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By Rep. Michael McCaul and Amb. Roya Rahmani

The Hill

February 7, 2023

Tonight, as elected officials and their guests gather in Washington to hear the State of the Union, women across Afghanistan are suffering under the brutal Taliban regime.

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan following the United States’ withdrawal in August 2021, they have issued more than 30 edicts aimed at severely limiting women’s freedoms. The Taliban have all but banned women from public life, decreeing they cannot go to public parks or gyms, requiring them to cover their faces while in public, and establishing a rule where women must be escorted by male chaperone, also known as a “mahram.” 

In some cases, those who have disobeyed these harsh new laws have been flogged, whipped, or even stoned. Afghan women who have protested these draconian restrictions have been detained and even tortured, 

And on Dec. 20 last year, the Taliban officially banned women and girls from formal education above the 6th grade. This devastating turn of events makes Afghanistan the only country in the world where it is illegal for females to attend secondary school or university.

The full text of the opinion editorial can be found here.

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