Afghan cricket star Rashid Khan’s surreal wedding photos without bride go viral

Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan got joined successful Kabul connected Thursday and portion congratulatory messages poured successful from his colleagues, galore are bemused astatine the complete deficiency of women successful the photos, including the bride.

The Afghan T20I skipper and his brothers Amir Khalil, Zakiullah and Raza Khan, were each joined connected the aforesaid time successful a accepted Pashtun ceremonial successful the Afghan capital.

Several radical were perplexed by the information that among the galore pictures posted connected societal media, not 1 featured Khan’s wife, oregon immoderate woman.

Afghan cricketer and erstwhile skipper of the Afghanistan nationalist cricket squad Mohammad Nabi posted immoderate photos from the ceremonial connected X, congratulating Khan: “Congratulations to the 1 and lone King Khan, Rashid Khan, connected your wedding! Wishing you a beingness of love, happiness, and occurrence ahead.”

One instrumentality replied: “Woh sab toh thik hai par dulhaniyaa kahan hai? (All this is fine, but wherever is the bride?)

Another asked wherefore determination couldn’t beryllium a photograph of his bride with her look blurred out.

In Afghanistan nether Taliban officials, women are virtually excluded from astir each aspects of nationalist life, with several countries expressing alarm astatine the systematic erasure of women’s rights.

According to a UN study published successful July 2024, the morality constabulary person created a clime of fearfulness and intimidation among Afghans. The study said it documented astatine slightest 1,033 instances betwixt August 2021 and March 2024 wherever ministry employees applied unit during the implementation of orders, resulting successful the usurpation of a person’s liberty, and carnal and intelligence integrity.

After the Taliban seized powerfulness successful August 2021, they person barred women and girls from education beyond sixth people arsenic good arsenic nationalist spaces, similar parks, gymnasiums and salons. They further restricts women from moving successful a horrific repetition of its 90s regularisation connected the country.

Afghan women indispensable beryllium accompanied by a antheral guardian, begetter oregon hubby (mehram) if they measurement extracurricular the home, oregon look punishment.

In August, the Taliban introduced the country’s archetypal acceptable of authoritative rules aimed astatine “preventing vice and promoting virtue,” which necessitate women to screen their bodies and faces afloat with heavy covering successful public. Under these caller regulations, women are not allowed to fto their voices beryllium heard successful public, adjacent from wrong their ain homes, including by singing oregon speechmaking aloud. Women are besides forbidden from looking straight astatine men who are not nonstop members of their family.

Penalties for violating these rules see “advice, warnings of divine punishment, verbal threats, confiscation of property, detention for 1 hr to 3 days successful nationalist jails, and immoderate different punishment deemed appropriate”.

The Taliban person reacted dismissively to the global wide criticism and condemnation of their caller rules, claiming it displays “arrogance”.

Despite the ban, Afghan women are reportedly defying the Taliban by flooding societal media with videos of themselves singing. The lyrics of a fashionable opus say: “Their boots mightiness beryllium connected my neck. Or their fists to my face. But with our heavy airy inside, I volition combat done this night.”