Meryl Streep made a sincere appeal to the international community to initiate steps to stop the Taliban’s oppression in Afghanistan as she said that the cats have more freedom than women in the oppressed country. The Hollywood actress took the stage at the United Nations General Assembly to bring attention to women’s plight as the restrictions on them increased in the graveyard of empires. Her appeal was met with the response of a spokesperson of the Taliban who said that they “highly respected” women and would “never compare them to cats.”

Meryl Streep speaks for the women of Afghanistan at UNGA

Streep’s appeal came after the Taliban introduced a net set of “morality laws” for women in the country. In her appeal at the UNGA the Mamma Mia actor said, “Today in Kabul a female cat has more freedom than a woman. A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face, she may chase a squirrel in the park," on Monday.

She continued, “A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban. A bird may sing in Kabul, but a girl may not in public. This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law,” as she raised awareness about the condition of women’s rights in Afghanistan at an event in New York.

She added, “The way that this culture, this society has been upended, is a cautionary tale for the rest of the world.” She beseeched the world leaders to make united efforts to “stop the slow suffocation” the Afghan girls and women.

Taliban’s oppression of women in Afghanistan

Among these new reinforcements, a rule stated that women’s voices should not be heard in public spaces anymore, as reported by BBC. Moreover, they are not permitted to look at men who are not related to them by blood or marriage. This rule is just one of the many such instructions which were imposed three years ago by the Taliban government on women when they came to power. Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, who was also present at the event emphasised that Afghanistan “will never take its rightful place on the global stage" without educated women and their participation in the workforce.

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