Muted Yet Mighty: Afghan Women’s Fight for Freedom
“If you are a girl in Afghanistan the Taliban have decided the future for you” – Malala Yousafzai; Pakistani female education activist, film and television producer, and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate
by Ruth Mesfin Getachew, 2024 Fall Associate
Dear reader, I ask you to pause for a moment and imagine what it means to be a woman — not just in the abstract, but in a world where your very existence is questioned, not because of your action or character, but because you were born a woman. In current day Afghanistan, being a woman is not just an identity; it’s a source of shame imposed by a system that refuses to accept your existence. Even your voice, which is seen as inherently human, is considered dangerous, even referenced as “Bewitched”. That is the world Afghan women are living in right now.
To be a woman is to exist within boundaries — boundaries set not by choice, but by birth. All over the world, women have to fight for a place and a say to exist and be their authentic selves. Despite the progress women have made, gender alone still limits many freedoms. From the right to speak freely, to choose our own paths, or to simply exist without scrutiny, being a woman can feel like navigating a maze built to contain us. Yet for Afghan women, the walls are higher, the restrictions harsher. In some places, we fight for equal pay or representation in leadership, but in Afghanistan, the struggle is for the most basic form of recognition: the right to be. The right to speak, to move, to learn. The right to simply exist as a woman without being seen as a threat or a disgrace.
If Afghan women had only ever known a life of oppression, we might think their situation today is the continuation of a harsh reality. But that is not the case. These women have tasted freedom, opportunity, and progress. They have a history of rising beyond the barriers imposed on them. Over the years, they gained access to education, work, and even leadership roles, proving time and time again their resilience and capacity for growth. What makes their current reality so devastating is that they are being forced back into a life they have already outgrown. The rollback of their rights is not just an attack on their gender but on their progress, their history, and their undeniable potential.
Before 2021, Afghan women had made significant strides toward equality. As early as 1919, women began voting, and by 1921 they were granted access to education. By 1973, women’s participation expanded as they pursued education and employment opportunities, and some even began to participate in politics and public life. These advancements were hard-won, creating a foundation for women’s rights and autonomy in a deeply patriarchal society. However, during the dawn of the communist era, the rights and freedom of women started declining. The ensuing civil unrest led to widespread violations and repression, undermining decades of progress.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Afghan women were denied basic educational rights. In September 2021 the Taliban set restrictions, banning girls from attending Secondary Education. From December 2022, women are forbidden from pursuing higher education. Repression continued as women were banned from working outside the home and restricted from traveling without a male guardian. What began as restrictions on education quickly evolved into a complete erasure of women from public life. This step by step of dehumanization of women continues to this day.
Women are no longer allowed to participate in the workforce or hold any positions of power. Dress codes have become mandatory, with women forced to wear the burqa, covering them from head to toe. The Taliban’s harsh interpretation of Sharia law meant that women are being treated as second-class citizens. This period, often described as “gender apartheid,” in many newsletters, denying Afghan women of the rights they had worked so hard to achieve.
The Taliban’s rise is closely linked to the political and military turmoil in Afghanistan during and after the Soviet occupation of the 1980s. During this period, the term "mujahideen" broadly referred to guerrilla fighters engaging in jihad—interpreted in Islamic jurisprudence as striving for justice, godly rule, or defending the community—against the Soviet invasion. These groups received extensive financial and military support from the United States and Saudi Arabia, often funneled through Pakistan. However, it is critical to understand that the mujahideen were a diverse coalition.
After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, the collapse of a unifying enemy led to infighting among mujahideen factions, which spiraled into a brutal civil war marked by significant violence, including widespread atrocities against women. Amid this chaotic backdrop, the Taliban emerged as a distinct group. Comprised primarily of young men educated in madrassas, the Taliban drew upon a strict and austere interpretation of Sharia law. By 1996, they had seized control of Kandahar and Kabul, establishing a regime that enforced its rule through corporal and capital punishment, alongside the rigid ideological enforcement of their Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Their rule brought severe restrictions and extreme punishments like public executions on Afghan society, particularly against women. By 1999, the United Nations (UN) sanctioned the Taliban and Al-Qaeda as terrorist entities. In August 2001, the Taliban intensified their grip, prosecuting Western aid workers on charges of preaching Christianity, highlighting their deepening isolation from the West.
The last straw for the U.S. to act militarily was 9/11, leading George W. Bush to pursue the ultimate goal of ending the terrorist leadership of the Taliban. The U.S. entered Kabul with the support of the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), establishing the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) under a UN mandate. The ISAF was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan (2001 to 2014), primary objective was to enable the Afghan government to provide effective security across the country and develop new Afghan security forces to ensure Afghanistan would never again become a safe haven for terrorists.
