Author: Dr. Sima Samar

Dr. Sima Samar is a physician and an outspoken advocate for women’s and human rights in Afghanistan. She previously served as Afghanistan’s deputy president and minister of women’s affairs, and she was the chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. She is a member of the U.N. secretary-general’s high-level advisory boards on mediation and internal displacement.

Taliban’s Afghanistan: A Country of Only Men

The human rights abuses of the Taliban and re-establishment of gender apartheid in Afghanistan have largely been met with silence by the international community. A trend of normalization of the regime has begun to emerge in the media and in international assessments. Recently, The Washington Post ran an article titled “Taliban vowed to change Kabul. The city may be starting to change the Taliban”, which described a Taliban enthralled with shopping, learning English, and studying abroad. A photo of Taliban enjoying a picnic accompanies the article, but neglects to mention that women are now forbidden from going to the park or anywhere else.

Taliban revels in its male-dominated society, while women languish under house arrest or in jail for daring to defy Taliban decrees. This normalization of the Taliban is devastating to the women and girls of Afghanistan, and portends danger to the rest of the world where attacks on women’s rights have intensified.

"Women's Rights Are Not Just 'Western Values'": A Warning Not to Learn the Wrong Lessons From Afghanistan

“Women’s Rights Are Not Just ‘Western Values'”: A Warning Not to Learn the Wrong Lessons From Afghanistan

In the wake of the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban, many in the international community and media have said that efforts in Afghanistan to secure women’s rights and human rights were doomed to fail because of the traditions and culture in my country. This is absolutely the wrong lesson to take away from our experience in Afghanistan. Human rights and women’s rights are not “Western values.”

In Afghanistan, Growing Taliban Violence Devastates Women, Children and Minorities

If the U.S. Doesn’t Learn From the Past, Afghan Women and Girls Will Pay the Price

In May, U.S. forces and other international troops began to withdraw from Afghanistan. Immediately, feminists and Afghanistan experts who feared a return to Taliban rule warned of the severe and brutal impact that would likely be felt by women and minorities in the vacuum created by the removal of international troops in the country.

The protection of human rights and the achievements of the past two decades is a shared responsibility of the United States, the international community and human rights advocates.

The U.S.-Taliban Withdrawal Deadline Does Not Represent the Will of the Afghan People

The U.S. Must Not Abandon Afghanistan

The hardworking, brave Afghans who continue to strive for peace are in constant danger due to the Taliban’s war of attrition and the Afghan government’s inability to protect its citizens. This is the reality on the ground and the flame will only become larger if there is a premature withdrawal.

Afghans understand that our young democracy is worth fighting for and we need the support of our friends and allies to stand with us—not to abandon us in this critical time of our history.