Afghan earthquake triggers contradictory Taliban tactics on rescuing women

Afghan women and their children astatine Mazar Dara colony aft a 6-magnitude earthquake connected August 31. More than 800 group person died and complete 2,700 were injured successful eastbound Afghanistan from nan quake and aftershocks. Wakil Kohsar/AFP/via Getty Images hide caption

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Wakil Kohsar/AFP/via Getty Images

As earthquakes devastated parts of Afghanistan in precocious August, Taliban officials asked assistance agencies to nonstop much female wellness workers to assistance female survivors. They besides concisely barred female U.N. staffers from reaching earthquake-devastated areas.

The flurry of contradictions successful nan aftermath of nan earthquake did not extremity there.

Amid nan aftermath, arsenic assistance groups and Taliban bureaucrats were assisting those injured and near bum by nan earthquake, different Taliban officials doubly suspended astir net and cellular reception passim Afghanistan, complicating assistance efforts.

The incidents item nan contortions of nan Taliban 4 years aft seizing powerfulness of Afghanistan.

Hardliners are firmly successful control, but much pragmatic factions look to beryllium perpetually trying to find workarounds to govern — for illustration urging female assistance workers to caput to earthquake-struck zones.

"It's an ongoing struggle," said a elder analyst, who requested anonymity because nan Taliban has cracked down connected group perceived arsenic captious of them.

(That individual, for illustration much than a twelve group that NPR said to for this story, including senior representatives of world charities, section residents and respected analysts, asked that NPR not usage their names. Others requested we only usage their first names. Some of nan group were worried their organizations would beryllium punished if they were moreover perceived arsenic being captious of nan Taliban aliases were concerned astir denials of visas for overseas unit aliases losing nan correct to proceed operations.)

That to-and-fro could beryllium seen successful nan Taliban's consequence to nan deadly earthquake, which was astir devastating successful nan isolated mountains of nan eastbound Kunar state successful precocious August. Mud-and-stone homes clinging to steep mountainsides collapsed upon their sleeping inhabitants. From nan vantage constituent of a helicopter, it looked for illustration full villages "had conscionable been scraped disconnected nan sides of hills," said Richard Trenchard, acting humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan.

The U.N. estimates immoderate 2,200 group were killed and much than 3,600 group were injured. The majority were women and girls — partially because location are much females than males successful immoderate fixed population, because nan area is known for men migrating to find activity and because women and girls were much apt to slumber wrong structures that collapsed. 

Where were nan women?

In nan first days aft nan earthquake struck, nan Taliban shared a watercourse of videos of their defense forces choppering retired nan wounded from isolated villages. The wounded successful these reels were each men, arsenic if nan Taliban had landed successful villages pinch nary female inhabitants.

A section assistance worker, who goes by 1 name, Wahidullah, told NPR that women were airlifted out, but successful compliance pinch nan Taliban's rules and taste norms, they were not filmed and were segregated wrong nan helicopter. One video, filmed by a section assistance group, accidentally showed women being rescued: They were huddled successful nan backmost of 1 chopper, astir clad successful burkhas.

And 2 elder assistance workers said Taliban officials encouraged them to nonstop much female workers to thief women and girls impacted by nan earthquake because of Afghanistan's profoundly blimpish civilization that limits antheral interaction pinch females, and nan Taliban's ain rules that request strict gender segregation. "They were encouraging and requesting america to supply more, peculiarly successful nan lawsuit of aesculapian support to women," said Trenchard. Another elder assistance worker told NPR, "The Taliban were asking for women doctors, they were asking for female aesculapian teams, each female aesculapian teams. We didn't person nan resources disposable to give."

The Taliban's petition for much women workers came contempt nan ratcheting restrictions that nan group has been imposing since they seized powerfulness 4 years ago. That includes preventing astir women and girls from study and work.

Who is down nan restrictions?

Based connected NPR's reporting since nan Taliban seized power, those restrictions look to person been ordered by nan group's belief leader. Hibatullah Akhundzada lives successful near-total secrecy successful nan confederate Afghan metropolis of Kandahar and seldom makes nationalist appearances. Analysts constituent to really nan restrictions person held, contempt high-level pushback by different prominent clerics, and aggregate attempts connected nan crushed to sidestep nan rules.

That pushback included nan erstwhile lawman overseas curate Sher Abbas Stanikzai, who near Afghanistan successful February aft publically criticizing nan prohibition connected girls studying beyond people six multiple times. The Taliban's first higher acquisition curate turned a unsighted oculus to women attending assemblage — moreover aft a determination to fto girls be precocious schoolhouse was dramatically rescinded successful March 2022 — aft girls had been told they could attend, and had to beryllium pushed retired of classrooms. (By December 2022, nan Taliban had stopped most women from attending university.)

After Afghan women were evicted from universities, nan ministry of nationalist wellness appeared to push back, creating a years-long nursing and midwifery people for Afghan women truthful they could thief different women. "It made hardliners uncomfortable," said nan expert who said connected information of anonymity, who saw it arsenic "a workaround to our ban." The nursing and midwifery people was junked in December past year, only months aft it began, apparently connected nan orders of nan Taliban's ultimate leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada. The move highlighted really "the astir ultraconservative spot of nan activity is successful power and is expanding control," said Kate Clark, co-director of nan Afghanistan Analysts Network, a salient investigation group.

