Syrian Islamist leader Ahmad al-Sharaa has pledged to moderate policies. (file photo)
RADIO FREE EUROPE RADIO FREE LIBERTY | Published December 25, 2024
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers were quick to congratulate fellow Islamists from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
As the HTS fighters seized the capital, Damascus, on December 8, the Taliban said it hoped that the group would “lay the foundations of a sovereign and service-oriented Islamic government.”
But over two weeks on, the HTS, a U.S. and EU-designated terrorist organization, appears keen on distinguishing itself from the way the Taliban has governed Afghanistan.
Its leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously known by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, has publicly pledged to adopt moderate policies compared to the Taliban’s extremist approach to women’s rights, national reconciliation, and relations with the international community.
“There are many differences between Syria and the Taliban,” Sharaa told the BBC last week. “The way we govern is different.”
Women
Sharaa said that his government would allow women to get an education. He said that in the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib, ruled by the HTS for the past eight years, more than 60 percent of university students were women. He also said Christian women would not be forced to observe the veil.
The Taliban banned teenage girls from grade 7 and above one month after seizing the capital, Kabul, in August 2021. It also prohibited women from university and professional education in December 2022.
In 1996, the Taliban took over Afghanistan and established a government that strictly adhered to Islamic law. A U.S.-led coalition overthrew them in 2001, but they reorganized as an insurgent force and eventually reclaimed power in 2021 after U.S. and NATO forces left.
Senior Taliban leaders have adopted a “fringe opinion” of Islamic Shari’a law to enforce the ban, which is opposed internationally and by many inside Afghanistan.
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SOURCE: www.rferfl.org
RELATED: Syrian Islamist leader rejects Taliban’s policies on women, vows different approach
Ahmed Shar’a, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the de facto ruler in parts of Syria, has distanced himself from the Taliban’s strict policies on women’s rights.
Published December 25, 2024
In an interview with the BBC, Jolani stated his belief in women’s education and said Syria would not follow the Taliban’s model of governance.
“I believe in women’s education,” Jolani said. “Syria is a diverse society with various ideas, unlike Afghanistan, which is more tribal. The Afghan model cannot be applied here.”
Contrasting visions
Jolani’s remarks come despite warm congratulations he received from the Taliban following the HTS-led overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in parts of Syria. The Taliban celebrated Jolani’s victories, with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs extending its congratulations.
However, Jolani’s stance on women’s rights diverges sharply from the Taliban’s policies, which have imposed severe restrictions on women and girls since their return to power in Afghanistan. Women and girls in Afghanistan are barred from education, employment, and even visiting public spaces. The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has further issued edicts labeling women’s voices as “immodest,” compounding their exclusion from public life.
Public Outcry and International Condemnation
The Taliban’s restrictions have drawn widespread condemnation both domestically and internationally. Activists and residents continue to question the ideological roots of these bans.
“Nowhere else in the world are women and girls deprived of education as they are in Afghanistan,” said a Kabul resident. “I don’t understand how the Taliban justify this under Islam.”
Musa Khawarin, a social activist, urged the global community to increase pressure on the Taliban: “The Taliban have trampled on every value of humanity. We expect the world to impose the necessary pressure to end these injustices.”
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