Editorial in The News, Dec 22, 2022
The Afghan Taliban are leaving little to imagination about a complete and unadulterated return to policies of their dark past – especially when it comes to women. The Afghan woman has not had it easy for decades, whether under the 90s’ Taliban regime or during the ‘war on terror’ that wreaked havoc in the country. But the Afghan Taliban seem to have a special anti-women agenda, one that is hell bent on ensuring the Afghan woman stays uneducated. Despite having made promises regarding women’s place in Afghanistan this time around, the Taliban have now thrown off any fig leaf of improvement in its people’s rights stance and, in a terrifying reminder of its past, the Afghan Taliban regime has now instituted a ban on university education for women.
Pakistan has remained engaged with the Taliban in one way or the other since the mid-1990s when this group of militants emerged on the horizon with obsolete mores to impose on society. The legitimacy of the current Afghan rulers is under question and no country in the world has formally recognized the regime as yet. It has been over 16 months since the Taliban captured Kabul and installed an interim government there. So far the Taliban have not faced any major threat to their authority, despite the country being on the edge of economic survival. They have not responded positively to the calls of the international community to respect human rights and allow women their freedoms including their right to education. Imagine a government that is willing to forgo essential humanitarian aid, essential diplomatic ties just because it sees the bare minimum of rights for women as anathema to its ideology. This obstinacy is pushing Afghanistan to an economic and social disaster already unfolding.
Even the most conservative societies across continents have realized the significance of educating girls for a better future for their countries. The Taliban are likely to remain in power at least for the foreseeable future, and their insistence on their regressive methods of governance are putting their country at a disadvantage. But as long as they continue on this destructive path, they will find it hard to acquire any legitimacy in the world. Even though this already seems like a losing battle, one hopes the Afghan rulers can be prevailed upon to realize that the people of Afghanistan deserve a better deal after over four decades of war. Are we looking at a people that are already forgotten and thrown back into the Dark Ages without anyone taking note of what is happening? How can a whole gender be erased from public life like this? The future of Afghanistan and its people’s dream for a better world seems like a distant possibility for now.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1022433-dark-times
