Is Taliban forcing divorced Afghanistan women back to abusive ex-husbands?

 

Several women in Afghanistan have been sent back to abusive husbands, from whom they were granted a legal separation under the previous US-backed Afghan government, after Taliban commanders annulled their divorces, a number of lawyers told AFP news agency.

40-year-old Marwa, whose name has been changed for safety reasons, was abused for years by her ex-husband who broke all her teeth. She was one of a small number of women who were granted a legal separation in a country where domestic abuse is endemic and women have next to no rights.

When the Taliban came into power once again in 2021, her husband claimed he had been forced into the divorce and commanders ordered Marwa back into his clutches. "My daughters and I cried a lot that day."

After enduring a new round of beatings for months, with her hands broken and fingers cracked, she gathered the strength to flee with her six daughters and two sons hundreds of miles away to a relative's house.

Nine out of 10 women in Afghanistan face physical, psychological, or sexual violence from their partner, according to the UN Mission in the Asian country. However, there exists a far greater taboo than the abuse itself - divorce. Society remains unforgiving to women who decide to part with their husbands.

The divorce rate was steadily rising in the urban areas under the previous Afghan government. Special family courts with women judges and lawyers were established under the ousted regime to hear such cases. However, the new justice system under the Taliban has become an all-male affair.

Notably, the Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Human Rights Commission have now been dismantled.

A spokesman for the Taliban supreme court told the news agency that authorities would look into reports of such cases and "investigate them according to sharia". When asked if the authorities would acknowledge the legal separation granted under the previous US-backed government, the spokesperson called it a complex matter.