Impact of withdrawal: Afghan women and the return of the Taliban burqa

Doaa Emam

Two decades ago, Afghan women dreamed of the end of the harsh social restrictions imposed on women by the Taliban movement. They had no right to walk without a burqa covering their bodies and faces, and they were also prevented from studying, working or leaving the house without their husbands or relatives.

With the announcement of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last month, the Taliban has returned to control larger portions of the country, raising the suspicions of women in particular, as they suffered most during the brutal era of the extremist movement. But there have been changes in the country, with women entering parliament and serving in the ranks of the security forces, with some of them even emerging as the most successful businesswomen.

Statements by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the founders of the Taliban and the movement’s deputy leader, that the movement is committed to women’s rights can be reassuring, but the strict restrictions imposed on women during the Taliban’s rule are still fresh, and these memories create widespread concern among many Afghan women, especially with the movement’s elements advancing to take control of several provinces. Afghan women expected that any peace agreement must include the protection of the gains they have made.

Women did not believe the vows made by some elements of the movement, and hundreds of Afghan women carried guns and weapons in the streets of the north and center of the country last week in a parade that coincided with the movement’s gains on the ground following the American withdrawal. The women just wanted to send a symbolic message of support to the Afghan forces, but many of the participants also confirmed that they were ready to go to the battlefield.

According to the testimony of a female Afghan journalist from northern Jowzjan, “There is no woman in the country who wants to actually fight in the field, but we are only asking for our most basic rights, such as completing my education, for example, away from violence… But the circumstances made me do it.”

When asked about the possibility of going back to before the US invasion of Afghanistan and ending the Taliban’s control, Freshta Farhang, 21, a correspondent for the online newspaper Khabarnama News in Kabul, said, “There have been many changes in the past 17 or 18 years in the country. People have changed, minds have changed; so, these changes also have a positive impact on Taliban leaders. They have to realize the difference.”

There is a big difference between the old Taliban and the new Taliban. The defining moment came in June during the three-year ceasefire, when Taliban militants and Afghan security forces alike laid down their weapons.

After the ceasefire, the Taliban realized that women are active everywhere, in education and the economy, Farhang said.

She said that many Afghan women would never accept the Taliban again, adding, “But what we should focus on is peace.”

It is noteworthy that the fall of the Taliban regime allowed some important changes and progress in the field of women’s rights and education. In 1999, there were no girls enrolled in secondary school, and there were only 9,000 girls in primary schools. By 2003, there were 2.4 million girls in school, and that number has now risen to about 3.5 million, while about a third of students in public and private universities are women.

The Taliban says it is no longer opposed to girls’ education, but according to human rights organizations, there are very few Taliban officials in the areas they control who allow girls to go to school after puberty.