Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice' in the building that once housed the Women's Affairs Ministry, the latest sign that the Taliban are restricting women's rights.
Separately, three explosions targeted Taliban vehicles in the eastern provincial capital of Jalalabad on Saturday, killing three people and wounding 20, witnesses said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Islamic State group militants, headquartered in the area, are enemies of the Taliban.
Staff of the World Bank's $100 million Women's Economic Empowerment and Rural Development Program, which was run out of the Women's Affairs Ministry, were escorted off the grounds Saturday, said program member Sharif Akhtar, who was among those being removed. Statements from the Taliban leadership often reflect a willingness to engage with the world, open public spaces to women and girls and protect Afghanistan's minorities. But orders to its rank and file on the ground are contradictory. Instead restrictions, particularly on women, have been implemented.Suraj, an Afghan American who returned to Afghanistan in 2003 to promote women's rights and education, said many of her fellow activists have left the country.
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Taliban replace ministry for women with one restricting themKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice' in the building that once housed the Women's Affairs Ministry, escorting out World Bank staffers Saturday as part of the forced move.
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Taliban replaces women's ministry with ministry of virtue and viceWorkers in the Afghan capital Kabul replaced signs for the country's women's ministry with those for the Taliban's moral police on Friday, as female former employees of the department said they had been locked out of the building.
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Taliban makes promises of peace to women'Life for women in Afghanistan at this point, it's kind of foggy. We really don't know what is going to be happening,' Mahbouba Seraj, founder of the Afghan Women's Network, discusses the state of women's rights in Afghanistan.
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