When the Taliban came to power in 1996, the rights of Afghan women were immediately their first target. No distinction was made between the professional and personal sphere, where the possibilities of affirmation and emancipation were totally denied, often in the name of a crippling moral law; the same applies to access to secondary and university education for young girls.
In 2001, following the invasion of the country by the United States and NATO allies that ended the regime and the oppression of the Taliban, the fate of women inevitably took a back seat leaving priority to the fight against terrorist organizations established on Afghan territory.
Despite this, for the next twenty years, until the return of Taliban militants to Kabul on August 14, 2021, women managed to achieve many positions of responsibility in civil society starting with political engagement, where they occupy a third of the seats of the National Assembly: an ambitious presence, lively and at the same time so fragile because of the numerous discriminations and episodes of violence.
In 2018, Zarifa Ghafari became, at the age of twenty-four, the youngest mayor of Afghanistan; perceived as a real threat, she had to leave the town of Maydan Shahr, in the Vardak region, after surviving three assassination attempts. “The day Kabul fell back into the hands of the Taliban was the worst of my life,” recalls the one who would never have imagined having to leave her own country.
The active participation of women in the Afghan political process and their growing presence in power structures is one of the main obstacles to the real establishment of the rule of Taliban militants behind the scenes of society. Far from the laws and prohibitions, the deputies and activists do not stop fighting to affirm their rights while continuing to defend those of the citizens who have remained in the country.
In Greece, dozens of exiled parliamentarians have reconstituted a parallel assembly in order to be able to confront each other on current issues and to put pressure on international decisions concerning women’s rights in Afghanistan. Shagufa Noorzai, Member of Parliament and teacher, says: “Women are half of society, so we are very important. You can’t hide from us”; a determination and a desire for change that go beyond borders and that do not spare the new generation.
Nila Ibrahimi, barely 15, was among the speakers at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on May 17. Her story is the last testimony, by time, of the resistance of Afghan women to the prohibitions put in place by the totalitarian regime of the Taliban; his call to react to discrimination concerning the right and access to schooling of his young comrades has gained importance thanks to the divulging power of social networks by carrying the way of engaging on themes such as the rights of the person, and to take activism to a digital dimension.
The daily efforts and achievements of Afghan women must be safeguarded and encouraged, and this can be possible through a holistic approach that includes several aspects: strategic, economic and diplomatic. Military efforts alone cannot defeat extremism and pave the way to democracy by ensuring recognition and respect for women’s rights.
The only possible path for the achievement of lasting peace in Afghanistan is political and passes first of all through the emancipation of women: recognizing their civil and social rights, starting with access to schooling, which is of fundamental importance — a sort of strategic formula capable of leading to the progressive establishment of a stable democratic system.