What happened: According to activists, the Taliban disrupted a blood donation event organised by women activists to commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8. Details: Monesa Mubarez, the president of a women’s rights organisation, claimed the group planned to organise a protest outside a Kabul hospital with seven other activists. However, due to the Taliban’s crackdown on women’s rights protestors, they opted to donate blood instead. Taliban hospital halted drive: The initiative was halted by the Taliban-appointed hospital director at Kabul’s Jumhuriat Medical when hospital personnel heard it intended to commemorate International Women’s Day, she added. “They saw it as a protest,” Mubarez explained. She stated that prior coordination was approved, “But when we got here to begin our campaign, the head of the hospital, who is a member of the Taliban, did not grant us permission.” Why it matters: “The Taliban have taken away both, the sky and the earth, from us,” stated an anonymous activist with the Woman’s Unity and Solidarity Group. While the Taliban pledged a gentler form of Islamist governance than their previous tenure from