Shockingly, in the year 2024, Afghanistan remains a place where millions of women face unthinkable restriction. Unable to attend school beyond the age of 12, unable to show their faces in public, and even prohibited from speaking when in company, these women live their life in the shadows under the fearfully oppressive rule of the Taliban. Will Vice President Kamala Harris ever face a reckoning for the part she played? The enabling role the Biden-Harris led administration had in this crisis cannot be overstated, and yet, it seems unlikely to be held to task.
The systematic erosion of Afghan women’s rights was solidified last week as the Taliban leaders made the infamous morality codes an official law. From suppressing women’s voices, to policing their attire, the law – enshrined in a 35-article document – aims to dictate every facet of life for the Afghans. These inhumane and deeply misogynistic rules have set a dark era in motion, with regulations demanding veils, prohibiting singing, reading and even forbidding them from making eye contact with unrelated men.
Men too face the brunt of this oppressive regime. They are required to grow beards and forgo the simple pleasure of playing music in their vehicles. Whether it’s the media that’s forced to adhere to sharia law or the prohibition of life-filled images, the hand of tyranny bears heavily on the Afghans. As if the imposition of such rules wasn’t savage enough, breaking them could lead to punishment ranging from verbal threats to confiscation of property and imprisonment.
Afghanistan wasn’t always like this. The brutal reign of the Taliban first began in 1996, their tyranny largely responsible for the unspeakable abuses rendered upon Afghan women. However, post the September 11 tragedy, the United States and allied forces successfully uprooted the Taliban, breathing hope into a terror-stricken populace. But fatefully, in 2021, President Joe Biden sounds retreat, heralding the disastrous return of the Taliban.
The nightmare didn’t stop at the Taliban’s return, as new layers of oppression were rolled out. Girls above 12 were denied their right to education, heralding a return to a dark age. And what was the response from women’s groups in America, a nation proudly flaunting its achievements in gender parity over the past few decades? A deafening silence. Their collective omission of this pressing issue is nothing short of appalling.
In a globalized world, physical distance should not translate to emotional and moral detachment. The severe atrocities faced by Afghan women should stir a potent response from their American counterparts. Given the multitude of rights and freedoms that American women enjoy, it is their moral duty to stand up for their Afghan sisters who are being denied even the most basic human rights by the pernicious Taliban regime.
Under the questionable leadership of Biden and Harris, the abrupt and chaotic retreat from Afghanistan marked another low-point of their administration. This withdrawal came at a heavy cost – the lives of 13 brave U.S. service members and over 100 Afghans were lost in a horrifying bomb explosion near the Kabul airport. Furthermore, it abandoned up to 200 U.S. citizens and countless Afghan allies to severe oppression under the Taliban.
In amongst this mess, Harris had the audacity to deliver a DNC acceptance speech that failed completely to acknowledge the miring crisis in Afghanistan or the glaring errors of their botched withdrawal. Instead, she focused on portraying her administration as the champions of military and the scourge of tyrants. Quite a remarkable claim, given their eerie silence on the Taliban’s abhorrent abuse of power.
Harris must answer for her administration’s role in reversing whatever minor gains Afghan women achieved. Their right to education, their dreams of pursuing a career, and, in many cases, the potential political leadership roles they had begun to grasp, all snuffed out with the return of the Taliban. Sadly, through Harris’s inaction and negligence, they now face a relentless grind of oppression that violates their dignity and rights.
As a member of the administration that heralded this chaotic retreat and paved the way for the return of the tyrannical Taliban, Harris needs to bear the responsibility. It is her administration’s choices that have directly contributed to the unfurling of this human rights disaster in Afghanistan. No amount of indifference or silence can cover up the realities of her problematic political decisions and their catastrophic consequences.