The US intervention in 2001 demolished the Taliban apparatus, and the absolute bulk of its leaders and supporters withdrew, some to their former lives within Afghanistan, others to exile in Pakistan. For the first couple of years after the intervention, there was no Taliban armed resistance. In the gradual remobilization that followed, safe sanctuaries in the refugee environments of Pakistan were again key. In the first years of remobilization, most armed attacks were staged from Pakistan, by individuals or groups who swiftly returned. The post-2001 Taliban mobilization was firmly rooted in the refugeehood that had characterized the past 20 years. As the Taliban gradually managed to establish a foothold in some areas, more of their outreach and attacks were staged from within Afghanistan. The U.S. declared an end to major combat in 2003, but Taliban forces regained control in southern Afghanistan by 2006. By 2014, NATO had formally ended its combat mission, transitioning security to Afghan forces. However, the Taliban insurgency remained, and in 2020, the U.S. and the Taliban agreed to a peace deal in Doha, setting conditions for the U.S. withdrawal.
On April 14, 2021, President Biden announced the withdrawal of all remaining American troops by September 11. As troops were withdrawing in the following months, the Taliban began capturing territory in northern Afghanistan. By August 2021, the last American planes had departed, formally ending the military presence and closing the chapter on America's war in Afghanistan. By the time the military forces left Afghanistan, chaos broke out, prompting an immediate response from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to intervene calling for all hostilities and formation of a new, unified and inclusive representative government through negotiation.
During this time, several questions remained unanswered, one of them being women's rights that was taken away from them previously under the rule of Taliban. It was reported that Haqqani, the deputy Taliban leader, wrote “The rights of women that are granted by Islam — from the right to education to the right to work — are protected, and where merit is the basis for equal opportunity." Leading us to where Afghan women are now.
After 2021, Afghan women continue to be stripped of their very identity, especially those who live in places where conflict and instability persist. Much of this is due to the strict religious law and patriarchal cultural dynamic brought by the Taliban. The ‘modern’ effort of women’s liberation that occurred outside of the Taliban’s rulings was seen to be an outside influence that could potentially disrupt the desired order of the homogeneous society under the Taliban governed by rigid Islamic law.
In many parts of the world women have the right to express themselves, to speak, to sing, and to be heard. Yet, in Afghanistan, women have been silenced by force. Women are shouting, crying out for the world to hear them because they need their voices to be amplified. They are singing, “The flower will unfurl, revealing a spring of freedom,” they are chanting. “I sing the anthem of freedom, again, again, freedom.” This is not simply a cry for rights; it’s a cry for survival.
Google Image of Femen Supporters Protest For Afghan Women's Rights Berlin, Germany on September 25
In any belief system, whether religious, cultural, or moral, humans are created equal. In addition to religious laws that affirm human equality, there are universal principles, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which begins with the simple basic statement: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” In different societies, we may have different roles, practices, and customs but this one fundamental truth remains.
Even in the face of this erasure of Afghan women, their strength remains. As people with a sense of morality, and having the ability to make change, it is now our turn to shout with them. It is our turn to stand up and fight for their humanity, their womanhood, and their dignity.
The next question is this: what can we do to help? How can we, as a generation, prevent this cycle of oppression from continuing?
First, we need to keep raising awareness, staying informed, and sharing the stories of Afghan women to ensure their voices are not silenced. Second, supporting international efforts, like the legal action at the International Court of Justice to hold the Taliban accountable for gender apartheid, shows that there are consequences for stripping women of their rights. The ICC greenlit an investigation in 2020 but still failed to make a formal claim. Recently Canada, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands announced plans to bring the Taliban to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for gender discrimination.
Most importantly, we must support women-led initiatives and organizations that are actively working to empower Afghan women. This includes both global efforts like those supported by UN Women and local influencers, change-makers, and educators who are finding ways to teach women essential life skills, provide online education, and create sustainable opportunities for them to work from home. These efforts are about more than just survival; they are about giving Afghan women the tools they need to become self-reliant and express themselves, even in the most difficult circumstances.
In December 2023 Malala Yousafzai said, “Just two years ago, women in Afghanistan were working, serving in leadership positions, running ministries, traveling freely.” These past three years have shown us the most extreme and visible degradation of women’s rights in Afghanistan, one restriction after another, stripping away their humanity. From bans on education to the silencing of their voices, Afghan women are being dismissed in ways we can no longer ignore. This should not be a reality a girl grows up in. If we don’t act now, if we don’t support Afghan women today in any capacity we can, we have no idea what the next three years might bring. Are we, as a global community, willing to watch from the sidelines or will we rise to amplify their voice, stand up, take action and build a world where they, too, can live without fear?
