And the future of the country's women and girls.
By Cassandra Vinograd Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
As one Afghan city after another fell to the Taliban in recent weeks, a pivotal question lingered: What will happen to Afghanistan's women and children? |
The systemic violence and oppression of women and girls during the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan is well documented. Floggings, stonings, executions. Most women and girls were barred from going to school, working or leaving home without a male chaperone. |
While today's Taliban have sought to assure Afghans that they are more moderate — saying in a news conference Tuesday that women will be allowed to work and study "within the bounds of Islamic law" — many Afghans are still scared, and remain unconvinced. |
Malala Yousafzai knows that fear — she has experienced the Taliban's brutality firsthand. At the age of 15, she was shot by the Taliban in Pakistan for speaking out about her right to an education. She survived and has since become a global champion of education for women and girls, earning a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. |
The Malala Fund, which Yousafzai co-founded, works with education activists around the world — including in Afghanistan. As Yousafzai watched the Taliban advance from abroad, she wrote to us saying that her "heart was heavy." And with the extremists now in control, she fears for her Afghan sisters. |
"Afghan girls and young women are once again where I have been — in despair over the thought that they might never be allowed to see a classroom or hold a book again," she writes in a guest essay for Times Opinion. |
Defending the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan has been a cause célèbre leading up to, and since, the United States-led 2001 invasion. The United States alone has invested more than $780 million to encourage women's rights in the country. |
After 20 years of hard-fought opportunities, the prospect of losing it all again is terrifying to many Afghans. Convinced that there is still time to act, Yousafzai reached out to her fellow activists to find out what they want and need to protect the futures of Afghanistan's women and girls. Their voices inform her essay, and their insights make for vital reading. |
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