Afghanistan’s Taliban government has denied banning the sale of contraceptives, dismissing reports of the ban in the British press as “fake news”.
Pharmacies in the country’s capital, Kabul, were freely selling the family planning products when The National visited.
An article published in The Guardian on Saturday morning alleged that the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate has begun to enforce a “blanket ban” on contraceptives in Kabul, as well as the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.
It follows a report with similar allegations in The Daily Mail, which cited the Afghan outlet Rukhshana Media.
In response to an inquiry from The National, Dr Sharafat Zaman Amar, spokesman for the Taliban-run Ministry of Public Health, called reports of a crackdown “fake”.
“No one has stopped contraceptives,” he said.
The enforcement of such laws is normally the domain of the Taliban's Ministry for Prohibiting Vice and the Promotion of Virtue. That ministry’s spokesman, Akif Muhajir, told The National he “did not accept” the reports, also referring to them as “fake news”.
Asked specifically whether contraceptives are allowed in Afghanistan, Mr Muhajir replied: “Yes.”
The reports of the contraceptive ban come amid wide-ranging restrictions imposed on women by the Taliban since they returned to power in August 2021.
The British outlets quoted pharmacists and a midwife who had allegedly been told by authorities that contraceptives are a “western conspiracy”.
Oral contraceptives and other family planning methods have been in wide circulation in Afghanistan since the economy reopened to the world after the fall of the previous Taliban regime in 2001. They have been hailed by doctors as a critical tool for the fight against poverty, as well as the protection of women’s health and reproductive rights.
“Currently in Afghanistan, we have a serious problem with maternal mortality, and family planning is one of those ways to help preserve the life of both the mother and the unborn child,” said Dr Najmussama Shefajo, a gynaecologist who manages a maternity clinic in Kabul.
The National visited three pharmacies in Kabul on Saturday. All of them denied being visited by members of the Taliban or being told to stop carrying any specific medications.
One branch of a chain pharmacy based in the city’s Taimani neighbourhood said they had been carrying on with business as usual.
Sometimes the directorate in charge of pharmaceuticals will send us lists of medicines that should not be sold, but we haven’t received anything like that lately
Pharmacist in Kabul
“Sometimes the directorate in charge of pharmaceuticals will send us lists of medicines that should not be sold, but we haven’t received anything like that lately.”
The pharmacist said they had not been visited by any Taliban members inquiring about the drugs they carry. Another pharmacist, who runs a small family-owned outlet in the Shahr-e Now neighbourhood, also refuted any claims of being told what to carry.
“I am not aware of any such restrictions,” the second pharmacist said while helping a young female customer.
Doctors at Dr Shefajo’s maternity clinic, in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood, and another one in the Kartei Seh neighbourhood, also said they had not been contacted by Islamic Emirate authorities about contraception.
“We haven’t receive any instructions [of a ban] up to now,” said a manager at the Wazir Akbar Khan clinic.
A co-owner of the other clinic also said they were not aware of any such searches or confiscations.
The National contacted Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an international NGO that is one of Afghanistan’s longest-standing providers of family planning services, particularly in the provinces of Helmand and Khost — areas considered to be part of the Taliban’s cultural heartland.
In a statement, Noor Ahmad Salim, MSF’s spokesman in Afghanistan, said: “MSF has not been informed by the Afghan authorities about any measure prohibiting the use of contraceptives within the country. All of our activities related to family planning, which we consider to be a vital part of every women’s sexual as well as reproductive health, run unhindered in Afghanistan.”
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
The biog
Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren
Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies
Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan
Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India
Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy