Women's Predicament in Taliban-Governed Afghanistan and the Conundrum for U.S. Policy
After the hasty withdrawal of US forces in August, the United States faces a critical challenge regarding the Taliban government in power. The future of women's rights and empowerment in Afghanistan is uncertain and raises sobering questions without easy answers.
In the post-9/11 era, the Taliban's disregard for women's rights was brought to the world's attention. The 2001 US-led military invasion helped pave the way for significant changes in women's rights in Afghanistan. Over the last twenty years, Afghan women have made considerable advances in political participation due to the 2004 constitution, which mandated that 27 percent of seats in the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) and 17 percent in the Meshrano Jirga (upper house) be reserved for women.
In the 1970s, there were women in parliament. By mid-century, females were being educated en masse at Kabul University and abroad in countries like Turkey. Queen Soraya Tarzi (1926-29) encouraged and promoted female education and advocated for women's employment rights. The 1964 constitution favored statutory law over Hanafi sharia law and legally enshrined Afghan women's right to vote.
However, the Taliban regime is historically committed to waging war against women's rights. The Taliban continues to assassinate women's rights advocates and politicians, murder schoolgirls, and appears determined to wipe out electoral processes and women's rights, wholesale. The Taliban's new caretaker government, with no women among the list of new cabinet members, further solidifies these concerns.
Joel Blaxland, an assistant professor of political science and a nonresident fellow at a specific website at West Point, expresses concerns about the protection of women's rights under the Taliban regime. The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, appears to favor seeking to influence the Taliban regime to protect women's rights. However, this approach carries the risk of appearing to recognize the regime's legitimacy. The United States must make a decision about how to move forward: either seek to influence the Taliban regime to protect women's rights and accept the attendant risks, or refuse to do so and face the risk of watching women's hard-earned advancements evaporate.
In the meantime, Afghan women in Kabul continue to fight for their fundamental human rights in the face of surging violence. Malalai Joya, a female political delegate, has been a vocal critic of provisions she argued would politically empower warlords. The UN secretary-general has expressed grave concerns for increased human rights violations under the rising caretaker government.
The National Resistance Front has declared the Taliban regime illegitimate and has aspirations for its own parallel government. The article is credited to '后生'. The views expressed by Blaxland do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.
As the world watches, the future of women's rights in Afghanistan remains uncertain. It is a future that demands our attention, our support, and our action.
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