Afghan women left to die in earthquake due to Taliban gender restrictions

Afghan women were left to die following the country’s 6.6 magnitude earthquake because of Taliban rules forbidding unrelated men from having contact with them, The Telegraph has been told.

The quake killed thousands of people and devastated homes across mountainous areas on Sunday, with two powerful aftershocks on Friday raising fears of more death and destruction.

Survivors say the Taliban’s draconian restrictions have cost Afghan women their lives as much as the tremors themselves.

Rescue teams reach villages after 20-hour delay

It took rescuers 20 hours to reach Devagarh village on Monday in one of the worst-hit areas. When they arrived, women hid behind broken walls of their houses after seeing the all-male rescue team, one rescuer told The Telegraph.

“We can’t speak with the women or try to contact them because it’s prohibited. Touching even a dead woman will have consequences,” he said, seeking anonymity.

Afghan cultural norms, strictly enforced by the Taliban even in emergencies, barred male rescuers from pulling out female survivors. The strict rules also ban women from being employed as rescue workers themselves.

Media restrictions compound emergency response

“Taliban has not allowed women to rescue, but a few women from the UN aid agencies are on the ground,” said a senior journalist in Kunar on condition of anonymity. “There are complete restrictions on any negative news”.

In Mazar Dara village, emergency workers carried away men and children, but left behind several women. “They pushed us aside and took men for the treatment,” said a woman, who The Telegraph spoke with through women’s rights activist Humaira Alim.

“We were left bleeding. No one offered help,” she said.

Women trapped under collapsed houses

Hamid Badshah, a resident of Kunar Province, said injured women were left under collapsed houses because members of the all-male medical team were hesitant to pull them out.

Badshah described women fleeing the tremors, then turning back midway for headscarves. “I heard women turning back midway looking for hijab after fleeing from tremors and then came under the collapsed houses,” he said.

More than 2,200 people have been killed and several thousand injured in the earthquake in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar.

Hospital treatment initially refused

At Jalalabad’s provincial hospital, doctors admitted that in the initial hours, female patients were refused treatment by male staff.

A Community Health Worker confirmed to The Telegraph that more than three pregnant women died because they were not treated by men. “I believe their number could be too high, in hundreds,” he said.

During a major 2023 earthquake in Herat, western Afghanistan, nearly six out of ten of those who lost their lives were women, and nearly two-thirds of those injured were women.

UN calls for women humanitarians

Susan Ferguson, the special representative in Afghanistan for UN Women, stressed the need for Afghan women humanitarians to be part of the response.

“Women and girls will again bear the brunt of this disaster, so we must ensure their needs are at the heart of the response and recovery,” Ferguson said.

“This includes supporting the vital work of women humanitarians – otherwise women and girls could miss out on lifesaving assistance or information in the days ahead.”

International aid response begins

As winter approaches, thousands displaced by the quake are living in fields and streets. Two powerful aftershocks struck the country on Friday 12 hours apart, triggering fears of more deaths and destruction.

The disaster comes as Afghanistan faces multiple crises after decades of conflict, contending with endemic poverty, severe drought, shrinking international aid and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back by neighbours Pakistan and Iran since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover.

Germany’s foreign office said on Friday it will provide €2.1 million at short notice to support people affected by the earthquake.

Russia said on Friday it had sent a cargo plane of humanitarian aid, with some countries, including the United States, reluctant to provide funds to the country under Taliban rule.

Moscow earlier this year became the first country to officially recognise the Taliban government following their 2021 takeover.

(information from The Telegraph)