The U.S. said safeguarding Afghan women’s rights was part of the reason to fight the Taliban. Now rights advocates fear women’s hard-won gains are at risk.
WASHINGTON — The United States once vowed to liberate Afghan women from the draconian repression of the Taliban but a planned deal between the U.S. and the insurgents offers no protections for the country’s women, who fear their hard-won rights could be lost.
The proposed U.S.-Taliban deal, which the Trump administration said Friday will be signed on Feb. 29 after a partial truce goes into effect, would set out a timeline for the withdrawal of American troops in exchange for the Taliban renouncing terrorism and entering into peace talks with the Afghan government. But the agreement provides no guarantees for preserving women’s rights or civil liberties now enshrined in the country’s constitution, which the insurgents do not recognize.
Afghan women boxers practice at the Kabul stadium boxing club on March, 5, 2014.Massoud Hossaini / AP file
The United States would “support whatever consensus the Afghans are able to reach about their future political and governing arrangements,” Molly Phee, the U.S. deputy special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, said on Tuesday at an event at a Washington think tank.
For years, the U.S. promoted the idea of safeguarding Afghan women’s rights as a part of the rationale for its fight against the Taliban, a cause first championed by President George W. Bush.
But President Donald Trump’s impatience with the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan, and the uncertainty surrounding a potential peace process, could jeopardize two decades of progress for Afghan women, who have gained a foothold in the workplace and in political life, rights advocates, Afghan officials and former U.S. officials said.