

Previously midwife Nooria regularly discussed treatments for locals with male doctors at the clinic she works in. But now male and female meetings are prohibited by orders of the Taliban. When she goes out she has to wear a burqa, and a male has to accompany her. Men are not allowed to shave their beards - the Taliban says this is against Islam. Barbers are prohibited from giving foreign-style haircuts. Everyone is frightened. The Taliban have taken up positions in most villages. Locals can't escape them. Armed fighters walk through the streets morning and evening, knocking on doors and demanding food. A group within the Taliban, called Amri bil Marof (order the good), is imposing a two-strike rule. First a warning, second a punishment - public humiliations, prison, beatings, lashes.
Crosswinds Prayer Trust was founded in 1994, at Nailsea, near Bristol in the South-west of England by Canon John Simons. Its aim is to mobilise, inform, connect and equip people in Christian Prayer...
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