The Fall of Taliban…
Was it a Rose for Afghan Woman?

By Safae Alem

2001 was the end of Taliban and the beginning of Afghan women’s hope of a new life. Many promises were made by the powerful men and women of the world. They were Promises of a better future with equal rights between both genders and of social and economic development. Cherie Blair said in November 2001: “We need to help Afghan women free their spirit and give them their voice back, so they can create the better Afghanistan we all want to see.” George Bush boasted in December 2001: “Women now come out of their homes from house arrest.” Colin Powell made a promise in 2001: “The rights of the women of Afghanistan will not be negotiable.” In January 2002, George W. Bush said in his State of the Union address, “The last time we met in this chamber, the mothers and daughters of Afghanistan were captives in their own homes, forbidden from working or going to school. Today women are free...” Today we are in 2007, which means 5 years after Taliban, the question is were those promises fulfilled?

Afghan women have known various kinds of oppressions through the country’s history. The most pernicious were during Taliban’s period when women had been controlled by men. They were oppressed and tortured through the rigid interpretation of Islam by Mullahs. Thus, women had been banned from many activities, varied between crucial and ordinary. Ban on woman studying. Ban on woman’s work outside home. Only a few female doctors and nurses were allowed to work in some hospitals only in Kabul since all Afghan women - not only in Kabul - were prohibited to see male doctors. Ban on woman’s activity outside home unless accompanied by a mahram. Ban on woman’s playing sports or entering a sport center or club. Ban on women wearing high heel shoes. Ban on the use of cosmetics (Many women with painted nails had fingers cut off), and even ban on women laughing loudly!

In fact, the removal of Taliban served women to persevere in order to change their situation in Afghan society. They have been struggling for years and finally succeeded in gaining equal rights in the new Afghan constitution. They participated in two national elections and two Loya jirahs (a large meeting held in Afghanistan, attended by regional, political, military and religious leaders). They won seats n the national parliament. They have become able to attend school and to work. Also, Afghan woman continued their political activities and reached some important positions nationally and internationally. We can mention Sima Samar, the first woman minister of Ministry of Woman’s Affairs in the transitional government if Hamid Karazai, Zahida Ansari, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Bulgaria, and Mas’uda Jalal who was Afghanistan’s first female presidential candidate.

But even though, many of the fundamental problems remain unchanged. Starting with the burqa, which was and is still an issue in woman’s life in Afghanistan. Under Taliban’s control, women were forced to wear burqa and had been beaten if they refused. But the paradox is that the majority of Afghan women are still wearing it. “…I was walking with an Afghan colleague to a meeting on women's rights; I spotted an ice-cream vendor in the hot, dusty street. I rushed ahead and returned with two cones of lemony ice. I held one out to my friend. ‘Forgive me,’ she said. ‘I can't.’ She was wearing a burqa.” Ann Jones said. She continued: “I'd watched women trip on their burqas and fall. I'd watched women collide with cars they couldn't see. I knew a woman badly burned when her burqa caught fire. I knew another who suffered a near-fatal skull fracture when her burqa snagged in a taxi door and slammed her to the pavement as the vehicle sped away.” An Afghan woman nodded towards her burqas and said “I want to pour oil on top and set them on fire. I hate them.”

However, when we come close to crucial problems, burqa seems to be the less significant. Afghanistan is about the poorest country in the world. About 85% of Afghan women are illiterate. About 95% are routinely exposed to domestic violence. Half of pregnant women die in childbirth, putting Afghanistan in the first ranges of the highest maternal death in the world. One third of the country is without girls’ schools because of the attacks made by Taliban and anti-government groups against female students and teachers. “If the families do not allow their daughters to study, we cannot have women teachers, doctors and engineers,” Masooma, 19, pointed out. “ ‘If there are no women doctors, there is no treatment for women patients’, since women in this ultra-traditional area are not allowed to be attended by male doctors.” Lashkar Gah reported. Also, the academy which consists of kitchens, vast halls, and a theatre and which can accommodate 200 students received only 4 female students. Forced marriages represent about 60% to 80% of all Afghan marriages. 57% of girls are married before the legal marriage age of 16. In addition, female politicians and activists face intimidation and violence. “Women who are standing up to defend women's rights are not being protected,” says Brita Fernandes Schmidt of Womankind Worldwide. “Women's rights activists are getting killed, women's NGO workers are getting killed, and that is not going to change unless some drastic action is taken,” she continues.

Women’s problems related with men are the most horrible. Afghan women are the property of men. They can be sold and traded; they can be exchanged for animals in disputes between warlords; and they are given as amends in “conflict resolution” or as a payment for debts. Violence against women is an ordinary activity for the majority of Afghan men. “Widow Bibi Gul, 60, gathered her two daughters in a quiet room to tell their story. After her husband died, said Gul, she refused to surrender the deeds to their house, so her two youngest sons drove her into the desert and threatened to kill her. 'They pulled me out of the car and beat me,' she said. 'They said they would throw me into a well.' ” Declan Walsh reported. “Although Afghan law sets the minimum marriageable age for girls at 16, girls as young as eight or nine are commonly sold into marriage. Female doctors in Kabul maternity hospitals describe terrible life-threatening ‘wedding night’ injuries that husbands inflict on child brides. In the countryside, far from medical help, such girls die.” Ann Jones said.

For that, a big number of Afghan women try to escape. But escaping is a crime in the eye of Afghan society; the woman alone outside home is accused to be guilty of the crime of zina (engaging in sexual activity) whose sentence is putting in jail for an indefinite term or being murdered by the woman’s male family members “to restore the family honour.” The raped victim is treated the same, since there is no excuse for any sexual contact. Dishonour for Afghan family is always related to girls and women. They can bring dishonour if they are raped or escaped; if they are kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery; and even if they commit suicide. The latter is spreading widely among Afghan women. They kill themselves to flight from the cruel life; from beating, sexual abuse, forced marriage, imprisonment, and honour killing.

It is true that the fall of Taliban gave an opportunity to Afghan woman to experience a kind of freedom. She can now go to school, she can work, and she can go out alone. But the reality is that the end of Taliban did not make an end to the country traditions. In contrary, they remain unchanged. Violence against women exists not only outside but inside the house; husbands beating their wives only because they feel like to do it. Young girls are forced to get married with old men. Although Afghan activist women are fighting to catch some rights, they are far from changing people’s minds and convictions. What is happing inside Afghan society reflects retarded mind of people, especially men. There is no doubt that Afghan woman feels regretful and maybe ashamed of being female even if it was not her choice. Who can deny it? If she is treated like animals and exchanged for them; if she is seen as a sex doll, as a machine to produce children, and sometimes as a non-human being which deserves torture and abuse.