On Wednesday around 20 women demonstrated in the Dascht-e Bartschi district in the west of the capital Kabul, as can be seen on videos on social media and reported by local journalists. The women shouted “A cabinet without women will fail” and criticized the Taliban’s interim government announced on Tuesday, which is a purely men’s cabinet.
They also held signs with the words “Work, Education, Freedom” and “Why does the world watch in silence?” high. A minor women’s protest was also reported from the city of Faisabad in the north, but was quickly disbanded, according to local media reports.
Protests are taking place in Kabul for the third day in a row. Some of the demonstrations have so far been directed against alleged interference by Pakistan in Afghanistan, some have called for more women’s rights or criticized the Taliban’s forcible takeover of the Pandjir province on Monday.
In the provinces of Gasni and Ghor, the Islamists prevented demonstrations on Tuesday, according to residents. Violent clashes broke out on Tuesday in the city of Herat in the west. A city activist said Wednesday that at least two protesters were killed and seven wounded after the Taliban fired shots to disperse the protesters.
The largest local TV stations apparently stopped reporting on the protests on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Taliban arrested a group of reporters and cameramen for several hours after covering the protest in Kabul.
Also on Wednesday there was apparently another clash with media representatives. A reporter for the Los Angeles Times wrote on Twitter that he and his photographer had been pushed around by the Taliban when they tried to cover a women’s protest in Kabul.