The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has recently forced women to return to their abusive husbands, in stark contrast to the ongoing global celebration of International Women's Day which honors women's achievements and advocates for gender equality. This mandate is yet another example of the ongoing challenges faced by women in Afghanistan, particularly under Taliban rule.
Marwa, an Afghan woman who was abused for years by her ex-husband, has retreated into hiding with her eight children after Taliban commanders tore up her divorce, according to a report by AFP.
She was one of a small number of women who, under the previous US-backed government, were granted a legal separation in Afghanistan, where women have next to no rights and domestic abuse is endemic.
Her husband, when Taliban forces swept into power in 2021, claimed that he had been forced into divorce and commanders ordered her back to his clutches.
"My daughters and I cried a lot that day," Marwa, 40, whose name has been changed for her own protection. I said to myself, 'Oh God, the devil has returned'," Marwa told AFP.
For months, Marwa endured a new round of beatings, locked away in the house, with her hands broken and fingers cracked. There were days when her daughter used to feed her as she was unconscious, she claimed.
“He used to pull my hair so hard that I became partly bald. He beat me so much that all my teeth have broken. My children say, 'Mother, it's okay if we are starving. At least we have got rid of the abuse'.”
“Nobody knows us here, not even our neighbors,” she said, fearing her husband would discover her.
Lawyers said that several women have reported being dragged back into abusive marriages after Taliban commanders annulled their divorces.
The Taliban government adheres to an austere interpretation of Islam and has imposed severe restrictions on women's lives that the United Nations called "gender-based apartheid".
According to the UN's mission in the country, nine in 10 women will experience physical, sexual, or psychological violence from their partner in Afghanistan. However, divorce is often more taboo than abuse itself. Divorce rates were steadily rising in some cities under the previous US-backed government.
Nazifa, a lawyer who successfully handled around 100 divorce cases for abused women but it no longer permitted to work in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, said that women once blamed their fate for whatever happened to them.
With the growing awareness, women realized that separating from abusive husbands was possible. "When there is no harmony left in a husband and wife relationship, even Islam permits a divorce," Nazifa explained, adding that five of her former clients have reported being in the same situation as Marwa.
Under the ousted regime, special family courts with women judges and lawyers were established to hear such cases, but the Taliban authorities have made their new justice system an all-male affair.
Another lawyer, who did not want to be identified, told AFP she recently witnessed a court case where a woman was fighting against being forcefully reunited with her ex-husband.
She added that divorces under the Taliban government are limited to when a husband was a classified drug addict or has left the country.
(With AFP inputs)
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