00:00The Taliban's no-skin contact with male's rule has left many Afghan women under earthquake
00:07rubble days after the tragedy hit. In Afghanistan's earthquake-hit villages, women are trapped not
00:13just under rubble but also under the Taliban's rule as it forbids unrelated men from touching
00:18them. And with women banned from most jobs, including medical education and rescue work,
00:22there are no female responders on site, thus leaving countless injured women bleeding,
00:28untreated and waiting for help. Some were dragged out by their clothes to avoid skin contact, but
00:33many were simply ignored. They gathered us in one corner and forgot about us, said 19-year-old Aisha
00:38from Kunar province, as reported by the NYT. The quake, measuring 6 in magnitude, struck on Sunday,
00:44August 31, 2025, killed more than 2,200 people and injured over 3,600. Survivors say women and girls
00:51suffer the most because medical teams prioritised men and children. Doctors, aid workers and even
00:56volunteers admitted that women were treated as invisible. The reason is a critical shortage of
01:01female health workers, a direct result of Taliban policies. Since returning to power 4 years ago,
01:07Taliban banned girls from studying beyond 6th grade, stopped women from working in most jobs
01:12and even barred them from medical education. Afghanistan is still dealing with aftershocks.
01:17On Thursday, September 4, 2025, one with a magnitude of 5.6 struck. And in Miss Aisha's village,
01:22not a single female aid worker had come as of Thursday, nearly four days after the earthquake,
01:27she said. Aid groups like the UN have warned that Afghan women will bear the brunt of this disaster.
01:32But even now, days after the quake, villages like Andar Lukaak and Mazar Dara are still waiting
01:38for female nurses and doctors.
