Under the Taliban, girls cannot pursue education beyond the sixth grade Women have also been also barred from working for the UN, NGOs KABUL: Afghan women said on Monday that life under the Taliban government was stressful and increasingly restricted, disputing a statement made by the group’s supreme leader who claimed his government has taken steps to provide them with a comfortable and prosperous life. In a statement marking this week’s Eid Al-Adha holiday, Hibatullah Akhundzada said on Sunday that “necessary steps have been taken for the betterment of women” in order to “provide them with a comfortable and prosperous life according to the Islamic Shariah.” Akhundzada, an Islamic scholar, rarely appears in public and rules by decree from the Taliban’s heartland in the southern Kandahar province. “The negative aspects of the past 20-year occupation related to women’s hijab and misguidance will end soon,” Akhundzada said. The Taliban’s decree on women’s rights, he said, has restored “the status of women as a free and dignified human being.” “Under the rule of the Islamic Emirate, concrete measures have been taken to save women from many traditional oppressions, including forced marriages, and their Shariah rights have been protected,” the Taliban chief said. Since returning to power in August 2021 and despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than their previous stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban have imposed increasing restrictions on the rights of women and girls. They have stopped girls and women from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade while also banning women from public spaces and ordering them to cover up when leaving home. Women are also barred from working for the UN and nongovernmental organizations, while most female government employees were either dismissed from their jobs or are being paid to stay at home. Ustad Sahar, who taught at a private university in the Afghan capital, was among those dismissed from their workplace. After women were banned from schools and universities, she said her female students would call her every day and night, “asking about their unknown fate.” She said: “The conditions of life in front of us are gradually getting worse. Every day a new ban, every day a new threat. “Islam, the holy religion, has given women a very high position, but the Taliban have taken away all their rights from them and do whatever they want,” Sahar said. “I had so many hopes to educate the children of this country. All my hopes have died. Whatever energy and strength I had are gone.” Akhundzada’s statement came days after the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said that restrictions on women and girls make recognition of the Taliban government “nearly impossible.” In his message, the Taliban chief also reiterated his call for other countries to stop interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs. “The Islamic Emirate wants good political and economic relations with the world, especially with Islamic countries, and has fulfilled its responsibility in this regard. Just as we do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, in the same way, we do not allow others to interfere in our internal affairs,” he said. Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, women “do not even have access to basic necessities,” said Surya Yusufi, an activist based in Kabul, adding that poverty has also forced many girls into marriage. “Instead of women being given rights, restrictions are increasing day by day,” Yusufi told Arab News. For many women in Afghanistan, life has been “full of stress,” said Hummira Alizai, another Kabul-based women’s rights activist. “There are many other rights that have been violated by the Islamic Emirate,” Alizai told Arab News. “Women cannot go out of the house, cannot go to school, girls above the sixth grade do not have the right to education, they cannot get higher education, which is their basic right. “Women’s rights are not paid only by messages.”