Kongra Star Women’s Movement in Rojava and Northern and Eastern Syria issued a statement to condemn the brutal murder of four women activists in Afghanistan on Saturday.

The statement said: “We are shocked by the cruel news of the murder of the four women activists in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan. So far, only the body of one of the four women has been identified, civil rights activist Foruzan Safi, a young lecturer at Balkh University.

We do not see this brutal killing under the Taliban’s reign of terror as an isolated act independent of the current regime and mentality. The targeted killing of women who organize and actively work to defend freedom is a widespread and systematic practice throughout the world. The patriarchal system, which has enslaved and deprived women of their rights for more than 5,000 years and is the basis for the mentality of capitalism and the nation-state, sees strong and political women as a threat.”

The statement added: “Whether it is the Turkish state arresting in mass and extra-legally murdering women’s rights activists, or the Islamic State (ISIS) veiling women and selling them in slave markets, or the Taliban denying women their basic rights, they all have the same mentality.

Here in North and East Syria, women’s rights activists are also repeatedly attacked by ISIS and the Turkish state. In Turkish occupied regions like Afrin, Serekaniye and Gire Spi, women are subjected to all kinds of misogynistic violence. In addition, Turkey uses unmanned drones to attack activists throughout northern and eastern Syria. In other regions in North and East Syria, attacks on women activists by ISIS continue, such as in January this year on our comrades Hind and Saade, who were brutally murdered by ISIS sleeper cells.”

The statement continued: “The mentality of the Taliban is no different from that of ISIS or Turkey, their practices are no different from each other, they have the same roots. The Taliban are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. The forces that paved the way for the Taliban to seize power in Afghanistan are also guilty. We believe that violence against organized women is in itself direct violence against the community. Therefore, society and international institutions should stand up against these attacks.

In the face of these patriarchal attacks, resistance and self-defense are necessary, especially through autonomous organization. Since these killings are practices of patriarchal and capitalist forces and states all over the world, it is necessary to fight also at the international level and to build alliances between women’s movements and social movements all over the world.

We as Kongra Star condemn this patriarchal attack on the four Afghan women. We call on all international forces to neither silently observe, normalize nor acknowledge the situation in Afghanistan and the acts of the Taliban.

We welcome all Afghan women who are exposed to violence and killings here in Northern and Eastern Syria. Against all the crimes of the Taliban, we call on all democratic forces and women’s organizations to stand in solidarity with society and women in Afghanistan, to take a stand and to fight together.”