Taliban appoint woman as hospital director

The Taliban government has named doctor Malalai Faizi as the director of a maternity hospital in Kabul in the first ever appointment of a woman as the head of an Afghan public institution under the Islamist administration.

Faizi "has been appointed based on merit and needs as director of the Malalai maternity hospital," health ministry spokesman Javid Hazheer told EFE on Tuesday.

The appointment is an unprecedented moment in the Taliban's policies towards women since the Islamists seized power on August 15 as women had been excluded from public offices so far.

Women also faced curbs on their freedom of movement and accessing high-school education as well as other jobs. Only a few government departments, such as health, currently include women in their workforce.

Faizi's appointment would have been unthinkable in the previous Taliban regime in 1996-2001, which was marked by a strict implementation of Islamic law, with public punishments and women being confined to their houses.