The World Told Afghan Women It Had Their Backs — It Doesn’t
The international community is ignoring the plight of the people it pledged to protect when the Taliban regime was first ousted in 2001.
An all-female robotic team build a ventilator for Covid-19 patients in Herat, Afghanistan.
Photographer: Ahmad Idres Naderi /AFP/Getty Images
Do senior officials from the U.S., China and Russia really plan to keep talking to the Taliban as if its fighters are not murdering civilians — including female activists — across Afghanistan, attacking schoolgirls and telling women they cannot leave the house without a man to accompany them?
Plenty of governments seem happy to break bread with Taliban negotiators since the U.S. under Donald Trump’s administration made a deal with them and President Joe Biden decided to honor it. In December 2001, the U.S. under George W. Bush pledged funds to support the women and children of Afghanistan. His wife Laura said, “The fight against terrorism is also the fight for the rights and dignity of women.” Any such promises are now hollow, exposed as disposable symbolism.