Taliban replaces women’s ministry with virtue and vice
Taliban has replaced the country’s women’s ministry with the Taliban’s moral police on Friday, as female former employees of the department said they had been locked out of the building.
A sign for the building was covered by a replacement in a mixture of Dari and Arabic reading, “Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.”
Female employees said they had been trying to come to work for several weeks only to be told to return to their homes.
One of the woman said, “The gates of the building were finally locked, I am the only breadwinner in my family.”
A second woman, who also said she worked in the department, “When there is no ministry, what should an Afghan woman do.”
When the Taliban, who seized control of Afghanistan last month, amid the chaos following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, were last in power from 1996-2001 girls were not allowed to attend school and women were banned from work and education.
During that period its Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice became known as the group’s moral police, enforcing its interpretation of sharia that included a strict dress code and public executions and floggings.
A senior Taliban leader said earlier this week that women would not be allowed to work in government ministries with men.
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Kamila/Reuters
