Afghan women call on the international community: “Where are you now in our hour of greatest need?”

Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 and the subsequent humanitarian and economic crisis across the country, there have been many conversations ‘about’ women in Afghanistan. But often these discussions omit the perspectives, lived experiences, self-articulated needs, and the voices of Afghan women themselves.  

Since August last year, human rights abuses and violations against women and girls have risen steadily. Despite initial promises that women would be allowed to exercise their rights within Sharia law—including the right to work and to study—the Taliban has systematically excluded women and girls from public life. 

Now they have no right to education or work, are banned from social activities and cannot even walk in the park or go to the gym, they cannot be involved in politics or any form of decision making. This is the tip of the iceberg; we know that many women now have no income and are less likely to be reached through relief or humanitarian interventions – and are denied access to essential services because they cannot leave their home without a male chaperone.  

Decades of progress on gender equality and women’s rights have been wiped out in mere months. Women hold no cabinet positions in the de facto administration. It has also abolished the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. This has effectively eliminated women’s right to political participation.  

Restrictions on women’s movement and bodies continue to escalate. In May, the Taliban decreed that women must cover their faces in public and instructed them to remain in their homes except in cases of necessity. I wonder who decides what is a necessity?  

Despite this, women are defiant and are finding ways to be present, active and… dare I say, visible.  In the past few weeks, a large number of women’s rights activists have been arrested in Kabul and their fate is unknown. We must stand with them, we must speak out and urge action for them and with them.

The UK, along with the international community, has a role it can play to leverage change and begin to reverse the rollback on women’s rights in Afghanistan. Here’s how:

Week in, week out, the Taliban receive at least 40 million dollars from international donors and often managed through UN entities. Yes, Afghan people need food and fuel and the ability to live but really, what is this money being used for? Where is the transparency in these transactions? In the UK charity sector we must know our grantee or beneficiary, we must meet compliance and due diligence requirements, meet anti-terrorism and corruption thresholds, yet…what is happening with the funds being sent to the Taliban without interruption or question?  

How can it be that this money, contributed by big donors including the US, World Bank, Germany, the European Union, the Asian Development Bank, UK, Japan, Canada, Norway, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, and Finland, is being sent without any conditions to the Taliban? I understand the humanitarian focus but again I ask: where it is going, who is it reaching? I can almost guarantee that women are not benefitting.  

The international community is silencing Afghan women without even realising because they are not including Afghan women in their delegations and policy development. So many of us Afghan women have experience and expertise to offer. Why is evacuation seen as the only option?  

Life is being drained from the women who have stayed, those who are trying to keep running women-led organisations and to provide basic services and support for women. The Taliban is occupying spaces that were created by and for women, taking what they want and taking even more when the money comes flowing in. Where is the financial support for women-led organisations who are still there, still working and at huge risk despite Taliban decrees and threats against them?  

Who will speak up and speak out to the Taliban on this, who will coordinate from amongst the international donors to pursue a change in their policies about financing hate and terror? 

We – Afghan women – are the same women as we were before the Taliban took control. We are the women that were working with the international community – supporting, encouraging and platforming their events. I am grateful for all that we have achieved but I am asking: where are they now in our hour of greatest need? 

And so, Afghan women are calling on the international community to not forget its obligations to them. Listen to us, and invite us to share our experiences and realities, including those who are still in Afghanistan and leading women’s organisations.  

We need the international community to remain committed to the women’s rights agenda so strongly pursued as part of their own government objectives. It’s only through this and working with Afghan women that the international community can also achieve its aim of a more equal, peaceful, and secure future for Afghanistan. 

This blog piece is taken from a speech by Maryam Rahmani at an APPG event at The Houses of Parliament, London, on November 23rd 2022.