Shahid Afridi Taliban remark: "The Taliban have come with a positive frame of mind... They are allowing ladies to work," former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi is heard telling the media, in a clip that has gone viral on social media and is drawing massive criticism.
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Afridi hailing the Taliban for coming to power in Afghanistan with "positivity" comes across as a serious whitewash of the fundamentalist Islamist organisation notorious for committing human rights atrocities, netizens are saying.
The Taliban re-took power in Afghanistan on August 15 after two decades, following the retreat of US troops from the country. Their arrival has unleashed a wave of dread among Afghans, especially women and children, desperately rushing to evacuate ahead of their administration gaining legitimacy.
Afghan women in their homeland and across the world have been relentlessly fighting to defend the work, education, political and social rights they reclaimed over the last 20 years after the Taliban left them ravaged in 2001. More here.
Against that context, Afridi's remarks haven't gone down well with social media users condemning his seeming support for the extremist outfit.
❝Taliban have come with a very positive mind. They're allowing ladies to work. And I believe Taliban like cricket a lot❞ Shahid Afridi. He should be Taliban's next PM. pic.twitter.com/OTV8zDw1yu
After the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, Pakistan's premier Imran Khan said the group was "breaking the chains of slavery" and subservience to Western invasion, and were "normal civilians." He has denied charges of his country providing a safe haven to the Taliban.
Shahid Afridi Taliban Statement Sparks Outrage: The State Of Afghan Women
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Though Taliban leaders attempting to rebuild their image as a 'moderate' group have offered public assurance of women's rights being protected in Afghanistan, simultaneous reports are surfacing of young women being executed for sartorial choices and of women being turned away from their workplaces.
Curbs have also been imposed on women's mobility, prompting, as voices on-ground have told SheThePeople, a near-disappearance of a large population from the streets. The Taliban have admitted their fighters are "not trained" in aspects of respecting women in public spaces.
Outrage is building on Twitter against Afridi, who isn't unknown to making deeply sexist remarks. In 2019, he made international headlines for writing in his autobiography that his daughters were forbidden from playing cricket or other sports in public. "They have my permission to play any sport as long as they're indoors," he wrote, claiming he was a "conservative Pakistani father."
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