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THE TALIBAN halted a blood donation drive by campaigners to mark International Women’s Day today, activists said.
Speaking outside a Kabul hospital with seven other activists, Monesa Mubarez, the head of a women’s rights group, said the movement had intended to stage a protest.
Because of the Taliban’s brutal crackdown on rights protesters, they had decided to donate blood instead.
But the campaign was thwarted by the Taliban-appointed hospital director at Jumhuriat Hospital when staff learned it was to mark International Women’s Day, she said.
“They saw it as a protest,” Ms Mubarez said.
Attempts to convince the city’s central blood bank were also futile. “They also didn’t give us permission, so our campaign was stopped,” she said.
The Taliban did not respond to requests for comment.
The blood campaign was a symbolic gesture, Ms Mubarez said, to show solidarity with Afghan women, many of whom have limited access to health facilities. “We wanted to send a message: we will not be silent,” she said.
The Taliban has maintained it is committed to upholding the rights of women according to the fundamentalist group’s interpretation of Islam. Its policies — and pressure from other countries — have afforded some freedoms in certain areas of the country compared with the first time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.
The group has said girls will be able to return to high school later this month. Women are also permitted to attend university and work in some sectors, chiefly education and health.
But they also face restrictions. Activists protesting in favour of women’s rights have been beaten and arrested. The Taliban leadership has not appointed women to the executive leadership.
“The Islamic emirate is committed to upholding the sharia rights of all Afghan women. International Women’s Day is a great opportunity for our Afghan women to demand their legitimate rights,” claimed Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a Tweet. “We protect and defend the rights of our Afghan women, God willing.”
