Saif ul-Islam Khyber, spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, in response to international criticism regarding the situation of women in Afghanistan, has claimed that women in this country now enjoy rights that he says are unprecedented in Afghanistan’s history.

The ministry’s spokesman on Sunday, September 20 (Sunbula 29), in a video clip, dismissed reports of women’s rights violations by the Taliban as “baseless.”

He added that women’s fundamental rights, including dowry (mahr), alimony (nafaqah), and inheritance — which he believes were systematically ignored in the past — are now provided for women, and the Taliban pays special attention to these rights.

These remarks come as the United Nations and several other international organizations have expressed concern in their reports about widespread restrictions against women and girls in Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban’s return to power, girls have been deprived of continuing education at the secondary and higher education levels, and significant restrictions have also been imposed on women’s employment.

Additionally, restrictions have been imposed on women’s movement, and in some cases, their travel has been made dependent on being accompanied by a male guardian (mahram).