As the Taliban moves into power in Afghanistan after nearly two decades of U.S. occupation, Fox News reported Tuesday that the group shot and killed a woman after she went out in public without a burqa.
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According to the report, a photo shows the woman lying in a pool of blood as her parents crouch around her in district Taloqan, Takhar province. Audacy was not able to independently verify the source of the photo, which has been shared by various social media accounts.
Since U.S. troops began withdrawing from Afghanistan in May, there has been a sharp rise in civilian casualties, with women and children comprising 46 percent of deaths, said NBC News. This Monday, seven people were killed at the Kabul airport as thousands tried to leave the country, the outlet said.
Amid their takeover of the country, the Taliban said this week that it pledged to respect women’s rights. Longtime Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said during a Tuesday news conference that women’s rights would be honored within the bounds of Sharia law.
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Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai – who was shot aged 15 by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education in Pakistan – said the Taliban's interpretation of Sharia law could be a disaster for the safety of women and girls in the country, according to the BBC.
“I had the opportunity to talk to a few activists in Afghanistan, including women's rights activists, and they are sharing their concern that they are not sure what their life is going to be like,” she told the outlet.
Prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, the Taliban was in control of the country. At the time of the attacks, the Taliban did not allow women work or have an education, said the BBC. From the age of eight, girls had to wear a burqa.
“Women were only allowed out chaperoned by a male relative,” according to the outlet. “Women who disobeyed the rules were publicly flogged.”
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Over the past 20 years, Afghani women have become judges, ministers and police officers, said NBC. By 2020, Afghanistan's parliament had a higher percentage of women than the U.S. Congress.
A video posted by an Al Jazeera reporter shows women protesting this week in Kabul.
Mujahid also claimed Tuesday that amnesty would be offered to Afghans who had worked for the country’s now defunct, U.S.-backed government.
President Ashraf Ghani, leader of the U.S.-backed government, fled Afghanistan as the Taliban swept in Sunday, reported the Associated Press.
As of Tuesday, around 11,000 Americans were still in the county and President Joe Biden’s administration was working to evacuate them, said Fox.
“Our focus right now is on doing the work at hand,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki during a news briefing this week, defining that as evacuating as many eligible people as possible.
According to the Washington Post, Biden has defended the decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and has blamed the Taliban takeover on the Afghan army’s unwillingness to fight Taliban troops.
Before the U.S. finished pulling troops from the country, Taliban fighters claimed territory across the Afghanistan including its capital, Kabul. In many instances, the U.S.-trained and supplied Afghan military ceded ground without a fight, said Fox.
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