Afghan diaspora in Vienna hold anti-Taliban protest

Vienna [Austria], March 11 (ANI): Afghan diaspora members incljuding women assoiciated with Afghan diaspora organizations AKIS (Afghanische Kultur, Integration und Solidaritat) staged a protest in Vienna against actions of the Taliban on women and children after regaining their control over Afghanistan.
On Friday (local Time), many prominent Afghan women diaspora members including Tamana Ayoubi, Fariba Sadig, Saleh Wasel, and Ali Baqeri protested at the entrance of the UN building in Vienna.

The AKIS was at the forefront of this protest. Demonstrators raised slogans against the Taliban and also the interference of Pakistan in fghanistan Affairs. They also spoke about the inhumane way Pakistan treats Afghan Refugees, especially women and children. Around 100 Afghan women participated in this demonstration. At the end of the protest, they also submitted a memorandum to UN authorities, urging all member states to act decisively on this issue.

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, at least 20 years post they were ejected by US troops. Women’s rights have been neglected, ever since, under their harsh rule. In November, last year, the Taliban intrusively disrupted a women’s press conference held in the Dasht-e-Barchi area and also arrested several women journalists, reported Khaama Press.

Taliban disrupted the event and took the women human rights protestors to an undisclosed place. Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August last year, it rolled back women’s rights advances and media freedom revoking the efforts on gender equality and freedom of speech in the country. Taliban banned women from attending university last December, nine months after the Islamist group barred girls from returning to secondary schools amid a brutal crackdown on women’s rights since it seized power in 2021.

Taliban also announced a ban on female NGO workers – prompting multiple major foreign aid groups to suspend their operations in the country. Not only in education, but Taliban had also rolled back women’s rights advances and media freedom revoking the efforts on gender equality and freedom of speech in the country.
According to a report by the South Asian Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN) over 45 per cent of journalists have quit since the terrorist outfit assumed power.