In a press conference, one of the top leaders of the Taliban has announced that they did not actually remove the Ministry of Women Affairs and they are looking into options to resume its operations based on Islamic rules and under the supervision of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The Taliban have previously announced their cabinet in which the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has replaced the Ministry of Women Affairs. There were many statements by them saying that they have removed the Ministry of Women Affairs and there will be no such ministry in future.
They have not added any further information on how a Ministry of Women Affairs will be resumed and who will head this ministry, but it seems that the Taliban are seeking to decrease the pressure from the international community. So maybe the international community’s pressure on the Taliban concerning human rights and women rights is producing results, at least at this moment.
If the above happens and the Taliban let the Ministry of Women Affairs resume its operations, they will need to remove their decree against the recruitment of women in the public administration. Their decree ordered that no women can work in first, second, and third grades in the government administrations. The decree further added that if there were women in government authorities in those grades, they would have to resign or be terminated.
JURIST EXCLUSIVE – Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Here, a lawyer in Kabul offers his personal observations and perspective on an apparent Taliban reversal of their decision to suspend the Ministry of Women Affairs in Afghanistan. For privacy and security reasons we are withholding our correspondent’s name and institutional affiliation. The text has been only lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.
