Taliban restrictions on women's artistic expression highlighted

Five years after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the country's cultural sector has been hollowed out, with women and girls stripped of the ability to express themselves through art, music, and film. Sara Karimi, the former director-general of Afghan Film, the state cinema regulator, said in an interview that everything has changed. "So art is forbidden, music is forbidden, cinema became crime, act of crime," she said. Karimi, who was the first woman to head the institution, explained that women filmmakers and artists have been forced into hiding or exile. Those who remain in Afghanistan are afraid to reveal their past activities, and many have changed their names and addresses. Secret book clubs, poetry classes, and writing groups have emerged as acts of resistance, but they carry great risk. "If the Taliban know that somebody is publishing online poetry, or publishing online story, they arrest them," she said. More than two million students are not going to school, and many of them were art students.

The Taliban's fifth anniversary celebrations in Kabul on Saturday underscored the regime's confidence. Armoured vehicles rolled into Masoud Square outside the former US embassy, and sports events were held, but women and girls were banned from attending. The celebrations came as Afghans continue to face deepening poverty, drought, and steep cuts in foreign aid. Chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet reported from Kabul that the country is more peaceful, but Afghans are battling other challenges, including a growing list of rules erasing women and girls from public life. Women cannot go to parks, girls cannot attend school beyond grade six, and women are barred from many jobs.

The restrictions have also hit sports. The Afghan women's football team, which was banned from organised sport and forced into exile, has reunited and played two friendlies in Auckland against the Cook Islands. This was the first time FIFA allowed Afghanistan's team in exile back into international football. The players said they want to prove they are still fighting for their rights. "We want Afghanistan to be free and we want Afghan girls and women to be free to be able to choose who they want to be," one player said. The team aims to compete for a place at the 2028 Olympic Games.

Political pressure is building for international recognition of the situation as gender apartheid. Councillor Peymana Asad, the first British Afghan official elected in the UK, said Afghans feel betrayed by their allies. She listed the extensive restrictions on women, including bans on education, employment, travel without a male chaperone, and access to public spaces. She is leading a campaign to have gender apartheid formally recognised under UK law and at the UN, which would allow Afghan women to take the Taliban to the International Court of Justice. The UK government has so far refused to support the codification, saying it is waiting for South Africa, which recently recognised gender apartheid alongside Malala Yousafzai. Asad warned against the normalisation of the Taliban, saying the regime is telling everyone it will soon be formally recognised.

The situation for women in Afghanistan remains dire, with the highest suicide rate in the world and the highest maternal mortality rate, according to Asad. Karimi echoed this, saying the situation is "very, very dark" and that girls cannot even dream about tomorrow. Yet she noted that women and girls are not giving up, continuing to write and create in secret. The international community, she said, should think about the women of Afghanistan.