Editorial: No country for women

The international community must feel the moral responsibility to lend unequivocal support to Afghan women who are being denied the basic dignity of life

The plight of women in Afghanistan must prick the conscience of the world. They are virtually waging a lonely battle against the most oppressive, totalitarian and arbitrary regime. Instead of mere condemnations, the international community must feel the moral responsibility to lend unequivocal support to Afghan women who are being denied the basic dignity of life. Banning women from university education is the latest in a series of diktats by the Taliban regime to keep them away from virtually every sphere of social life. The basic rights of women are being trampled upon with impunity, in a throwback to the 1990s when the Taliban had first ruled the country. Any hopes of the Taliban rulers changing their mindset this time have been dashed with the return of the public executions and flogging and a series of misogynistic measures. These indefensible decisions put paid to the notion that the regime’s desire to escape sanctions and gain international legitimacy post the US withdrawal would force it to maintain at least the veneer of following global norms with respect to human rights. The ban makes Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls and women are denied access to education. The invisibilisation of women by the Taliban is now gathering pace. Women have been completely excluded from the government of the Taliban and cannot go out and work in most sectors. Last month, they were banned from visiting public parks and gyms. Afghanistan’s education sector was badly affected after the Taliban takeover and there has been an exodus of trained academics after the withdrawal of US-led forces last year.

The country’s economy has been largely dependent on foreign aid in recent decades, but aid agencies have partly –and in some cases fully – withdrawn support to the education sector after the Taliban refused to allow girls into all secondary schools. What the Taliban are doing to women is against the tenets of Islam. Such decisions will further alienate the Taliban from the international community and deny them much-needed legitimacy in the comity of nations. In the two decades since the Taliban were toppled from power by a US-led military coalition in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Afghan women have experienced rights and freedoms under the protective umbrella of the United Nations, the US and its allies. They were empowered with education and awareness of their rights. Now, only sustained international pressure might force the present rulers to honour the commitments, made before the US troops” withdrawal last year, regarding respecting the rights of women and minorities. Being the president of G20, India must use its international stature and influence to force the Taliban to honour the Doha commitments. New Delhi has been rooting for an inclusive government in Kabul that ensures equal rights for women in all spheres.