KABUL (SW) – A number of Wolesi Jirga (lower house) members on Monday expressed fears regarding reports of the Taliban allegedly playing with the honour of locals in areas under their control.
Since the escalation of violence and the successive fall of districts, there have been reports of Taliban imposing strict restrictions on women in the areas they control. Following these news, a number of members of the house expressed their reactions.
Abdul Sattar Hosseini, a member of parliament, said the Taliban are forcibly marrying young girls in areas under their control. According to Hosseini, the Taliban have directed locals in different areas that they should introduce girls over the age of 15 and widows under the age of 45 to the group’s cultural commission so that they can get married.
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The MP called on the people and all businessmen to support the security forces and launch a national uprising against the Taliban. “How can the Taliban force women and girls to marry others?”
Halima Sadaf Karimi, another member of the house, said that the living conditions of the people in the northern regions of the country are worrying and that the Taliban have imposed strict laws in these areas. Karimi said the Taliban have put women in difficult conditions in these areas and the house should not remain silent about it.
According to the lawmaker, the Taliban said in a statement that every family in the north should marry a girl over the age of 12 to the group’s fighters. According to her, imposing these laws on women is a direct violation of their basic rights.
On the other hand, Waheed Omar, the president’s public relations and strategic affairs adviser, told a news conference in Kabul that the Taliban had entered the war with their mentality of thousands of years ago. According to Omar, the Taliban are violating the laws of war and human rights by burning schools and public facilities and restricting people.
“As a society, we have a struggle ahead of us. Fight for the future of this country, fight for the children of this country, for the women of this country and the youth of this country”, he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Naeem, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, wrote on his Twitter page that these charges regarding the Taliban on social media were untrue and propaganda.
“All this propaganda by the enemy is aimed at controlling their fear and anxiety, to distract common thinking and to cover up their compounding failures”, said the Taliban statement.
ENDS
