AFGHAN women called for a global boycott of the Taliban today, warning that they are living in fear for their lives as the Islamists continue to kill and persecute them.

Wahida Amin, from the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women Fighters, said members of the organisation, which has led protests against the Taliban, had been forced to flee their homes.

Wahida Amin

A number of its members have disappeared, with fears they have been abducted and possibly killed by Taliban security forces.

Since the Islamists returned to power last August after 20 years of US occupation, the “values ​​and freedoms of the women of the country have been completely destroyed and violated,” Ms Amin said.

“The women fighters of the country are still standing up and defending their rights by facing imprisonment, torture, assassination and violence by the Taliban,” she told the Morning Star.

She said that equality, freedom and democracy “is our inalienable right, and we will defend and protect it under any circumstances.”

But Ms Amin slammed the international community for normalising the Taliban which “yesterday was considered a vampire” but is now being hosted in luxury hotels for discussions on women’s rights.

She was referring to the recent three-day meeting held in the Norwegian capital Oslo, which was strongly criticised for legitimising terrorists and drew demonstrations opposing the talks.

The meeting was “the equivalent of laughing in the face” of the Afghan people, protesters charged.

“I call on the countries of the world to take into account the demands of the women of Afghanistan and to stand up for the inalienable rights of our people, away from the false analyses made behind closed doors,” Ms Amin said.

Hundreds of oppressed women have been jailed, tortured and killed by the Taliban since it returned to power, she added, with many forced out of jobs and education.

The Islamists set fire to girls’ schools and stoned thousands of women to death while marginalising and enslaving them during its previous period in power, Ms Amin pointed out.

She described the women’s movement as “a turning point in the history of our country” as they fight “for a free, independent, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan.

“Our request to the world is not to recognise the Taliban in any way,” Ms Amin said, warning that “the occupation of the country by the Taliban is a model for all the extremists in the region.”

“The United States and its allies must boycott the Taliban. These countries must support the people of Afghanistan so that the people can rule their own destiny,” she said.

Ms Amin demanded the immediate release of campaigner Tamana Zaryab and the hundreds of women jailed by the Taliban, which she said is a violation of freedom of expression and democracy.

“We call on you [the international community] to put the necessary pressure on the Taliban to stop massacring and imprisoning women,” she said.