After
taking over Afghanistan, the Taliban have promised that women will be part of
the new government in accordance with Sharia law. While Taliban’s promise has been
largely seen with skepticism in most parts of the world, including the US, some
sections believe that the group may have changed in the last 20 years. Recently,
a short video of the Taliban surfaced which showed members of the militant
group laughing at the prospect of women being in government.

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The video,
which is drawn from a Vice documentary, is nearly a year old. The documentary
is based on the experience of the media portal’s team in Taliban-controlled territory
last year and aired on US network ‘ShowTime’.

In the
video, a woman journalist asks a group of Taliban fighters whether they would “still
include women’s rights under democracy”. To this, a Taliban fighter replies, “Rights
would adhere to Islamic Sharia law”. Then the journalist asks, “So would you
believe in a democratic vote? Would people be allowed to vote in women
politicians?” In response, the Taliban fighters start laughing and ask the
cameraperson to stop filming.

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The video
has now gone viral on social media. “Taliban collapses with laughter as
journalist asks if they would be willing to accept democratic governance that
voted in female politicians – and then tells camera to stop filming…,” a UK-based
writer named David Patrikarakos wrote while sharing the video on Twitter which was
seen by millions.

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The Taliban
seized power in Afghanistan by ousting the western alliance-backed civilian
government last Sunday, August 15. Since then, Afghans have been trying to flee
the country in the thousands and countries across the world have been trying to
evacuate their citizens from the war-ravaged nation. While the Taliban has
promised a “general amnesty” for all, there are reports of group members going
door-to-door in search of “collaborators” with western powers.