An influencer has been slammed for ‘fangirling’ the Taliban after an ‘appalling’ Instagram post as she visited Afghanistan on a trip that coincided with a woman being sentenced to death by stoning.
‘Solo female traveller’ Geenyada Abdi said visiting the war-ravaged nation was a ‘dream come true’ as she posed smiling next to AK-47-toting terrorists in a post that is now pinned to the top of her social media.
Other videos showed her ‘exploring life under Taliban control’ as she strolled through Kabul – gushing that the male-dominated streets are ‘incredibly friendly’.
It comes as a woman called Madina has been sentenced to be executed by stoning after having an extramarital affair, Afghan newspaper 8AM Media reports.
The lady is said to be ‘rural and illiterate’, with questions raised over the ‘ambiguous and questionable’ wording of the Arabic sentences used in her alleged confession.
The Taliban regime announced that it would resume publicly stoning women to death in March – with their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada responding to furious responses by saying: ‘I represent Allah, and you represent Satan.’
Abdi has been slammed by women’s activists in Afghanistan, who have branded the image she presents of the terrorist organisation as ‘appalling’.
‘Solo female traveller’ Geenyada Abdi said visiting the war-ravaged nation was a ‘dream come true’ as she posed smiling next to AK-47-toting terrorists
Other videos showed her ‘exploring life under Taliban control’ as she strolled through Kabul – gushing that the male-dominated streets are ‘incredibly friendly
bdi has been slammed by women’s activists in Afghanistan, who have branded the image she presents of the terrorist organisation as ‘appalling’
Taliban security personnel of Afghanistan military’s 205 Al-Badr Corps sit atop a military vehicle during a parade to celebrate the third anniversary of Taliban’s takeover of the country
The influencer captioned the post: ‘Met with the Tali*an #Afghanistan #afghan #kabul #travel #explore #viral #viral2024’
Nilofar Ayoubi, who is the former leader of the Women Movement and wrote the 8AM article about Madina, said: ‘An Afghan woman has been sentenced to be executed by stoning death while Miss Madow fan-girling on the Taliban.
‘While her visit to Afghanistan and her content creation about our country and culture are highly appreciated, what is not welcomed and, in fact, appalling, is the picture she’s painting of the Taliban!’
Abdi has travelled across the world on her own, visiting Somalia, Malaysia and India among others.
She entered the country from Dubai, saying the country is ‘misunderstood’ and that she wanted to ‘go experience what it feels like to be a Muslim woman in this Muslim country’.
She said the image of the Taliban being terrorists is based on a ‘Western… mindset’ which is ‘not true’, before setting foot in the country.
But after meeting with men from the proscribed terrorist group, in commentary dubbed over a clip of her beaming as she talks, she said she was ‘super nervous’.
The conversation was not recorded – with Abdi claiming it was because they would not allow her and her battery died.
She said: ‘I said can I ask the questions freely? And he’s like, sure. You don’t have to be afraid to ask questions. I said yes, but I want to be respectful.
‘I was like – how come women don’t have the same rights? How come women are not getting education past seventh grade, how come they can’t work.
Abdi has travelled across the world on her own, visiting Somalia, Malaysia and India among others. Pictured: In Egypt
‘Honestly, guys, from the reactions of their faces, it’s almost like they expected this question because I’m a woman and some of them were giving different answers and then that showed me that even within them they have different opinions on this.
‘And the only answer that made sense that came out of one of their mouths was you know what, we’re a new country, we’re a new government and things will change. Everything takes time.
‘I was like ok, is that it? He was like, yeah. That’s it. They were like, what do you think about the government?
‘I said, I can’t say much about the government because if your people are ok with this government then who am I to say anything? I’m a foreigner. There’s nothing I can say.’
Photos from her trip show her raising her arms out at her sides as she overlooks the Afghan hills and talking with locals as she walked through Kabul.
Captioning one clip, she says: ‘I walked around Kabul, and the people were incredibly friendly. Though it’s mostly men everywhere, they showed me great respect.
‘They were curious about this Black Muslim girl so, they came to talk to me. Afghan people are hospitable; despite the language barrier, we still managed to laugh and interact.’
Responding directly to fury following her photo with the Taliban, she added: ‘I ended up asking for a photo and I did take a photo with them and I posted it on Twitter and it’s just outrage – like people are going crazy, shame on you, you’re against women’s rights, women’s education, women’s jobs.
