Taliban: A Woman’s Story
Olivia Bertram
Women in Global Conflict
Professor Lusvardi
April 15, 2013

12 years ago in the week of March 24 the Afghanistan war began. Many people have forgotten about this war because it officially ended in 2011 with the withdrawal of mostly all American troops. The war in Afghanistan has ended on paper but the struggle continues for Afghan women. Many aspects of their lives are affected by the Taliban. Everything they do is monitored and if deemed wrong they are brutally punished. Their appearance, their personality, and their social interactions all have regulations. These women struggle every day in and outside of the home. We need to do what we can to help. If we acknowledge how this country came to be we might understand why it is not developmentally stable and why the treatment of women is so bad. War has become a commonality in Afghanistan internal conflict is always present; however, it is brought on not only by man alone. There are uncontrollable aspects to Afghanistan’s lack of development such as droughts. This country is very underdeveloped which means they rely very heavily on farming and livestock. Droughts harm one of their only sources of food. They feed the men and boys before any of the women even catch sight of food. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. It wasn’t until 1992 that the Afghani’s became free of communism. They weren’t free long because the Taliban came to power in 1996. There were only a few areas that remained free from the Taliban’s grasp (Turner, 2006, p. 749). It took some time and U.S. aid for the Afghani’s to finally be free from the Taliban. Surprisingly in 2004 they held their first presidential election and the constitution was drawn up (Turner, 2006, p. 749). Qazi (2005) states that:
The recently adopted Afghan constitution states that “the citizens of Afghanistan-whether man or woman- have equal rights and duties before the law.” So far, women have been allowed to return to work, the government no longer forces them to wear a burqa, and they even have been appointed to prominent positions in the government.
Hopefully with the draw up of this new constitution they would finally became equal to their male counterparts. Women’s struggle began in 1994 when the Taliban seized Heart. They also captured Kabul in 1996. As these cities were turned into dictatorships women were stripped of their basic rights (feminist). The elimination of women’s rights came fast and showed no signs of going away. Afghan women have done nothing wrong but were being virtually thrown into house arrest. Women were banished from the workforce and their education became nonexistent. These women were unable to become educated to work and were unable to come up with their own money. As sad as it was even if a female became deathly ill she would not be helped. A woman could not be addressed by a male doctor and women were unable to practice so she in turn would parish (feminist). Not only do Taliban women have to abide by these ghastly rules they are beaten, flogged, or killed for not doing what they are told. Anti women rules aren’t recent to today’s society in Afghanistan. The root of all these rules against women came to be in 1992 Rabbani Massoud put these degrading rules in to place (RAWA). It is not known why, maybe to show the power of man As stated by the Feminist Majority Foundation in the 1980’s the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan. The USCIA believed it was necessary to necessary to give mujahideen billion of dollars. Mujahideen stands for soldiers of god. As soon as the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan mujahideen began a civil war. The devastating blow came in 1994 when the Taliban emerged. The occupants of this new group were mostly young men and boys of Afghan descent. These men hardly lived in the Afghan society and instead occupied refugee camps. The men were trained in Pakistan at ultra conservative religious schools (Feminist). As