August 25, 2021

"In Kabul on Wednesday, women in parts of the city with minimal Taliban presence were going out 'with normal clothes, as it was before the Taliban'..."

"... said a resident named Shabaka. But in central areas with many Taliban fighters, few women ventured out, and those who did wore burqas, said Sayed, a civil servant," the NYT reports in "A Taliban spokesman urges women to stay home because fighters haven’t been trained to respect them" (NYT). 

The spokesman said "We are worried our forces who are new and have not been yet trained very well may mistreat women" and "We don’t want our forces, God forbid, to harm or harass women" and advised women to stay home "until we have a new procedure."

The Times quotes someone at Human Rights Watch: "They’re trying to look normal and legitimate, and this will last as long as the international community and the international press are still there. And then we’ll see what they’re really like again....This announcement just highlights to me that they don’t feel like they need to wait."

19 comments:

Dave Begley said...

This won't last. News reports that the TB is raping women, including female corpses.

Quaestor said...

"We don’t want our forces, God forbid, to harm or harass women"

Not that long ago the commanding officer of the Capitol police would have said something similar if asked -- that is, before LT Byrd murdered the unarmed Ashli Babbitt last January 6. But then, she was a blasphemer and deserved to die.

The moral: don't expect the practical morality of the American ruling class to be preferable to that of the Taliban.

wendybar said...

Don't worry. The Taliban will celebrate 9/11 by torturing and killing some Americans to Thank Joe for all the equipment he left behind. (not to mention the stranded that they can gleefully kill!)

madAsHell said...

the NYT reports in "A Taliban spokesman urges women to stay home because fighters haven’t been trained to respect them" (NYT).


....because they just need to be trained differently??

Was this written by a graduate of Columbia School of Journalism?? Let me guess the pronouns!!

rehajm said...

Human Rights Watch won't be watching much longer. That's when the human atrocities will accelerate...

Joe Smith said...

'This won't last. News reports that the TB is raping women, including female corpses.'

I don't believe it when there are still warm goats roaming around.

Narr said...

If male supremacy and female subordination are the theory, Islam is the practice.

In history grad school 40 years ago we studied Western colonialism and its intrusions on Islamic lands. Leaving aside whatever economic interests were served, the moral and ideological justification for those intrusions always came down to, "They treat they wimminfolk bad!"

Why that is considered a good argument for Western men to go white-knighting I didn't understand then, and I still don't.



Yancey Ward said...

When did the Taliban hire Jen Psaki?

Yancey Ward said...

The Taliban are just waiting for us to finish leaving. They haven't changed at all, and a majority of the Afghans support them, including in Kabul itself. This was always the case.

cubanbob said...

Notice none of the commenters are naive enough to give the Taliban the benefit of the doubt. me, I say the full on killing starts in October when we and the others are out and there is no media presence. Expect the Taliban Flag raised over our embassy on 9/11.

Wa St Blogger said...

"We are worried our forces who are new and have not been yet trained very well may mistreat women"

So, stay in doors until we properly train them on the correct way to rape and torture within the tenants of Sharia.

Maybe they ARE planning to treat women better, One can hope this is a real goal, for the sake of the women, but it could simply be optics for now. I suspect the latter given the history.

wildswan said...

The women in Kabul can just identify as men. "I identify as a man, my pronouns are he/him" and there you are. No burqua needed, equal rights - problem solved.

Clyde said...

The women should stay home. Probably good advice for the goats, too.

Joe Smith said...

'Maybe they ARE planning to treat women better, One can hope this is a real goal, for the sake of the women, but it could simply be optics for now. I suspect the latter given the history.'

All I know is, LGBTQ studies classes will be replaced by sammich-making 101 at Kabul U. effective immediately.

Narayanan said...

These young Taliban are kids Born during occupation since 2001

Narr said...

Show some respect, Clyde and y'all! Certain regions of Afghanistan are renowned for the comeliness of their goats.

William said...

This is speculative, but maybe the women of Kabul will be able to negotiate their own separate peace with the Taliban. Men are not hard wired to rape and beat women......I don't think that things will turn out for the best, but maybe things will be a little better than the last time the Taliban held power. Or maybe not..... Just once, I'd like to be pleasantly surprised by developments in an Islamic land. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the Soviet Union evaporated almost overnight. Maybe those Taliban warriors riding through Kabul take note of all the stores and restaurants and dental offices and think that maybe some of this is worth preserving......

Bunkypotatohead said...

The Taliban can't be any worse than the white male oppressors of the USA. I'm sure the staff of the NYT would agree.

glacial erratic said...

So, just like masks wearing in Dem jurisdictions.