Almost two years after the Taliban forces took power in most of Afghanistan, their attack on Afghan women continues unabated, impervious to international outrage. Although the Taliban claim that they want to create a "true" Islamic society in Afghanistan, its rule so far has been characterized by a medieval attack on people's (particularly women's) rights and freedoms. While nongovernmental international aid organizations such as Oxfam and Save the Children have had to cancel many of their projects, the Taliban have refused to heed the United Nations' appeal for moderation in their treatment of women.
The Taliban have closed girls' schools, prohibited women from working outside their homes and obliged them to cover their bodies with a "burqa," including a mesh covering over their eyes. Those that do not follow those directives are beaten or shot. In addition, women are not allowed to work or even to go out in public without a male relative. Professional women such as lawyers, professors, translators, artists and writers have been forced out of their jobs and made to stay home.
To a large extent, even women physicians have been prohibited from working. Because women are not allowed to work out of their homes, those who don't have husbands or male relatives are in a difficult position. Women's visits to doctors, dentists and health clinics have been severely restricted, and male doctors are prohibited from seeing any unaccompanied women. Particularly helpless are Kabul's estimated 60,000 widows, many among them with children to support.