A social media influencer has come under fire for portraying Taliban-controlled Afghanistan as a wonderful place to visit. Geenyada Abdi visited the country immediately after the Islamist group, which took control of the country after the withdrawal of US troops in 2021, had sentenced a woman to death by stoning. Abdi said the journey was a “dream come true” and lauded the male-dominated city streets as “incredibly friendly.”
Women’s rights advocates condemned Abdi’s behavior as “appalling.” Nilofar Ayoubi of the Women Movement accused the social media star of “fangirling” the Taliban while a woman faced a horrific death and countless others faced a life of slavery without fundamental human rights.
In March, Taliban leaders announced it would commence stoning women to death in public. Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada directly addressed Western countries and said they represent the devil. “You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death. But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery,” he said.
Akhundzada went on to declare that women would be flogged and stoned, and the Taliban would do this legitimately because “we do it as God’s representatives.” The unnamed woman who was recently sentenced to the gruesome fate is described as rural and illiterate, and rights groups argue that she did not understand the confession she reportedly made.
Women’s rights groups have accused the international community of ignoring the plight of Afghan women and of empowering the Taliban by legitimizing their power. Sahar Fetrat of Human Rights Watch said the Islamist rulers would not have dared to re-introduce stoning two years ago but now feel emboldened because they face little international condemnation. “They tested their draconian policies one by one and have reached this point because there is no one to hold them accountable for the abuses,” she said.
In June, human rights campaigners expressed disgust at the United Nations when its officials agreed to exclude women and the topic of women’s rights from an Afghanistan summit at the Taliban’s demand. Ms. Fetrat said the UN had excluded the very people who need their rights protected and, in doing so, breached its own requirement that women are included in crucial international rights debates.