‘That’s not the case – this photo was just to simply say this is my experience, this is what I saw, this is how they treated me.
Footage allegedly from 2015 shows the Taliban stoning a women to death, six years before their return to power in Afghanistan
‘I am for all women’s rights and I would love to see one day women getting educations and working and everything and I do understand my privileges, you know, but please don’t take everything out of context.
‘I’m posting so many beautiful things about Afghanistan, the culture, the people – don’t judge me for one photo.’
But, less repentant as she commented on Twitter, she replied to one person who said she had made ‘the right kind of people mad’ by saying she was ‘dead’ – Gen Z slang for finding something hilarious – with four laughing emojis.
Another comment added: ‘I’m not deleting anything. They love to twist narratives and take things out of context.’
And in a third, when she was asked if people are still ‘tripping over that Taliban pic’, she responded: ‘Lmaoo, yes. While so many YouTubers took selfies with them. Not only that, did whole interviews with them but are upset with my picture.’
In another picture, she accepts that it is a country where ‘men dominate many aspects of life’ but says visiting it is ‘a dream come true’.
In one comment responding to a critical viewer, she conceded ‘I don’t agree with everything they do but I didn’t see any issue being there.’
A further clip sees her celebrating picking up her passport, as she says: ‘Excuse me if I scream! Come on! Come on! Guess who’s going to Afghanistan! Me! Me! Wow!
Afghan burqa-clad women sit in front of a beauty salon with images of women defaced using spray paint in Jalalabad on December 13, 2021
Afghan women take part in a protest at Shahr-e Naw in Kabul on December 16, 2021, demanding the right to education, jobs and political representation from the Taliban government
Hundreds of Afghans gather in front of the governors office to requests humanitarian aid, in Qala-e-Naw, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021
Taliban fighters in a vehicle patrol the streets of Kabul on August 23, 2021
‘Bro I’ve been dreaming of this trip for the past two years and finally I got my visa to Afghanistan.’
The Taliban retook the middle eastern country in 2021, two decades after a US-led force removed them from power.
The hardline Islamist power raced across the country before storming Kabul, with western forces leaving behind $7billion in equipment as they fled.
Shortly after they returned to power, restrictions again began to be placed on women with Afghan society.
By December, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice banned women from travelling more than 45 miles unless they were escorted by a male relative.
They said transport could only be offered to those wearing Islamic hijabs and TV channels were banned from showing dramas and soap operas featuring women actors.
The ministry had also called on women TV journalists to wear hijabs while presenting.
Akhundzada halted girls’ education in Afghanistan beyond the sixth grade and imposed growing restrictions on women’s participation in public and private workplaces, including barring them from employment with the United Nations and other aid organisations.
Women are restricted from visiting public places such as parks, gyms, and bathhouses.
In March, the Taliban further said that they would continue publicly stoning women to death for adultery.
The Taliban, despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, began carrying out severe punishments in public shortly after coming to power Pictured: Taliban fighters patrol Kabul
A member of the UK Armed Forces taking a rest at Kabul airport as they took part in the evacuation of entitled personnel
Akhundzada took to the Taliban-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan to call Western human rights defenders horrifed at the acts ‘representatives of the devil’.
‘You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death. But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery,’ he told the West in his harshest comments since taking over Afghanistan in 2021.
‘We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public,’ he announced.
‘These are all against your democracy but we will continue doing it.
‘We both say we defend human rights – we do it as God’s representative and you as the devil’s,’ he added.
‘You are treating women like animals, are these your rights?’
In a further affront to international advocacy for women’s rights, Akhundzada criticised the calls for such rights as contradictory to the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
The Taliban, despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, began carrying out severe punishments in public shortly after coming to power.
The punishments are similar to those during their previous rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s.
Akhundzada called on the Taliban foot soldiers to be resilient in opposing women’s rights and said the war against Western democracy and values will continue for decades to come.
In June, the Taliban held a horror mass flogging for 63 people at a sport stadium for offences ranging from ‘fleeing from home’ to ‘disrespect’.
The disturbing punishment event was held on Tuesday in Sar-e-Pul, northern Afghanistan and saw 48 men and 15 women lashed between 15 to 39 times.
In addition to the sickening physical abuse, some victims were locally reported to have also received prison sentences lasting between six months and five years for their crimes.
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