Women Protest in Afghanistan Against Exclusion From Government

Several groups of women took to the streets across Afghan cities after the Taliban announced the formation of a government made up of the group's leaders, excluding women from it, despite earlier promises of being inclusive.

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In open defiance of the Taliban's orders banning demonstrations, women in Kabul demanded open access to education and health services, as well as respect for their political rights.

"A cabinet without women fails" was one of the slogans they shouted at the march,  which included journalists, according to reports on social networks. Taliban militants fired shots in the air and tried to disperse the protesters.

Claiming that "freedom is our right," they also rejected their exclusion and the reinstatement of a cabinet like the first Taliban government between 1996 and 2001.

Some carried banners that read, “No government can deny the presence of women” and “I will sing freedom again and again.”

“We have gathered here to protest the government's recent announcement that there is no representation of women ...,” said one of the women at the protests held in the Afghan capital.

The editor of the online news outlet EtilaatRoz, Elyas Nawandish, posted photographs on Twitter showing images of two of its journalists who had been injured.

Afghanistan recorded protests in different areas of Kabul and in the provinces of Parwan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghazni.

On Tuesday, the Taliban declared the protests illegal and on Wednesday resorted again to force in an attempt to prevent the women from reaching the center of Kabul.

However, a Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, pledged Wednesday that they would respect the right to demonstrate, although he recalled the need for permits.