Further Reading
Hadid. D., Akbari. F and Ghani. K (2024, September) Afghan women sing to protest a law that orders them to keep quiet. Goats and Soda. Afghan women sing to protest a Taliban law that orders them to keep quiet : Goats and Soda : NPR
Humaira Ghilzai. (2021, August). 100-year history of Afghan women 1919-2021 & how Taliban may affect peace in Afghanistan #MyRedLine [Video]. YouTube. 100-Year History of Afghan Women 1919-2021 & How Taliban May Affect Peace in Afghanistan #MyRedLine
Mosamim. P and Villeneuve. J. (2024, March) 75 Years of women representation in Afghanistan: Looking back to look forward. Public Administration and Development. Wiley Online Library. 75 Years of women representation in Afghanistan: Looking back to look forward - Mosamim - 2024 - Public Administration and Development - Wiley Online Library
Amnesty International. (n.d.). Women in Afghanistan: The back story. Public Broadcasting Service. Women in Afghanistan: The Back Story
Hadid. D. (2022, May). The Taliban orders women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. NPR. The Taliban says women in Afghanistan must wear head-to-toe clothing in public : NPR
Bloch. H. (2021, August) A Look At Afghanistan's 40 Years Of Crisis — From The Soviet War To Taliban Recapture. NPR. A Timeline Of Afghanistan's 4 Decades Of Instability : NPR
The Taliban (2016, July) The Taliban. Mapping Militant Organization The Taliban | Mapping Militant Organizations
NATO. (n.d.). ISAF's mission in Afghanistan (2001-2014). North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO - ISAF's mission in Afghanistan (2001-2014)
NPR. (2020, February 29). Taliban peace deal: U.S. signs agreement with Islamist group in Afghanistan. NPR
Welna. D. and Dwyer. C. (2020, February) U.S. Signs Peace Deal With Taliban After Nearly 2 Decades Of War In Afghanistan. Taliban Peace Deal: U.S. Signs Agreement With Islamist Group In Afghanistan : NPR
Associated Press. (2021, August). Timeline: Key dates in Afghanistan since 2001. Timeline: Key dates in Afghanistan since 2001
United Nations. (2021, August). Security Council Press Statement on Afghanistan. United Nations Meetings Coverage and Press Releases. Security Council Press Statement on Afghanistan | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases
Afghanistan Women's Solidarity Movement. (n.d.). Afghanistan Women's solidarity movement on X: "#صدای_زن_عورت_نیست #recognizegenderaparthaied". X (formerly Twitter). Afghanistan Women's solidarity movement on X: "#صدای_زن_عورت_نیست #recognizegenderaparthaied https://t.co/85bGGVtuaT" / X
Human Rights Watch. (2020, March). ICC greenlights Afghanistan investigation. Human Rights Watch. ICC Greenlights Afghanistan Investigation | Human Rights Watch
JURIST. (2024, October). Afghan Women Find Glimmer of Hope in International Efforts to bring Taliban to Justice for Gender Apartheid. JURIST: Legal News & Commentary. Afghan Women Find Glimmer of Hope in International Efforts to Bring Taliban to Justice for Gender Apartheid - JURIST - Commentary - Legal News & Commentary
JURIST. (2024, September). Canada, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands set to initiate legal proceedings against Taliban at ICJ. JURIST: News Canada, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands set to initiate legal proceedings against Taliban at ICJ - JURIST - News
United Nations Development Coordination Office. (2024). Investing in Afghanistan's women is more critical than ever. United Nations Development Coordination Office Investing in Afghanistan's Women is more critical than ever | United Nations DCO
Dipper. E. (2024). An NGO leader in Afghanistan explains the delicate process of engaging the Taliban on women's rights [Video]. YouTube. An NGO Leader in Afghanistan Explains the Delicate Process of Engaging the Taliban on Women's Rights - YouTube
Chesler, P. (2022, August). Rescuing Meena. Tablet Magazine. Phyllis Chesler Helps Afghan Women - Tablet Magazine
Yousafzai, M. (2023, December) Malala Yousafzai: 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. Malala Fund
The Visual Journalism Team (2021, August) Mapping the advance of the Taliban in Afghanistan, BBC News. Mapping the advance of the Taliban in Afghanistan
Routley. N. (2021, September) The Geopolitics of Afghanistan: How does Afghanistan's unique landscape influence population patterns? How does this geography influence the economy and relationships with neighbouring nations? The Geopolitics of Afghanistan – TheGeoPolity
How does Law protect in war? (n.d.) Afghanistan, Code of Conduct for the Mujahideen Afghanistan, Code of Conduct for the Mujahideen | How does law protect in war? - Online casebook
Owuor Otieno. M. (2017, November) What is a Madrasa? What is a Madrasa? - WorldAtlas
