Afghan women are “the first victims of decisions which restrict their freedom and for some deprive them of all dignity”Myriam Benraad, political scientist and specialist in the Arab world, said on franceinfo on Sunday, December 26. The Taliban have announced that women who want to travel more than 72 kilometers will now have to be accompanied and taxi drivers can only accept women who wear the Islamic veil on board. According to Myriam Benraad, “the humanitarian crisis is making matters worse, all the more so for women”.
franceinfo: These measures are reminiscent of what happened during the first Taliban takeover, between 1996 and 2001. Should we expect worse?
Myriam Benraad: First of all, the ideological background has not changed. I even tend to believe that the younger Taliban will potentially be more violent because these 20 years of war have – for some – radicalized them. Moreover, we have seen the emergence of structures like the Islamic State group, which are jihadist factions much harder than the Taliban. This is proof that this war has been counterproductive. Then, there is a great impoverishment and a significant precariousness, with situations of famine. The socio-economic situation is totally disastrous and further accentuates the tendency of the Taliban to be violent, to repress in the event of resistance or opposition to their power.
Faced with these issues, are women the first victims of this Taliban takeover?
Yes, they are directly affected by these decisions which restrict their freedom, even deprive them of all dignity. Then there is also the oppression of women through inaction. Indeed, this famine is completely left to the load of the women. The Taliban do not act: they have no program of mutual aid and assistance to these war widows who find themselves alone with their children. Some are even forced to sell their young girl to ensure the survival of the boys. These are terrible situations. There is sex trafficking in Afghanistan and we pass it off as traditional and ancestral practices. In reality it is sexual exploitation. And it blooms on this bankruptcy of the country.
The Taliban had promised openness measures to get humanitarian aid. Will these new measures against women slow down the arrival of this aid?
They have started to make big promises to ensure the continuity of food aid. Then they finally showed their true face by making a number of decisions that went totally against what they had promised. The international community has therefore decided to stop humanitarian aid and make it conditional on the situation of women. Insofar as women are themselves victims of this catastrophic humanitarian situation, they are playing on this state of emergency to force the international community to act. We don’t know what to do. Voices on this subject are at odds between those who say that we have to take a completely hard-line stance against the Taliban and others who will tell you that we must still save the Afghan people first and foremost.
Without humanitarian aid, can Afghanistan survive?
No, Afghanistan has no future with the Taliban anyway. Beyond the question of women, the Taliban are not capable of administering any state apparatus or ministries. The situation was already not bright, but in three months they literally plunged the country into famine. This movement has no future, it offers nothing to this country. It is perhaps from this socio-economic bankruptcy that their failure will come. But the country is totally at an impasse.