Afghan women prime victim of U.S.-Taliban deal

Nahla Abdelmonem

The Afghan Taliban movement signed an agreement with the United States on February 29, after years of fighting.

Soon after signing the deal, Taliban leader, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, issued a roadmap containing his movment’s vision for the future in Afghanistan.

In his roadmap, Akhundzada does not make any reference to women. He only said his movement would back the oppressed, whether they are men or women, within an Islamic system.

Akhundzada also called on all political parties in Afghanistan, university students and scholars to participate in their country’s political life.

He asked all these parties to abide by the terms of the agreement his movement signed with the United States.

Significance

Taliban Spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, reportedly assured women about their status in future Afghanistan. However, Shaheen does not mention anything in this regard on his official Twitter account.

The conditions of women in Afghanistan have always been at the center of debate, especially after the Taliban overran the country in the 1990s.

Taliban forced women to be committed to a specific appearance in public. It also prevented women and girls from going to schools. The movement prevented women from participating in politics.

Fears were raised on the future of Afghan women when the United States started negotiating with the movement. These fears gained credence after the terms of the February 29 agreement turned out to be purely political in nature.

Belquis Ahmadi, a senior Afghanistan program officer at the United States Institute of Peace, said the terms of the agreement between the United States and Taliban are worrying, especially when it comes to the status of women in Afghanistan.

She added that neither did the United States nor Taliban present any guarantees for the protection of the progress achieved during the past years on women’s rights in Afghanistan.

Ambiguity

Some people are of the view that U.S. President, Donald Trump, has only raised his chance of winning a second term in the presidency by signing a deal that secures the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in return for suspending support by the movement to terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda.

Political science professor at Cairo University, Nourhan al-Sheikh, said the agreement gives yet a new indication that the U.S. is succumbing to conditions by the Taliban.

“The agreement is catastrophic for Afghan women,” al-Sheikh told The Reference.