The Silent Erasure of Afghanistan’s Women: A Tragic Global Complicity

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The Taliban's reign over Afghanistan has marked a dark chapter for the nation’s women, with the world seemingly content to watch from the sidelines. Videos of Afghan women, draped in the shrouds they are forced to wear, singing in defiance of the Taliban's oppressive decrees, have surfaced, revealing a reality where women’s voices are now considered instruments of vice. They are silenced, unable to speak, sing, or even read aloud in their own homes. This dystopian scenario, rightly characterized as gender apartheid, shocks the conscience. But should it? This is, after all, the Taliban. As Maya Angelou wisely remarked, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

 

 

Since the mid-1990s, the Taliban have consistently shown the world who they are, yet somehow, the international community has failed to fully grasp the gravity of their actions. After the Second Afghan Civil War ended in 1996, the Taliban took over Kabul and controlled most of the country. They began implementing a strict interpretation of law based on a blend of Deobandi traditionalism, Wahhabi puritanism, and an ultra-conservative Pashtun code. This resulted in the brutal repression of women’s rights, their exclusion from education and employment, and the tragic destruction of non-Islamic cultural heritage, such as the Buddhas of Bamiyan. The free-spirited female students of 1970s Kabul became a distant memory as the country regressed.

 

In 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, an international military coalition led by the United States invaded Afghanistan. Officially, the war was to hunt down Osama bin Laden, but leaders like Cherie Blair and First Lady Laura Bush assured the world that it was also about liberating Afghan women. However, the soldiers who fought in Afghanistan returned home with little fanfare, their sacrifices overshadowed by the confused and unclear objectives of the war.

 

The chaotic withdrawal of Western troops, a process initiated by Trump and completed under Biden, marked the final abandonment of Afghan women. Amidst the chaos of the military evacuation, it was revealed that J.K. Rowling, in collaboration with Baroness Helena Kennedy, helped rescue at least 500 Afghans, many of whom were women facing imminent danger. These women, along with their families, were on "kill lists," and some had already lost their lives.

 

While these efforts were commendable, they were a drop in the ocean compared to the vast number of women left behind.

Since the Taliban's return to power in 2021, they have systematically dismantled women’s rights, despite some hopeful speculation that this might be a "Taliban 2.0." The world has watched, and in some cases, even facilitated this regression.

 

Russia sees the Taliban as an ally against terrorism, and former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan suggested that the treatment of Afghan women is a cultural norm, despite condemnation from other Islamic countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

 

In the West, leaders like former Tory MP Tobias Ellwood have downplayed the severity of the Taliban's rule, focusing instead on reduced opium production and corruption. His praise for the regime and failure to address the plight of women led to his resignation as chair of the Commons’ defense select committee. Ellwood argued that stability was worth the price of authoritarian leadership, a sentiment that reflects a broader, troubling complacency.

 

The United Nations and various NGOs have also sent mixed messages, often appearing powerless as women’s rights are systematically erased. The UN's sanctions on Taliban leaders have proven ineffective, with many still living in luxury while their daughters attend school abroad. Critics argue that the UN’s decision to exclude women and civil society groups from a recent conference in Doha emboldened the Taliban, further undermining the rights of Afghan women.

 

Western nations appear more concerned with regional stability and opium control than with the rights of women. Meanwhile, China has capitalized on the situation, building roads into Afghanistan and eyeing the country’s lithium reserves. The voices of Afghan women, now reduced to ghosts, are being drowned out by global geopolitical interests. 

 

We cannot allow this erasure to continue. The voices of resistance from Afghan women must be heard and amplified. The Taliban should be treated as pariahs, not granted legitimacy. To do otherwise is to accept the barbaric erasure of women as human beings, disguised as religious practice. Those of us who can speak must raise our voices in solidarity.

 

Credit: Daily Telegraph 2024-09-05

 

 

 

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