The World Must Stand With Afghanistan’s Women
The Taliban have once again erased half the country’s population from public life. The regime must know its isolation won’t end until that changes.
Every girl has the right to learn.
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
When Afghanistan’s universities began reopening this week, they were half-empty. The same goes for its aid organization offices, roads, parks, gyms and bathhouses. A little more than 18 months after the Taliban regained power in Kabul, they have effectively erased Afghan women and girls from public life — again.
This appalling reality should weigh heavily on US President Joe Biden’s administration, whose botched withdrawal allowed the Taliban to sweep into the capital in August 2021. The US and other donor nations have limited ability to change Taliban behavior. But having long championed the cause of Afghan women, they have an obligation to keep trying. That includes avoiding policies that could make a terrible situation worse.