That expanding power has travel to nan detriment of women and girls. They are mostly banned from being attended to by antheral doctors and medics. That's near women's wellness attraction successful nan hands of a diminishing number of women.

At nan time, a salient interrogator connected Afghanistan, Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch, put it this way: "If you prohibition women from being treated by antheral wellness attraction professionals, and past you prohibition women from training to go wellness attraction professionals, nan consequences are clear: Women will not person entree to wellness attraction and will dice arsenic a result."

There is nary country-wide information for Afghanistan, but it appears that not only are nary caller women coming done nan Afghan wellness attraction system, location are less qualified women still working. Some look to beryllium leaving Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Analysts Network, besides reported others were leaving amid plummeting salaries and deteriorating conditions. The web besides reported female wellness workers saying that their newer colleagues were apt to beryllium unskilled women who came from Taliban-loyal families.

Why assistance workers faced obstacles

The deficiency of qualified female workers became 1 of nan galore obstacles that assistance workers grappled pinch arsenic they sought to scope nan dormant and wounded hours aft nan earthquake devastated parts of Afghanistan connected September 1.

Another obstacle hindering nan rescue of women was that nan Taliban prevented female U.N. workers from reaching devastated areas. In a September 11, statement, nan U.N. also said Afghanistan's Taliban rulers had prevented female U.N. staffers and contractors from entering their workplaces successful nan superior Kabul, nan occidental metropolis of Herat and nan bluish metropolis of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Trenchard, nan acting U.N. humanitarian coordinator, said Taliban authorities did yet let women moving for nan U.N. to assistance earthquake victims successful nan section aft negotiations, but they person not been allowed to return to their offices. Taliban authorities did not respond to aggregate requests for comment.

All this meant that fewer female assistance workers were disposable to dainty women and girls injured by nan earthquakes. Even to scope them, assistance workers walked for hours connected perilous roads connected steep mountainsides. One female rescuer told nan U.N.'s news work how they were "dodging falling rocks each clip location was an aftershock." The female wellness workers were expected to locomotion successful headscarves and agelong loose robes. They besides needed a mahram, a antheral guardian — a man related by humor whom a female cannot marry, for illustration a relative aliases nephew, aliases her ain husband. That mahram has to beryllium licensed by nan Taliban.

Aid workers said it was difficult to entice their female unit to caput to devastated areas, partially because their mahrams did not want to go, and partially because nan conditions were truthful daunting. As a result, location were initially fewer women disposable to thief different women, said Gharshin, a 50-year-old wellness worker who goes by only 1 name. She said female assistance workers successful nan section did they champion they could, including 1 nurse who trekked six hours to thief a female springiness birth.

In immoderate cases, it appears that women who were injured successful nan earthquake were near unattended, until female wellness workers arrived. Aid workers said it wasn't conscionable nan Taliban's prohibitions connected men treating women. Local communities besides did not let men, whether rescuers aliases medics, to thief their female relatives. "They were very strict and did not let america to moreover spot nan wounded," said Omid Haqjo, a unpaid who hiked 9 hours to lend a manus successful an area known arsenic nan Mazar Dara Valley. He said it was a devastating sight, because "most of nan injured were children and women."

Some women and girls had not received immoderate wellness care, moreover 2 weeks aft nan earthquake, said assistance worker, Fereshteh, who had been assigned to thief females shifted to tents aft their homes were destroyed.

Gharshin, nan 50-year-old wellness worker, said what disappointment her was that nan blimpish Afghan traditions — alongside nan Taliban's rules — meant that women could not beryllium attended to isolated from by different women. "Imagine," she said, during nan past earthquake, "that women's apparel came off, aliases possibly their apparel were torn. They whitethorn beryllium successful a business wherever it is difficult for a antheral rescuer to situation to prime her up. So it is earthy that location should beryllium a female doing nan rescuing."

Why did nan net spell down?

But if location was immoderate dream that Taliban authorities mightiness relax their prohibitions connected women studying, if only to thief different women, it was dashed conscionable 2 weeks aft nan earthquake struck.

On September 15, Taliban authorities rolled retired a suspension of operations of nan fibre optic cablegram that provides affordable and accelerated net to astir Afghans. The move was to "prevent evil," according to Haji Zaid, spokesperson for nan bluish metropolis of Balkh. But 1 of nan casualties was nan thousands of women and girls, who were studying online aft being denied beingness entree to school.

Access was resumed successful astir places, until it was unopen down again for 48 hours connected September 29, alongside mobile cellular reception.

During nan first net suspension, 1 begetter described to NPR really his daughters were quiet, ray and withdrawn aft nan net was trim off. They were studying done an online university. He requested anonymity for nan information of his daughters. "It's nan aforesaid frustration," he said of 4 years nether nan Taliban, "and nan aforesaid darkness."

Akbari reported from Paris. With further reporting by Ruchi Kumar successful Istanbul.