With the successful takeover of Afghans by the Taliban, girls and women are forced to resume their lives under ancient tradition––removal of their very identity under cover of the burka.
Back to Burkas, Rape, and Child Brides
In addition to ever-evolving plague, another world-wide tragedy has occurred in our lifetime. Because of poor planning, poor timing, American citizens and native interpreters have been left stranded in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Desperate to get out, scores of people clung to departing aircraft, dropping to their deaths as the planes took off. Thousands more have been told to “shelter in place until …”––until what? There was no immediate plan in place to rescue them.
James Carafano, Vice President of Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation, and Walid Phares, Fox News Security Analyst, joined The Faulkner Focus to discuss the collapse of the Afghan government.
They were assured that despite the Taliban’s history of oppressing women under its strict interpretation of Sharia law, Taliban spokesman, Mujahid, pledged that the terrorist group would protect the rights of women––“within the limits of Islam.” Tyler O’Neil, Fox News, August 18, 2021.
But women, who have worked tirelessly to promote decency and rights of women for the past two decades, had harsh words for the international community. After a botched American withdrawal and the Taliban’s rush to retake the country, in a media briefing between the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Mark Milley, an unnamed Afghan woman, who runs an NGO, non-governmental organization, in Afghanistan, said, “We are seeing everything we have built so hard––piece by piece––lost. Our twenty years of gains and hard work vanished.”
` Disheartened, she continued, “The world betrayed Afghanistan, legitimized the savages, and brought them into power.” Further, “I am still in shock. Afghans, especially women, will face a very new world. A world of fear, destruction, misery, and endless pain.” Associated Press, August 18, 2021.
What is Sharia Law?
Derived from the Koran and other holy writings, Islamists obey instructions from The Law. One Sharia tenet is for women to dress simply, conservatively, in full hijab. It was not so long ago that I read in a national newspaper that a woman, driving a car in burka garb, was pulled out of her automobile and killed because her wrists were showing.
The word conservative has different meanings. Compared to Westerners’ present slovenly dress––anything goes––wear jeans to church, wear jeans with holes deliberately burned or ripped into the fabric, wear sleeveless tee shirts designed to look like underwear anywhere at any time. By contrast, women and girls of 1950s, America were indeed conservatively dressed in blouses and skirts, bobby socks, and sturdy shoes––or heels and hose–– with hair neatly styled. With Western women, freedom of attire has become license.
Now that terrorists have infiltrated Afghanistan, the Taliban have announced that women should dress conservatively and wear hijab. In a BBC interview of an anonymous Kabul University student, she said people are wearing the burka and hijab out of fear. She told the BBC how the dreams she hoped to fulfill have been replaced by fears for her future survival in just a matter of days.
“It’s something that I can’t put into words, honestly. Everything, everything that I dreamed of, everything that I ever worked for: my dignity, my pride, even my existence as a girl, my life ––they are all in danger. Who knows how long it would take them to come and search house-by-house and take girls––probably rape them?”
Contemplates Suicide
Desperation overwhelmed her as she confided, “I may have to kill myself when they come to my home. I’ve been talking to my friends, this is what all of us, all of us, are planning to do. Death is better than being taken by them.” BBC News, August 19, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58270423
Destroying evidence of having lived a normal life of freedom, she said, “I burnt all of my university papers and documents. I burnt all my notes of achievements and certificates. I did it on our balcony. I have a lot of books, lovely books, that I was reading. I have hidden them all.”
She added, “I deactivated my social media accounts. I was told it was too dangerous to have posts on social media or even to be on social media anymore. Apparently, the Taliban checks posts and find us through them.”
The terrified co-ed discussed the history of her defiance. “Facebook was the main problem because I was active there. I had old posts saying that the Taliban couldn’t do anything, that I will stand up to them, that they cannot stop my right to education, they cannot lock me up at home. I called them terrorists. They were offensive posts to them, surely.”
Burn Your Success
Another successful young woman, a winning athlete, Afghan’s former women’s soccer captain, Khalida Popal, urges players to delete their social media accounts, erase public identities, destroy their photos, and burn their National Team uniforms and kits to maintain safety. She said, “All those achievements, to build up women’s sports, all those dreams are just wasted.” Hope for these young women who used their sport to generate activism against the Taliban fades as they look outside their windows into the face of their enemies. @Reuters http://reut.rs/3CXILXO
As days-by-painful-days elapse, many Afghan citizens cannot leave without passports, without money. Some relinquish their children to those who are able to leave in crammed-past-capacity air transport. The poorly executed withdrawal of troops opened the gates of waiting terrorists who will interpret their Law to control the people, especially girls and women. For them life has ended. Twenty years of relative freedom returns to daily damning the very soul of women. As long as terrorists reign, nine-year-old girls will be married to forty-year-old men, single and married women––old and young–– will be exposed to open rape, beatings, caning, stoning, and beheading. Careers and business success will die. And so will the hopes and dreams of women.
Andrew Adleman says
October 7, 2021 at 9:53 amSad yet insightful view of current-day Afghanistan.