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1989-1996 Saw more widespread destruction and internal fighting. There was no dominant government.  1994 The Taliban begins to emerge as a viable political force. It vows to restore order and enforce strict Islamic law.  1995 The Taliban captures Harat and begins its asscention to power.  1996  The Taliban captures Kabul and imposes harsh Islamic system of law on citizens of Afghanistan. Mulla Mohammed Omar is named supreme leader. 1987 - 1992 1992 1997 Taliban

Pictures of present day Afghanistan under Taliban Rule      The effects of Taliban rule on women  Articles:  1) Afghanistan's relentless war on women  2) Buried Alive: Afghan Women Under the Taliban

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Pictures Of Taliban Regime

Two women in the required burqa.               A peasant in rural Afghanistan.       A ritual Islamic gathering.       Ruins of an Afghan village.         More ruins of an ancient city.       Afghans praying at a mosque.

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The Effects of Taliban Rule on Women

The Taliban, upon seizing power, started a system of gender discrimination effectively thrusting the women of Afghanistan into a state of virtual house arrest. When the Taliban took control in 1996, the Taliban initially imposed strict edicts that:

Banished women from the work force

Closed schools to girls in cities and expelled women from universities

Prohibited women from leaving their homes unless acompanied by a close male relative

Ordered the publicly visible windows of women's houses painted black and forced women to wear the burqa (or chadari) - which completely shrouds the body, leaving only a small mesh-covered opening through which to see

Prohibited women and girls from being examined by male physicians while at the same time, prohibited most female doctors and nurses from working. (Currently there are a few, selected female doctors allowed to operate in segregated wards.)

Women have been brutally beaten, flogged and even killed for violating Taliban decrees.

The Consequences of Taliban Rule

A woman who dared to defy Taliban orders by running a home school for girls was shot and killed in front of her husband, daughter, and students.

A woman caught trying to flee Afghanistan with a man not related to her was stoned to death foradultery.

An elderly woman was brutally beaten with a metal cable until her leg was broken because herankle was accidentally showing from underneath her burqa.

Women have died of treatable ailments because male doctors were not allowed to treat them.

Many women, now forcibly housebound, have attempted suicide by swallowing household cleaner,rather than continuing to live under these conditions.

97% of Afghan women surveyed by Physicians for Human Rights exhibit signs of major depression.

All facts came from the Feminist Majority Organization

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