Why the US must help Afghan women
Scarlett is in her third year of a Bsc in Politics and International Relations. She is interested in feminism across the world and is looking to pursue a career in journalism.
The lives of Afghan women
This August, the Taliban passed the ‘Vice and Virtue’ Law which has been by far the most oppressive since their return to power. Women are now totally silenced in public, as they are forbidden to pray, sing or even speak out loud. Article 13 outlines that a woman “is duty-bound to hide her voice, face and body” if she decides to leave her home. It also enforces women to cover every part of their body including a full veiling of their face. The Ministry of Virtue and Vice, which existed during the previous Taliban rule, arrests Afghans who don’t comply. Protest is met with punishment by the Ministry’s morality police, which often includes beatings, rape or death. The law even regulates the direction of women’s eye by prohibiting any eye contact with men. Hollywood actress Meryl Streep was not exaggerating when she said that cats have more rights than women. “A bird may sing in Kabul, but a girl may not”, she spoke at the UN General Assembly. The chilling comparison was a dark example of how the Taliban has removed any and all of women’s rights. This law is not the first set of dehumanising restrictions placed on women in Afghanistan. Girls were initially barred from all education in the first month of the Taliban’s takeover of power. Afghan women are banned from government and private jobs, including international aid work, and are required to stay inside their homes unless accompanied by a male chaperone.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN’s top envoy to Afghanistan described the newest law as a “distressing vision” for the country’s future. It is in “clear violation of Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights law” says the OCHR’s Ravina Shamdasani, completely depriving women of all autonomy.
How did this happen?
Whilst the new law is abhorrent and shocking, it doesn’t and shouldn’t come as a total surprise to the international community. The Ministry of Vice and Virtue existed in the previous Taliban period from 1996 to 2001. When Kabul fell again to the Taliban in August 2021, they reassured the world that gender equality would be respected, but so long as it was “within the framework” of Islamic law. However, looking at the previous Ministry of Vice and Virtue which beat women publicly for showing an ankle it is hardly surprising that the current Taliban has implemented similarly oppressive measures. The peace deal signed by the Trump administration in 2020 outlined that if terrorist groups stopped using their terriroity, the US would withdraw troops. However, crucially, no binding conditions were set on the Taliban to cease their military campaign. A month prior to the takeover of Kabul, President Biden said that the chances of the Taliban running the entire country was “highly unlikely”. Nevertheless, over two weeks before the US’s official withdrawal, terrorist groups had entered Kabul and had taken control of the presidential palace. Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, remarked that it has happened much “more quickly than we anticipated”.
What can be done?
The US couldn’t have had a millitary presence in Afghanistan indefinitely. It was expensive and the American people were tired of spending money on pushing democracy in a country which perhaps wasn’t ready for it. However, the decision to withdraw was under the assumption that there wouldn’t be a Taliban takeover, which clearly has not been the case. Indeed, the Afghan army was entirely dependent on American forces and hence the Biden and Trump administrations enabled the conditions which Afghan women are now forced to live in.
Economic sanctions in protest of the crackdown on individual freedoms have contributed to the rapid decline of the Afghan economy, resulting in food scarcity, limited shelter and poor healthcare. What’s most concerning, however, is the donor fatigue which coincides with the reduction of international support for Afghanistan. This includes the US, which reduced its financial support from $1.26 billion dollars to $377 million in 2023. The decisions to be made aren’t easy. Parts of the international community are in some cases reverting to positions for normalisation with these ‘de facto’ authorities. However, if normalisation is to occur it must be on the grounds of evidence that women’s and human rights are improving in the region.
The options are both dark. The choice between funding or aiding a state which flagrantly lacks human rights or isolating in protest is far from optimal. However, given that the regime in place seems defiant in the face of international condemnation, I fear that such a tactic will do little to help the women in Afghanistan. It is a wholly convenient solution for the US, as it benefits the President domestically and financial to take such a route but it is obvious that the Taliban are unlikely to bend under the pressure of economic punishments. There are concerns over Afghanistan’s reliance on foreign aid. However, the new Vice and Virtue Law signals that this, if any, is not the time to be forgetting about the people there. Women have had their entire autonomy and agency removed, stripping them from their humanity and reducing them to an object.
The Taliban know that it is impossible to move up the development ladder, or even make economic progress if half the population are isolated. Nevertheless, this does not mean that they are likely to slow down on their ideological zeal and include women. The new law is evidence of that. So, whilst the options are imperfect, America has a moral obligation to engage with them considering that it was US actions which enabled the Taliban’s rule. Biden’s surprise at the speed of the Kabul takeover does not excuse a reduction in aid funding. Whilst there is a risk, as is with all international funding, that it could indirectly support the Taliban regime. The US doesn’t have a right to take the moral high ground of economically isolating the country. This is not a problem which can be solved via sanctions. In the meantime, the US must protect the women of Afghanistan, especially given the role played in contributing to their position.
Reference list
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