Violent attacks by the Taliban have been increasing. Last month, the principal of a girls' school near Kabul was assassinated. Yet some observers would have us believe the Taliban have changed their misogynist ideology and deserve another chance in negotiations and power sharing.
Last November, when US President Barack Obama tried to "reach out" to moderate voices among the Taliban, they replied, "We have no moderate voices."
A leading representative, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, said freedoms won by women in the past few years were "corrupting" them, and men and women shouldn't be in the same room.
Working women have been receiving death threats by letter and phone and one who refused to be intimidated was murdered.
The Taliban now profess they were never opposed to girls' education, only co-education. This claim contradicts their systematic burning of girls' schools, the beating and killing of teachers, and throwing acid in the faces of little girls going to school. Moreover, a harder line of Taliban fighters is emerging from the tribal areas, having been recruited as teenagers.
Under the new Afghan constitution, women have equal rights but it seems unlikely the Taliban would honour this charter. Their brutal treatment of women, including public floggings, stoning executions for adultery and the mandatory burka, were widely condemned in the West. Less recognition was given to psychological injuries that manifested as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, self-harm and suicide.
Maltreatment is not limited to the Taliban. Bartering women and their rights is a widespread cultural practice in family, tribal and political deals, and includes the Afghan government itself.
In order to gain support from Islamists in the 2009 election, President Hamid Karzai approved family laws for the Shia community that sanctioned marital rape, forbade women leaving the house without their husbands' permission and allowed early marriage for girls. Coalition troops were not sent to Afghanistan to liberate women; their rights are not part of a border or strategic dispute, and no soldier would be expected to die for this cause.
However, women's rights are not a marginal issue and we cannot ignore the modest gains for which activists fought valiantly over the past 10 years. Their humble demands were limited to basic human rights such as education and employment opportunities.
They did not, for example, seek punishment or compensation for alleged sexual harassment by the chief executive of a department store or the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
Women's rights would suffer a severe setback if the Taliban were given a share of power, possibly in the south of the country. Abandoning women to the Taliban would also spur imitation by extremists outside Afghanistan, including Britain, where the "London Taliban" has reportedly threatened to kill unveiled Muslim women. A Western failure in Afghanistan could stimulate more attacks from radicals, emboldened by their conviction that religious fervour was instrumental in defeating a second superpower.
Some women activists have sounded more conciliatory in recent times, attempting to thwart the punishment they anticipate when foreign troops leave. Most fear that a hasty drawdown of foreign troops could bring more chaos and violence, civil war, and even the return of jihadist training camps. The death of Osama bin Laden has also caused alarm, as the US could claim their mission to destroy al-Qaeda in Afghanistan was complete.
In order to achieve a respectable exit, Afghan and Western negotiators might find it expedient to accept promises by the Taliban and go along with the view that gender culture in the country is too tribal to be changed and should be respected even if it is harsh on women.
Afghanistan will remain a backward, failed state if half the population is prevented from contributing to the social, economic and political fabric of society. In their opposition to misogyny, a pillar of radical Islam, women also provide a challenge to extremism.
What can be done to safeguard women's rights? Taliban guarantees to promote rights for women and girls should be considered worthless, due to lack of coalition leverage.
Women should be included in all talks with the Taliban and gender issues incorporated in documents for discussion.
US aid could be contingent on protecting the human rights of Afghan women, and the pace of withdrawal made dependent on the extent to which the Taliban keep to their word.
Women and children are the main casualties in the war zone, and security will not improve unless the Pakistani government is prepared to stop the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani network and Hezb-e Islami from manufacturing improvised explosive devices on their soil.
Another requirement is a comprehensive settlement of reconciliation and de-radicalisation that goes beyond the Taliban to include other paramilitaries and power brokers. Rather than defend the Taliban, it would be more productive, and consistent with the democratic values of the Arab Spring, to support the victims of violence, the women's movement and other reformers in Afghanistan, so that human rights and civil society can seed and grow.
Ida Lichter is the author of' Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression,' published by Prometheus Books, New York. Originally published in 'The Australian'.
Follow Ida Lichter, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/IdaLichter
Dan Ehrlich: Afghanistan: The First Feminist War?
Carl Medearis: The Death Of Osama: Confronting The Death Our Worst Enemies
Dr. David Liepert: The Derogation of Women in Islam
Yes, I said it!!
How they will be much better off under your rule than their own countrymen's
Deaths are way up under your regime, the numbers don't lie
I wonder if there is a possible way to approach these considerations. Islam is NOT inherently totally misogynistic, despite what far too many 'Christians' believe. The problem has been tribal traditions interpreted as Islam. Perhaps if some kind of statement of women's rights that is supported by Islamic doctrine manages to find its way into whatever documents are 'agreed' upon in these upcoming negotiations, there may be some leverage in the future to continue the fight against Taliban misogyny.
INSALLAH
Many reformers and their organizations are mentioned by name in the narrative of my book (see above) and in the website section.
For a discussion of cultural traditions and Islam, you may be interested to see: Misogyny in the Muslim World: bound by Culture or Religion? Ida Lichter, The Huffington Post, January 7, 2011,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ida-lichter-md/misogyny-bound-by-culture_b_803942.html
Ida Lichter
As other posters have noted there is no realistic way to enforce a minimum level of women's rights in such a culturally and religiously backward place. When Islamic Fundamentalists come to western countries. we can't even stop them from engaging in misogynisic practices here (because we're afraid to do so and/or we think it's some kind of cultural imperialism on our part.). IMO the best policy to follow is to focus on our home countries--to prevent radical islamists entry. This would send a message to Islamic countries that we in the tolerant west will no longer allow this kind of activity.
In a tribal society like Afghanistan one the most important things is just survival. Rights mean little if you are dead or dying. Basic necessities (healthy food, clean water, housing, health care, security) will likely be appreciated before Afghan women worry about equal rights. Do not try and impose Western values and ideals on people with different concerns and issues. Certainly fighting to provide women in foreign countries these things, while admirable, is not a cost the US taxpayer should be expected to pay.
The Daily Mail. Not really a credible source. Although, just as soon as any evidence of threats is obtained, I'm sure britain's rather harsh anti-terror laws will descend on the perpetrators like the wrath of god.
In Afghanistan, I'm not sure that the status of women is any worse than in saudi arabia.
Do you have an alternative to talking to the enemy in a war that cannot be won?
Never heard of the London Taliban, expect it's a bunch of dumb lads of Asian extraction with no jobs and too much time on their hands, looking to make themselves feel important. If they had girl friends, none of this would be a problem.
Thinkcreeps, 100% on the money as usual mate!
Point of information, didn't those dummies chanting at the returning troops and burning poppies get jail sentences or fines? so not exactly missed where they?
Only time will bring change, and our presence may actually delay the arrival of progress for women, as our occupation radicalizes the country. People under stress turn more religious and conservative.
Well, I suppose carping is just as good. It's sort of like radioactivity, it perverts everything, and it never goes away.
We had the right to go in there to get Bin Ladin since they would hot turn him over, that's it, no more.