Daily Times

“After many months of sitting at home, this is indeed good news,” says Hoda, a student who hopes to resume her civil engineering degree in Kabul. “But I know many lecturers have left Afghanistan.”

BBC Pashto has established that since the Taliban took control last August, 229 professors from three of the country’s major universities – Kabul, Herat, and Balkh – have left the country. It is not only Hoda. There are many more women with fingers crossed; trying to assess the future course for themselves

“Afghan women are no longer silent. They are a force for progress. From now on, if we have sons, we will teach them to stand up for girls, and if we have daughters, we will make sure they know their value and remember the struggles of the women before them. Our struggle continues but our hope will not fade.”

Zarghuna Kargar, Journalist and Author of Dear Zari

For over a century, Afghanistan’s rulers and ethnic groups have been arguing about what women should do and how they should be. Women haven’t had much say.

The magnificent royalty of the Afghan Durrani Empire branching down by their fierce women has mostly been under the authoritarianism of either the Taliban rule or the skeptical invasion of the US Women and their rights ha always been the main focus of every coercion over the past four decades of interchangeable rule. Most of us do not remember Afghanistan and the privilege of Afghan women before the rule of the Taliban.

While the fate of the country, human rights, and women’s rights were being discussed in Doha, there were no women in the meeting.

It took decades to keep Afghan women off the street and break them but no unjust rule has broken their efforts to overcome the social hurdles and look for a new horizon. The problem does not lie in whether the Afghan women have problems or not, it lies in the fact that no one has ever asked them about it. The future of these women has been assumed by whoever chooses to rule over the nation, it is always the female population that suffers the most.

By the year 2001, Afghan women were mere objects to be kept at home or married off without their consent. Stories of unjust public hangings, stoning to death, or just beating to a point of fatal injuries were rather common. But why were the wrongdoers always Afghan Women? Why were there only male justice makers, when Sharia offers equity over equality?

For an almost entire decade, girls were refused education beyond primary school and were kept off the streets. Countless women started to speak after their oppressors became more than just unjust, such as Seema, a 30-year-old mother, who once worked at a health care center in Kabul and then roamed the streets trying to keep her children fed said, “Indignity is our destination”.

The Afghan woman did not give up. Many women secretly educated their children, mainly girls. Because in a male-dominated society, the influence on the young brains of boys was far too grea. It was difficult for the mothers to positively hold and stop their sons. It is a fact that one woman can nurture an entire generation, while the Taliban were actively trying to deprive Afghan women. It was the same time when these women fought in silence and nurtured the young minds not to forget their roots and to hope one day their land will be free for them to step on it with dignity and respect.

Women Rights were honored

In 2001, When the U.S invaded Afghanistan overtaking the Taliban after the incident of 9/11. One of their justifications for the war against the Taliban was “Women’s Rights.” Handsome aids were being flooded and yes, opportunities did open up for the oppressed gender. Afghan women could come out of hiding and exercise their basic rights openly. Schools were open for both, scholarships and job ability were balanced among the genders. Afghan women could finally breathe under the sun and fulfill their dreams. But did the US invasion help the Afghan women from the repression of the misogynistic gender and approach? NO! It did not happen at all, says Zahra Nader, a journalist and Ph.D. student in Canada. The young journalist openly declares the truth about the US invasion, which was only about their benefit and whatever was going on in Afghanistan was not in Afghan control.

However, the Afghan women were liberated from Taliban rule and many went on to become professionals. The hope and yearning of these Afghan women to make a better future for Afghanistan was always intervened and didn’t have a smooth sailing even after the US invasion. It was clear that women’s right was a justification used for this invasion. The mere scientific independence for Afghan Women was always a pinching pain now and then! Still, Afghan women have high hopes for their children and themselves. Hard Work and resilience for a better tomorrow keep them going.

Four decades later–What’s the future of Afghan women?

After four decades of pits and falls, Afghanistan was finally getting things back on track. Schools had reformed, modern education was provided by schools and universities, libraries were being stocked with new books. The Afghan women were finally getting the hang of a normal life, and the Taliban swept their way back into the country. This time they looked polished and more presentable. But have they changed? As the media claims?

For starters, while the fate of the country, human rights, and women’s rights were being discussed in Doha, there were no women in the meeting. So how can women’s rights be discussed with no women being involved in the meeting?

The new regime slowly made its way through the streets of Kabul, there was no blood bath terrorism this time, the only shots fired in the air were for the celebration of overthrowing the U.S. The well-suited and learned Taliban may look changed but their ideology seems a bit unchanged.

As the hearts of Afghan Women wait in their homes for their schools to open, their jobs to resume, and their daily life to set in order, once again we are listening to the news of bans women from stepping out of their homes, from going to school, and from work. Though the Afghan representative Amir Mutaqi declared in Oslo Conference in January 20202 meeting that the schools will reopen as lack of financial resources is the core reason for the closure of educational institutions, It’s a serious question still at the moment that in the absence of support for women s rights how Afghanistan regime will get recognition as a state. Doctors, Teachers, Lawyers, and even women serving in the forces are looking forward to the promises and assurances by the regime. Let’s hope for that gender supportive and gender-inclusive policies by the new regime as it may bring a solution to the multiple humanitarian issues as well, foreseen for Afghanistan.

The writer has experience in the field of education and is currently working as a resource person in the development sector