It's been nearly a month since the Biden administration's disastrous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan was completed as he pulled up stakes and abandoned American citizens and our Afghan allies behind to face the Taliban, ISIS-K, and Al Qaeda terrorists.
As a result that is unsurprising to anyone who's been following the situation, the reconstituted Taliban government is behaving exactly as one would expect the Taliban to act despite their promises of being a supposedly new and improved gang of intolerant thugs.
As Townhall covered last week, the Taliban has already warned that their barbaric "justice" system would return, though they claim they haven't decided whether they'll resume public executions and amputations in venues such as Kabul's Ghazi stadium.
Along with the threat of strict punishment comes, of course, the rules which will be enforced with violence. But they're not just laws, they're a strict code meant to inflict an ancient way of life devoid of individual freedom.
At Kabul University, the new Taliban chancellor banned women from attending classes or pursuing higher education. "As long as a real Islamic environment is not provided for all, women will not be allowed to come to universities or work," he said. "Islam first," and apparently equal rights for women at some later point yet to be determined.
Another broken promise: the Taliban had insisted that women could continue in higher education, but now their new chancellor for Kabul University bars women from attending as students or instructors. Taliban 2.0 looks a lot like Taliban 1.0. https://t.co/9MBUVTCDHe pic.twitter.com/6NsRnMllIT
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) September 28, 2021
Harkening back to the last time the Taliban had a stranglehold over Afghanistan in the 1990s, the ban on women in universities is just part of their previous code that prohibited women from working, leaving the house without their husband or a male relative, and mandated burkas be worn to hide women in plain sight. The punishment for these infractions would be violent beatings.
Also brought back for the first time since the 1990s are shaving bans in several Afghanistan provinces, also part of the Taliban's strict enforcement of Sharia law.
Taliban banned Shaving or cutting of beard in Helmand province of Afghanistan. In this letter issued by the department of vice and virtue, warns barbers and baths, in case of violation, you will be punished based on Sharia law. pic.twitter.com/edxm8GMI6a
— Tajuden Soroush (@TajudenSoroush) September 26, 2021
Barbers and others in Helmand, Takhar, and Baghlan provinces were forbidden by the Taliban department of vice and virtue from shaving or trimming beards too short this week according to an order from the Taliban. "If anyone violates the rule (they) will be punished and no one has a right to complain," the Taliban commanded.
Taliban issued the same letter in Takhar and Baghlan provinces. People in these provinces confirmed to me that the Taliban banned shaving and cutting of beard. pic.twitter.com/7L2Vy3keNa
— Tajuden Soroush (@TajudenSoroush) September 26, 2021
One shop owner who talked to The Associated Press said "I am heart broken," over the ban on shaving. "This is the city and everyone follows a way of living, so they have to be left alone to do whatever they want,” he added.
Over the weekend, the Taliban killed and hanged four men in the city of Herat, including one from a crane in the city square and the other three at other points in the city. According to the Taliban, the men took part in a kidnapping and were killed by police before being strung up around the city.
All of this takes place against the backdrop of a Biden administration in denial about the Taliban's past and current behavior. Biden and other officials have called the Taliban "businesslike" and "professional."
Our country's leaders thanked the Taliban on our way out of Afghanistan for allegedly allowing safe passage for Americans and Afghan allies to the airport in Kabul before the airlift ended.
Biden's State Department said they were doing all they could "to encourage a peaceful and orderly transition to an inclusive [Taliban] government with broad support."
The strongest statement from the Biden administration against the Taliban in recent memory was that they were "frustrated" by the Taliban's apparent whippings and beatings of Americans and Afghan allies attempting to get to Hamid Karzai International Airport for evacuation.
Having repelled forces from the Soviet Union and the United States — the world's two superpowers — the Taliban has little concern for the opinions of outside countries. After the Biden administration's humiliating debacle of a withdrawal, America carries little sway to steer the Taliban away from their trademark barbarism.
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