Highlights:
- Taliban spokesperson Sayed Zekrullah Hashimi talks to TOLO News
- Taliban says “Woman cannot be a minister”
- Taliban is facing outrage on social media platforms
- Taliban announced an all-male cabinet for its interim government on Tuesday.
A Taliban spokesperson, in an interview, said that women cannot be ministers and they should give birth, reinforcing the perception that the hardline group’s claims of being a new and improved version since its brutal rule in Afghanistan in the 1960s are lies.
The comments from the Taliban spokesperson Sayed Zekrullah Hashimi to TOLO News on the new Afghan government missing women ministers have taken over the social media.
Hashimi told the TOLO News, “A woman can’t be a minister, it is like you put something on her neck that she can’t carry. It is not necessary for women to be in the cabinet – they should give birth. Women protesters can’t represent all women in Afghanistan”.
The interviewer countered by saying that “Women are half of the society”.
Hashimi replied by saying, “But we do not consider them half. What kind of half? The half itself is misdefined here. The half means here that you keep them in the cabinet and nothing more.
“And if you violate her rights, not an issue. Over the last 20 years, whatever was said by this media, the US, and its puppet government in Afghanistan, was it anything but prostitution in offices?”
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However, the interviewer interjected by exclaiming that one cannot accuse all women of prostitution.
The Taliban spokesperson said, “I do not mean all Afghan women. The four women protesting in the streets, they do not represent the women of Afghanistan.
“The women of Afghanistan are those who give birth to the people of Afghanistan, educates them on Islamic ethics”.
When asked why he thought women could not be ministers, Hashimi said: “What a woman does, she cannot do the work of a ministry. You put something on her neck that she cannot carry.”
On Tuesday, the Taliban announced an all-male cabinet for its interim government, with hardliners and globally wanted terrorists in key ministries.
Even since the Taliban took control of Kabul on the 15th of August, the group known for its oppressive regime 20 years ago, has tried to distance itself from its old policies of excluding women from work and education.
However, there has been a mismatch between its words and actions.
The Taliban said that under the new rules, women may work “in accordance with the principles of Islam”.
It also said that women can also study at university in classrooms that are segregated by sex, but they must wear an abaya robe and niqab covering most of their faces.
