“The international community (Russia, the US, and European countries) did not do anything for us. They engineered the 40-year-long war in Afghanistan. I accept the Taliban as Afghans, but they do not represent all Afghans. It is my responsibility to speak for the Afghan women. I have come out of the Taliban’s jail and have experienced their atrocities firsthand. I want to shout”, said a female Afghan activist, while bursting into tears, at a Pak-Afghan Civil Society Conference held in Islamabad last week.
The Taliban had announced that girls and women would be allowed to go to school and join the government and private offices, but in the last eight months, they have merely offered lip service regarding ensuring the rights of girls and women. In practicality, however, most of the girls have not yet been able to go back to school, and there are a few female faces in offices.
The Taliban are systematically and unapologetically minimizing the presence of women in media as well. Previously, women TV presenters were told to cover their heads only, but now the Afghan government has made it mandatory for all female TV presenters to put on a veil also.
A member of Afghan civil society and a trader, who refused to disclose his identity, said, “In Afghanistan, we do not need to reinvent the wheel. They (Taliban) want to change everything fundamentally – it is not possible.”
The Taliban and their proponents say that women and girls are safer now that an Islamic system of governance has returned to Afghanistan, but ironically, restricting women’s freedom and squeezing their circle of movement is perceived as “women’s safety” by the de facto leadership.
Since August 15, 2021, the Taliban have taken severely unreasonable measures such as dissolving the women’s development ministry and replacing it with a parochial entity named the Ministry for Vice and Virtue. Abolishing institutions, which are meant to do the bare minimum for a predominantly trodden gender group, is nothing but an intentional pushback against the women of Afghanistan.
Ms. Susan Hamidi, a female journalist from Afghanistan, says: Most of the Taliban either studied in Pakistan or Qatar. So, why none of these countries has been able to influence the Taliban’s staunch ideologies concerning women? Why do the Taliban act differently in their own country while their daughters are getting an education in other countries and living a normal life unlike the women in Afghanistan? We have always worn modest clothing here. I do not think our previous lifestyle was “unIslamic” at all. “Why the Taliban’s only target is women?” she complained.
The plight of Afghan women is visible. The international community has indeed failed the Afghan women or so says the status quo. They have been imploring the Taliban and the world while risking their lives, but little has been done so far.
The international community must increase pressure on the Taliban to ensure basic human rights. Countries like Pakistan and the others in the region should make it evident that they would only engage with the Taliban on a formal and deeper level if they improve the human rights situation in their country. Islamic countries could play a role in influencing the Taliban to adapt to the needs and aspirations of the current young generation of Afghanistan while coming up with a system of governance that is Islamic and all-inclusive. The attention of the fraternities such as OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries) is needed more than ever to stop the perpetual trial and tribulation of Afghan women.
