Editorial: No country for women

The plight of women in Afghanistan must prick the conscience of the world as they are virtually waging a lonely battle

As the Taliban completes two years of returning to power in Afghanistan, a vast majority of people in the impoverished country feel virtually abandoned, their fundamental rights being crushed and their miseries increasing manifold. Women continue to be barred from education and employment as the ultra-orthodox rulers have imposed draconian restrictions on society. Contrary to the optimistic projections made by some analysts, the Taliban of today is no different from its earlier avatar of the 1990s in terms of brutality and totalitarian hold over the country. Imposing their strict interpretation of Islamic law, the new rulers have stopped women staff from working with aid agencies, closed beauty salons, barred them from parks and curtailed their travel in the absence of any male guardian. Women were often publicly flogged or executed if they violated Taliban rules. For many Western governments, the ban on girl education is a major obstacle to any hope of formal recognition of the Taliban administration. As global interest in the war-torn country has diminished over the last two years, many Afghans feel that they are left in the lurch. In a country of about 40 million people, international aid agencies estimate that about 15 million people will face crisis levels of food insecurity this year, with 2.8 million in the “emergency” category, the fourth highest in the world. The World Health Organization, on its part, has expressed concern over Afghans’ lack of access to basic health services, about 20% of the population suffer from mental health problems and 4 million from drug addiction and associated disorders.

After the American and NATO forces made a hasty exit from the conflict-ravaged country in 2021 following two decades of war, fighters from the Islamic fundamentalist group made lightning advances, conquering the entire nation in a matter of weeks. Despite initial promises to respect women’s rights, the Taliban went about enforcing the most oppressive policies. The plight of women in Afghanistan must prick the conscience of the world. They are virtually waging a lonely battle against the most oppressive, and arbitrary regime. Hopes of the Taliban rulers changing their mindset in their second stint in power 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 country’s economy has been largely dependent on foreign aid in recent decades but aid agencies have withdrawn support to the education sector after the Taliban refused to allow girls into schools. Such decisions will further alienate the Taliban from the international community and deny them much-needed legitimacy in the comity of nations.

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