In Afghanistan, Taliban Force Divorced Women Back To Abusive Ex Husbands

Kabul: 

Abused for years by her ex-husband who broke all of her teeth, Marwa has retreated into hiding with her eight children after Taliban commanders tore up her divorce.

Marwa was one of a small number of women who, under the previous US-backed government, were granted a legal separation in Afghanistan, where women have next to no rights and domestic abuse is endemic.

When Taliban forces swept into power in 2021, her husband claimed he had been forced into the divorce and commanders ordered her back to his clutches.

My daughters and I cried a lot that day,” Marwa, 40, whose name has been changed for her own protection, told AFP.

“I said to myself, ‘Oh God, the devil has returned’.”

The Taliban government adheres to an austere interpretation of Islam and has imposed severe restrictions on women’s lives that the United Nations called “gender-based apartheid”.

Lawyers told AFP that several women have reported being dragged back into abusive marriages after Taliban commanders annulled their divorces.

For months Marwa endured a new round of beatings, locked away in the house, with her hands broken and fingers cracked.