Conspiracy to control Muslim population?: Taliban ban use of contraceptives

The ban on contraceptives marks the latest attack on women's rights by the Taliban who came to power in August 2021 after US troop withdrawal. Since then, the Taliban has ended higher education for girls, closed universities to women, forced women out of their jobs and restricted their ability to leave their homes.

In what comes as a recent development, Taliban have stopped the sale of contraceptives in two of Afghanistan's main cities, reports said. The Taliban reportedly said that the use of contraceptives by women is a "western conspiracy" to control the Muslim population

It is also said that the Taliban has been going door to door, threatening midwives and ordering pharmacies to not sell birth control medicines and devices.

“They came to my store twice with guns and threatened me not to keep contraceptive pills for sale. They are regularly checking every pharmacy in Kabul and we have stopped selling the products," a store owner told a news organisation.

It is also said that the Taliban threatened a shop owner not to sell items such as birth control pills and Depo-Provera injections since the start of this month.

The ban on contraceptives marks the latest attack on women's rights by the Taliban who came to power in August 2021 after US troop withdrawal. Since then, the Taliban has ended higher education for girls, closed universities to women, forced women out of their jobs and restricted their ability to leave their homes.

Meanwhile, a 2021 Human Rights Watch report said that the most basic information on maternal health and family planning was not available to most women in Afghanistan.

"What emerged is a picture of a system that is increasingly unaffordable to the estimated 61% to 72% of Afghan women who live in poverty, and one in which women often have more children than they want because of lack of access to modern contraception," the report said.