The Taliban in Their Own Words
“It's like having a flower, or a rose. You water it and keep it at home for yourself, to look at it and smell it. It [a woman] is not supposed to be taken out of the house to be smelled.”
-- Syed Ghaisuddin, Taliban Minister of Education, when asked why women needed to be confined at home

"If we are to ask Afghan women, their problems have been solved.”
-- Qudratullah Jamal, Taliban Minister of Culture

“We have enough problems with the education of men, and in those affairs no one asks us about that.”
-- Qari Mullah Din Muhammad Hanif, Taliban Minister of Higher Education

“If a woman wants to work away from her home and with men, then that is not allowed by our religion and our culture. If we force them to do this they may want to commit suicide.”
-- Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, Taliban Minister of Justice

“We do not have any immediate plans to give jobs to (women) who have been laid off.  But they can find themselves jobs enjoying their free lives.”
-- Moulvi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel, Taliban Minister of Foreign Affairs

And in Their People's Words
“Because of the Taliban, Afghanistan has become a jail for women. We haven't got any human rights. We haven't the right to go outside, to go to work, to look after our children.”
-- Faranos Nazir, 34-year-old woman in Kabul

“Approximately 80% of women and men agreed that women should be able to move about freely and that the teachings of Islam do not restrict women's human rights.” 
-- Physicians for Human Rights, “Women's Health and Human Rights in Afghanistan: A Population-Based Assessment”

“'Indignity is our destination,' says Seema, 30, who used to work at a health center and now roams the streets in Kabul begging to support her children.”
-- Time, November 29, 2000

“When we are together, everyone here is talking about how the Taliban has destroyed our lives.  They won't let us go to school because they want us to be illiterate like them.”
-- Nasima, 35-year-old Kabul resident