KABUL, Jan 12 (Afghanistan Women’s News Agency) – The Taliban forces have detained numerous women in recent days on charges of not observing the hijab, and have transferred them to police stations or unknown detention centers, a deed unprecedented in the history of the country. Sources have informed the Afghanistan Women’s News Agency that the […]
KABUL, Jan 12 (Afghanistan Women’s News Agency) – The Taliban forces have detained numerous women in recent days on charges of not observing the hijab, and have transferred them to police stations or unknown detention centers, a deed unprecedented in the history of the country.
Sources have informed the Afghanistan Women’s News Agency that the Taliban departments have established a lucrative source of income for themselves by detaining women, and have reportedly received up to $3000 in exchange for the release of each girl.
Hoda Khamush, the head of the Afghanistan Women’s Justice Seeker Movement informs the Afghanistan Women’s News Agency that the Taliban have openly engaged in the extralegal detention of women and girls, thereby generating income for themselves. She also maintains that the abduction of girls by the Taliban has previously existed, and they take many women and girls away for their soldiers’ marriages.
“In Ghazni province and in Kabul city, many girls have been disappearing for some time, and these girls, after a few days, call their families, saying, Do not look for me, I have been married off,” She said.
According to Ms. Khamush, the Taliban have seized substantial sums of money in exchange for the release of each detained woman at recent group detentions of women. She stated, “After subjecting women to torture, the Taliban officials have also taken up to two hundred thousand Afghanis in cash and property documents as a guarantee in exchange for their release.”
The acquaintances of a female doctor, who was detained by the Taliban from a private hospital in Kabul city, say that she has been subjected to horrendous torture.
A source close to the female doctor said, “She spent a night in captivity and was released the next day after paying one hundred and sixty thousand Afghanis and surrendering two property deeds.”
Previously, two other sources had stated in an interview with the Afghanistan Women’s News Agency that they had paid ten thousand and fifteen thousand Afghanis respectively for the release of their daughters.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Taliban, confirmed the arrest of women from various parts of Kabul in a conversation with the media. He stated that the morality police of the group, which also includes women, had taken some women to their respective police stations in Kabul and “after the presence of their fathers and brothers in the police stations, all were released following a one to two-hour investigation.”
His statements come as women’s rights activists say many women and girls remain missing or in Taliban captivity following recent arrests.
