Right to self-determination; Right to due process of law; Right to freedom of movement; Right to privacy; Right to freedom of thought; Right to freedom of religion; Right to freedom of expression; Right to peaceful assembly; Right to freedom of association; Right to liberty

Read that again.

These are the fundamental human rights as identified by the United Nations that every human, regardless of situation, is entitled to. Yet somehow, every single one of these are getting violated in a country of 38 million citizens.

This is the reality of Afghanistan.

“A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated…”

― Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

What we are seeing today, the horrific pictures and videos from Afghanistan, is not an overnight occurrence. The bleak and bloody futures that we are fearing for Afghani women are not founded on imagination. It has a 40 year long history that has today boiled down to one thing: the violation of fundamental human rights.

A Dark Past

It all started in 1979, when the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan assassinated the Afghan President, Mohammed Daoud Khan. This insurgence caught the eyes of, what was at the time, the USSR. They decided to help restore peace in the country by rebuilding their government. However, larger counties and imperialists usually have ulterior motives, and so did the Soviets. They wanted control over this land because of its oil and mineral reserves.

Internal struggle waged between the Soviets and Afghan rebels for almost 10 years. This continued until 1989, when the Soviets lost their hold on the country. However, a pro-Russian Afghani government took over. It’s important to note here though, that while on the surface this may have looked like an Afghani rebels vs Russians battle, it was nothing but the classic US Russia rivalry at play.

You see, the US was funding the Afghani rebel’s force and fight. America provided them with arms and money to fight the Soviet presence in their country, one of many such events of the Cold War. This aid is what helped them oust the Russians in the first place. But 3 years after this, in 1992, the US withdrew this aid. Without their rich allies to support them, the country plunged into civil war and the unstable government fell yet again.

The First Reign of Terror

In 1994, the civil war came to an end, but at a cost no people should have borne. Remember the Afghani rebels who were fighting against the USSR? The ones who the Americans funded? Well, that group is what you today infamously know as the Taliban.

After the civil war, the Taliban took over rule of the country, starting a reign that would last for 5 long years. They imposed severe restrictions on the women, forcing them to cover themselves from head to toe. Afghani women were not allowed to study or work or earn. The Taliban began to conduct mass executions, and ruled with a terror that is memorable even 20 years later.

However, stronger countries didn’t help reduce the violations the citizens, and especially Afghani women, faced at the hands of the Taliban until 9/11. It was then that the Bush administration conducted strategic bombings against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and finally ended its blood soaked governance.

Until today.

“The Taliban systematically terrorized women. They took away their freedom of movement, their freedom to work, their right to education, their right to wear jewelry, to grow their nails or paint them, to laugh in public, to even show their faces…”

― Khaled Hosseini

Rising from the ashes.

Even after the terror filled Taliban rule, Afghanistan rebuilt itself. The women got back a semblance of freedom. They could finally educate themselves without it being a threat to their lives. Girls were no longer victims of forced marriage, and were able to pursue their dreams.

Finally, school and university halls saw female faces again.

In fact, very recently a small group of young Afghani girls developed a more affordable version of a ventilator. They used their education and freedom to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. While the usual ventilator costs US $30 000, theirs costs only US $300.

These girls are the The Afghan Girls Robotics Team, and you would do well to remember their names: Somaya Faruqi, Dyana Wahbzadeh, Folernace Poya, Ellaham Mansori, and Nahid Rahimi. The most astounding part is that they are all aged between 14-17.

They are examples of what is possible when women are afforded the freedom they were born with the right to. But all of this is under threat once again. Since the US withdrew most of its troops from Afghanistan, the resurgence of the Taliban has resulted in a widespread return of terror.

“…what is in store for my cousin? For her daughter? And the countless brave Afghan women who for twenty years labored to achieve some measure of autonomy, dignity, and selfhood? Are Afghan women once again to be sequestered inside homes? Will they be beaten in the streets? Will women no longer be allowed to work? Will girls’ classrooms sit empty? Will female faces disappear from Afghan TV and female voices from radio? Will Afghanistan be deprived once more of meaningful contribution from half of its population?”

― Khaled Hosseini 14th August 2021, on the return of Taliban ruled Afghanistan.

An uncertain future for Afghani Women.

What happens now?

The truth is that we don’t know. But if history is of any indication, the future of Afghanis, especially women, is bleak and oppressed. Will the world just stand by once again and watch as genocide and femicide ravage humanity?

On the 14th of this month, President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Taliban gained control of the Afghani capital Kabul and the Presidential Palace. Women and girls have fled to the last few cities not under Taliban rule, but it is only a matter of time before they too are victims. Airports are filled to chaos with people desperate to leave, and the air in the streets is one of despair and hopelessness.

The previous Taliban rule treated the Afghani women and girls as if they were subhuman. They stoned their women to death if they didn’t wear burqas, locked them in their houses and raped them. They didn’t allow women to work and earn, forcing them to depend on a man to feed them.

Will it be the same for Afghani women this time?

Probably. Already there are stories: orders to young girls to marry Taliban men. And by young, I mean children.

An article in the Guardian outlines the struggle of Afghani women in university, and how they desperately try to get home as they receive news of the Taliban’s invasion. I would strongly recommend that you read it, because nothing communicates better than their first hand fear.

But here’s a glimpse of what it, and several other reports on women in Afghanistan, describe. Women are leaving their workplace in a rush to get home. They are giving teary eyed goodbyes to their colleagues because they know it’s the last day of their job. Women are rushing to hide their certificates and qualifications. They fear the Taliban finding and punishing them for being educated.

These are women who have spent countless nights studying for their university degree, only to have to leave it incomplete months before graduation. These are women who enjoy doing their hair and nails, who now have to hide themselves by no choice of their own. These are women who are victims of a war they didn’t start. These are women whose only fault was to be born in a country that is being used as a battlefield. These are women. Human beings. Yet they are being treated as anything but.

These are the horrific realities of Afghani women and girls today, who may be looking to a future that is unjust, wrong and painful.

You can help.

Raising awareness is the first step. But it can’t stop there. Even if everyone knows what’s happening, it doesn’t help till we do something about it. 

Donate. But most importantly, donate to the correct organizations, the ones that will directly help people. Here is a list that you can start with:

Human Concern International

The Afghancare

Choose Love

UNICEF

Afghanaid

If you need help with donating, feel free to contact MilkshakeFromMars with any doubts.

Crises like this have the inevitable fallout of producing a vast number of refugees. You can help by being welcoming if you meet one, and not responding with xenophobia. If you have the means or are able to, consider volunteering at drives and refugee camps.

Lastly, if you have a significant platform, or hold influence over any group of people, voice the plight of this country. Lobby your respective governments to help these people. Because if we don’t, no one will. Because if we don’t, the women and girls of Afghanistan may never see the light of day. They will never work again, study again, or even read again.

And never again will they be able to show the world that Afghani women in science exist.

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References: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9