Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a Staff Correspondent for JURIST in Kabul offers his observations on a protest of women in the city calling for the Taliban government to address poverty and human rights issues, including the position of women. For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding his name. The text has been only lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.

On Thursday, a group of women protested before the office of the United Nations in Kabul. It is reported here that this was the first peaceful demonstration conducted by women without any interference of the Taliban. This demonstration was against the current state of women’s affairs and the spread of poverty throughout the country. Women asked for food, work, freedom, and political participation in the country. They urged the international community not to abandon Afghan women and to support the Afghan people, to recognize the diversity and presence of all political groups within the framework of socio-political participation, and not keep silent about the current crisis in Afghanistan.

They insisted that they will come to the streets again and continue to defend their fundamental rights. Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, women have taken to the streets several times to demand the right to education, employment, and political participation. The women’s demands have yet to be met with a convincing response by the Taliban.