it because we have international law that we that tell us that this shouldn't be acceptable in anywhere else, around the world. I call on everyone who hear me that, see it as a global responsibility and doesn't allow such an action to be normalized, and anywhere else in the world. And, and so I. But why do you believe it has been normalized, perhaps in Afghanistan? Do you believe that there's Western complicity here, especially with the withdrawal three years ago? But also in the way that they have negotiated and dealt with the Taliban since? Exactly. unfortunately, women, woman of Afghanistan has been taking risk, going to the street to protest Taliban accepting gunshots, pepper sprays, lashes, imprisonment, torture and even death. But then. So when when the world approach toward the Taliban is is so conciliatory and appeasing, the future they see, they they look forward to look very grim. we saw that the international community, had a UNled format, event in Doha, this year, which I was participating in the second Doha, in the third Doha, just to make sure the Taliban are present there and to make them happy. They didn't allow any civil society or women to be part of that meeting. and also they didn't include any, women's issues or women's rights and human rights issues on their agenda. and we have been seeing that they are speaking about, opening their missions inside. inside the Taliban. And we see that there is travel bans for the Taliban. Members are not, being implemented. They they're traveling to the, Western countries, in the regional countries. So the women of Afghanistan have been left alone in the past three years now. And that's why inside they're calling for it, for gender apartheid to be codified within international law, because it brings accountability both to the Taliban, but also for the states, and other countries that are, in terms of their engagement and responsibility to understand it. So we don't have a lot of time left. But I do want to ask you, some will say that, look, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan remains grave, that the West must engage, on some level and in order to deal with basic human needs to put a fine point on it. Would you like them to impose more sanctions? Would you like them to withdraw from having any discussions with the Taliban? What do you think would work for me? It's important that anything that happened towards Afghanistan should be principled, should be considered of women's right and women's voices in the process human. I am not against humanitarian aid, but the way that's now. they're sending up one on the way. It's getting distributed inside Afghanistan. It's not gender sensitive. It's not monitored properly. We need to make sure that humanitarian we we sent to Afghanistan people of Afghanistan who deserve it, including women, receive it. And that doesn't embolden the Taliban regime. So that's why we are calling for codification of the gender apartheid, to make sure all these processes, the engagements, everything that happens towards Afghanistan, be principled and within the context and framework of international law and human rights values that we all admire. It's a and it is a story, obviously, that we will continue to follow here on Amanpour. And we thank you for your time today. Thank you.