‘Their lives are in danger’: Afghanistan’s female athletes sound alarm after Taliban takeover

Published 22 Aug,2021 via FRANCE 24 - The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan on August 15 has raised grave concerns for the country’s female athletes. Now that Sharia law will be enforced, they worry about losing the freedoms they have gained over the past two decades and in some cases fear for their lives.

Afghanistan enjoyed a period of relative freedom after a US-led coalition ousted the Taliban from power in 2001. Women’s sports flourished against a backdrop of greater respect for their civil rights. However, the Taliban’s takeover raises many concerns for the future of female freedoms in the country.

Under the Taliban’s tyrannical 1996-2001 regime, games, music, photography and television were banned. Girls had no right to an education. Women were forbidden to work or to go outside the home without a male chaperone. And if they were accused of crimes, such as adultery, they were whipped or stoned to death. At his first press conference in Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid assured that women's rights would be respected from now on, but within the "framework of Islamic law".