Scores of women took to the streets of Kabul to protest against the Taliban after the group’s announcement that women will not be able to hold senior positions in the upcoming government. The protestors marched on the streets of Kabul, raising slogans of freedom, democracy and resistance. The protestors also chanted slogans against Pakistan for its alleged role in the upbringing and bolstering of the new Afghan regime, a charge Islamabad has denied.
According to the details, thousands of protestors – predominantly women – took to the streets of Kabul to protest for their basic rights. The women have been protesting for the past week, and they were also joined by a large number of men on Tuesday who joined their calls for safety and equality.
The protestors were heard chanting “long live resistance” and “death to Pakistan” as they marched along the streets against the flustered Taliban forces. “Afghan women want their country to be free. They want their country to be rebuilt. We are tired… We want that all our people have normal lives. How long shall we live in this situation?” one protestor asked.
The Taliban forces fired aerial shots to disperse the protestors – a move that the group banned days after several civilians were killed in the celebratory fire. Video footage of the protests shows women running to safety and taking shelter in the neighbouring buildings.
Journalists were not allowed to report and film the protests. The Taliban forces were also taking close-up shots of the women leading the protests, possibly to identify and round them up later on.
The mood of Tuesday’s protests was anger, directed predominantly against Pakistan and also the Taliban. The protestors, who blame Pakistan for providing aerial support to the Afghan Taliban in their battle for Panjshir, the last remaining resistance holdout, chanted slogans of “death to Pakistan” in front of the Pakistan embassy in Kabul.
Pakistan has dismissed these claims, but it has been long seen as a vital supporter of the Taliban insurgency. Many in Afghanistan detest what they see as Pakistan’s interference in their country – a feeling exacerbated by the ISI chief’s visit to Afghanistan this week.