KABUL
\nTaliban forces fired shots into the air on Thursday to disperse a women\u2019s rally supporting protests in Iran over the death of a woman in the custody of morality police.
\nDeadly protests have erupted in neighboring Iran for the past two weeks, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while detained by the Islamic republic\u2019s morality police.
\nChanting the same \u201cWomen, life, freedom\u201d mantra used in Iran, about 25 Afghan women protested in front of Kabul\u2019s Iranian embassy before being dispersed by Taliban forces firing in the air, an AFP correspondent reported.
\nWomen protesters carried banners that read: \u201cIran has risen, now it\u2019s our turn!\u201d and \u201cFrom Kabul to Iran, say no to dictatorship!\u201c
\nTaliban forces swiftly snatched the banners and tore them in front of the protesters.
\nDefiant Afghan women\u2019s rights activists have staged sporadic protests in Kabul and some other cities since the Taliban stormed back to power last August.
\nThe protests, banned by the Taliban, contravene a slew of harsh restrictions imposed by the hard-line extremists on Afghan women.
\nThe Taliban have forcefully dispersed women\u2019s rallies in the past, warned journalists against covering them and detained activists helming organization efforts.
\nAn organizer of Thursday\u2019s protest, speaking anonymously, told AFP it was staged \u201cto show our support and solidarity with the people of Iran and the women victims of the Taliban in Afghanistan.\u201d
\nSince returning to power, the Taliban have banned secondary school education for girls and barred women from many government jobs.
\nWomen have also been ordered to fully cover themselves in public, preferably with the all-encompassing burqa.
\nSo far the Taliban have dismissed international calls to remove the curbs on women, especially the ban on secondary school education.
\nOn Tuesday, a United Nations report denounced the \u201csevere restrictions\u201d and called for them to be reversed.
\nThe international community has insisted that lifting controls on women\u2019s rights is a key condition for recognizing the Taliban government, which no country has so far done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KABUL Taliban forces fired shots into the air on Thursday to disperse a women\u2019s rally supporting protests in Iran over the death of a woman in the custody of morality police. Deadly protests have erupted in neighboring Iran for the past two weeks, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while detained by the Islamic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-286470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n