Women Excluded from Taliban’s 4th Anniversary Celebrations in Afghanistan

“Kokcha News Agency” – On Friday, the Taliban celebrated the fourth anniversary of its return to power in Afghanistan with events attended exclusively by men. Women were barred from participating in the festivities, which included helicopter flower drops in Kabul.

Three of the six designated “flower rain” areas were already off-limits to women since November 2022, when the Taliban banned women from entering parks and recreational spaces.

The celebrations featured speeches by Taliban ministers, but these events were also restricted to men. An open-air sports show, expected to include Afghan athletes, did not take place.

Human rights organizations, foreign governments, and the United Nations have repeatedly condemned the Taliban for its treatment of women. Women remain banned from many professions, education beyond the sixth grade, and most public spaces.

Protests Erupt
In the northeastern province of Takhar, members of the United Afghan Women’s Movement for Freedom held a closed-door protest against Taliban rule.

In a statement to the Associated Press, the movement said, “This day marks the beginning of a dark era of rule where women were excluded from work, education, and social life. We, the protesting women, remember this day not as a memory but as a still-open wound in history. The fall of Afghanistan was not the fall of our will. We stand tall even in the darkness.”

Taliban Leader’s Message
Earlier in the day, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada warned that Afghans who are ungrateful for the Islamic rule in the country would face severe punishment from God.

Akhundzada argued that Sharia law protects people from “corruption, oppression, usurpation, drugs, theft, robbery, and plunder” and called for gratitude to Allah on the day of victory.