Belquis Ahmadi
Mere days after the United States failed to meet the May 1 troop withdrawal deadline stipulated in its 2019 deal with the Taliban, the militant group began launching major attacks on Afghan security forces and taking control of administrative districts. While disputed, some estimates suggest the Taliban now have control of half of the districts across the country. The violence has already wrought a heavy toll — and women and girls have borne the early brunt. I recently spoke with Afghan women who told me of the indignities they are already facing and their fears for the future. The immediate and long-term implications for Afghanistan, and the progress made in the last 20 years, are dire. We are seeing a preview of what could come if the Taliban takeover.
The Taliban’s Violence and Intimidation
As U.S. and international forces withdraw, the Taliban are now routinely destroying schools, hospitals, government offices and other infrastructure, while reportedly torturing and murdering civilians. Gruesome videos are circulating on social media of Taliban fighters beheading a U.S. Army interpreter and executing Afghan security forces after they surrendered.
The Taliban have sent letters to mosques instructing families with two or more male children — including boys as young as 10 — to send one of them to join them in the battlefield. “Many people are leaving their homes and villages, to prevent their sons from being recruited by Taliban,” said an Afghan woman originally from Takhar province who has 25 relatives staying with her family in Kabul due to the violence.
Those who have worked with the government are at greater risk. In some areas, criminal gangs are posing as Taliban and intimidating government and NGOs employees. A women’s rights activist in Kandahar told me her colleagues have been asked to pay several thousand U.S. dollars or their families would be killed.
Treatment of Women
Amid this campaign of terror, the rise in violence against women is staggering. In June, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported an 82 percent increase in women casualties compared to the first six months of 2020, with a total of 727 women killed and injured in the first six months of 2020. “It is sickening to report that more women and more children were killed and injured than ever before recorded by UNAMA for the first half of any calendar year,” said a recent UNAMA press release.
Taliban fighters subject women and girls to inhumane and degrading treatment. In predominantly non-Pashtun or mixed population areas, Taliban fighters have used sexual violence and forced marriage as weapons of war. In recent weeks, numerous reports and anecdotes on mainstream and social media have reported horrific stories of forced marriages of young girls, widows and even married women. Videos of public lashing of women for being outside without a mahram (i.e., husband or close male blood relative), talking on the phone or wearing bright colored clothes under their burqa demonstrate the horror of life for women and girls under Taliban control.
After seizing control of districts in several northern provinces, the Taliban imposed restrictions on women and girls, prohibiting them from leaving the house or accessing health services without being accompanied by a mahram. This is on top of the fact that women’s access to health services is now much more limited due to the closure of highways and roads and lack of supplies in clinics in remote areas.
While travel restrictions and the forced wearing of the hijab are uniform policies in areas under Taliban control, girls’ access to education is mostly at the discretion of local commanders. In some areas, such as Faryab province, the Taliban have informed local communities that girls can attend school up to grade 12, while in other areas, girls are only allowed to attend school up to grade six. In most other places, such as Logar province, girls of all ages are banned from going to school.
Women are also forced to cook for the Taliban fighters and wash their clothes. “We could hardly feed our own family, but now the Taliban forces us to feed their fighters. In some areas, households are forced to provide as many as three meals a day,” said a displaced woman from Kunduz. “These are the same fighters who destroyed our lives.”
Afghanistan’s Future
This degrading treatment has forced many families to flee their homes. The majority of displaced persons who have not made it to relatives’ homes live in tents or other temporary shelters, as temperatures reach 100 degrees and access to running water is severely limited. With more than 3.5 million IDPs already in the country, tens of thousands more have been displaced since the recent uptick in violence. This trend will continue, challenging Afghanistan’s already overburdened service delivery system, damaging the economy and disrupting livelihoods.
The long-term impact of displacement inside and outside the country will create a void that will take many decades to fill. In the most conservative and remote areas, it is mostly women who provide health, education, legal and psychosocial services to underprivileged and poverty-stricken communities, particularly to women and children. In the absence of these services — especially legal and psychosocial services — cases of domestic violence are expected to rise. Women’s achievements and contributions to the country’s workforce in the past 20 years alone are a testament to their potential and ability to perform and play a pivotal role in improving their country even in the face of significant challenges and threats. The Taliban’s effort to cut women out of the workforce will ultimately have a broad, negative effect on human development and prosperity. We have already seen this play out when they ruled in the 1990s.
For their part, The Taliban’s political commission based in Qatar has repeatedly said that they are committed to upholding women's rights under Islam, including the right to education, work, health, inheritance and choosing one's husband. Yet, they have never explained exactly what this means. They have been claiming that they have learned from past mistakes and have evolved from a violent extremist group to a moderate group desiring peace, while at the same time their commanders and fighters are terrorizing the country.
The Taliban have also failed to comprehend that today’s Afghanistan is very different from when they were in power in the 90s. When they ruled the country, people had been living in war for at least two generations and had little experience of life in relative peace with access to education, services and technology. Afghans want to rebuild their country and rise from the ashes. Sixty-eight percent of the population is under 24 and have not experienced the Taliban’s draconian rule. If their energy, curiosity and quest for better life is channeled into positive actions and if all members of society are provided with equal opportunity to develop their potential and participate in their country’s social, political, economic and cultural affairs, Afghanistan can begin to build a durable peace.
But the country cannot achieve development and prosperity with half its population being treated as slaves or even as second-class citizens. For at least the last 10 years, Afghanistan has been listed as one of the worst countries for women and girls. The logical and correct course of action would be to provide an enabling environment for women and girls, eliminate discriminatory practices and support the establishment of social and legal protection mechanisms.
What the International Community Can Do
Without immediate diplomatic intervention, the already dire situation could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe with ripple effects felt throughout the region and beyond. Given American involvement in the Afghan conflict, the United States has a responsibility to prevent these atrocities from unfolding, not to mention a global responsibility to protect civilians from violations of international human rights laws and treaties.
Amid the withdrawal of international forces, there are a number of steps that can be taken to help protect women and girls. Continued support for Afghan security forces will be critical, because the Taliban are unlikely to curb abuses if there is not military pressure to do so. But the best way to protect women from violence and enable them to exercise equal rights to health, education and economic opportunity is to achieve an inclusive, negotiated political settlement.
The United States, the United Nations and Afghanistan’s neighbors should therefore continue pressuring the Taliban to agree to a long-term cease-fire and engage in meaningful dialogue and peace negotiations. To leverage this demand, the United States and international community should be crystal clear that diplomatic recognition and development assistance will be withheld from any regime that overthrows the current government by force and that sanctions and travel restrictions will be increased on any person or entity that is responsible for perpetrating or enabling atrocities against civilians. The U.S. and international community should also increase resources available for monitoring and verifying whether violations of international human rights treaties are occurring.
Afghans deserve to live with dignity and in peace. Peace won’t fall from the sky; but it is possible. In the end, it requires political will. The United States and the international community will need to demonstrate such a commitment if it is to stave off a dismal future for Afghanistan.
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