Afghanistan

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CWA # 488, 7 June 2021
Afghanistan
The return of Taliban will be bad news for women

  Vibha Venugopal

Positive developments that have taken place in Afghanistan for women in the two decades will be undermined if the Taliban returns to power.

In the wake of US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, there will be a reduced military presence, whereas the Taliban remains strong on the battlefield. There have been peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban; what does this mean for the Afghan women and their rights? 

The return of the Taliban would be a bad omen for women rights in Afghanistan for the following two reasons.

First, history of the Taliban rule. During 1996-2001, Afghan women had faced the darkest of times. Taliban's interpretation of Islamic Sharia and the Pashtun tribal practices resulted in limited access for women on education, employment, and health services. On the contrary post –Taliban constitution in 2004 provided Afghan women with most of the rights and political dispensation, which significantly improved their socio-economic condition. 

In particular, the rural areas, women tend to experience the destruction of intensifying fighting between the Taliban, government forces and local militias, rather than economic, social, and political empowerment. 

Though the Taliban claim to ensure a society in which women had a safe and dignified role, facts show the opposite. Taliban's discriminatory policies violate many basic principles of international human rights law, including freedom of expression, association, and assembly. 

Second, the role of women in the peace process. Afghan feminists argue that there should be no negotiations with the Taliban. Protecting women's rights needs to be one of the critical objectives as, sadly, in the past few years, they have constituted only a minimum percentage in the government. The Afghan government needs to see the role of women not just as an afterthought but as critical to sustainable and implementable peace accords.  Unsurprisingly, the position of Afghan women towards peace varies greatly. Educated urban women reject the possibility of another Taliban Emirate. They might be given some political and government representation but not the ability to shape the rewrite of the Afghan constitution and the basic political dispensation. The continuation and augmentation of the war have cost urban women much less than many rural women.

The US claims that international cooperation and support should be given to women; as they are the vectors of both peace and economic development in Afghanistan. Women's empowerment continues to serve the United States' primary interests in the region. A recent report released by the National Intelligence Council states that: "Taliban was infamous for imposing old-age unequal decisions on women and keeping them away from studies and not allowing them to step out even for work. So, suppose the Taliban were again Afghanistan's dominant power. In that case, we assess that any prospect for moderating the group's policies towards women would lie with ethnic minorities' ability to maintain local variation and technological development."

To conclude, there is no visible practice or step by the Taliban that would protect and ensure women rights. Taliban's view stops only with negotiations with the government they interact with abroad; the idea of women's rights must be brought back to the negotiating table for discussions between the Taliban and the government for considerable changes to occur.
The return and the very presence of the Taliban would affect and undermine not just women's rights but also the very idea of gender – "Women". Some people argue that the Taliban has moderated its view towards women and say that they would not do bad to women's position. But in a country like Afghanistan, just stating ideas would not work as there needs to be proof of work towards emancipation.  

The first objective is to prevent the Taliban from coming back to power. If not, the international community should insist where the Taliban should work upon the no go area of women's rights.

About the author

Vibha Venugopal is currently pursuing her Masters in International Studies from the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be) University, Bengaluru. Her areas of interest include the Emerging Role of the Regional Organisations in South Asia (India –Bangladesh Relations in BIMSTEC), Maritime Security in the Indo Pacific, and Peace and Conflict processes in South East Asia.

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Afghanistan