In the past six months, as we move further away from August 15, the darker sides of the tragedy of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban terrorist group are becoming clearer. The complex dimensions of political, intelligence trade with human rights values are becoming more apparent in Afghanistan. The performance of the Taliban’s compliment carnival in Oslo was one of those revealing events. The three-day meeting showed that the US government was not alone in dirty political gambling and dealing with human rights values and the collective destiny of the Afghan people.
When Norway, as a European country responsible for the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a country that accedes to all international human rights conventions, takes the lead in the political compliment of the Taliban terrorist group, it realizes the scale of the catastrophe towards Afghan people, especially to the women of Afghanistan. The Norwegian government has pioneered this process while it committed to a binding and defined commitment to its accession to human rights conventions. Unfortunately, without the slightest form of accountability for its human rights values, it gives the Taliban a diplomatic foothold and facilitates the intelligence process of recognizing the group’s government among influential European countries.
Before the Taliban’s compliment carnival in Oslo, the prevailing belief was that the US government, as the world power and a government that had demonstrated a lack of commitment to human rights values, was primarily responsible for political, intelligence interaction with the Taliban terrorist group. But unfortunately what was done in Oslo showed that the United States is not alone in trading the human rights values and the fate of the people, especially the women of Afghanistan, but also the powerful European countries in an invisible but catastrophic alignment with the US government have auctioned off humanity in Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s compliment carnival in Oslo showed that in addition to the US government, some seemingly value-oriented governments in Europe have turned a blind eye to the Taliban’s black record and criminal activities, all in shameful compliance, seeking recognition of an extremist government by Taliban terrorist group on the people and land of Afghanistan.
It is while the Taliban have not refrained from any of their violent and criminal behavior, either in the past or in the nearly six months since they came to power in Afghanistan. Hundreds of quitters and soldiers who had dropped their guns on the ground after Ashraf Ghani’s embarrassing escape have been shot in a desert court. Political opposition has been silenced by repression. Afghan women have been excluded from socio-political presence. In the past six months, the Taliban has cracked down on dozens of women’s protests in the streets of Kabul, Mazar, Herat, and Nangarhar with violence, shootings, and tear gas, and detained some women activists in Kabul. These women are currently being tortured by the Taliban.
Since Afghan women are victims of the Taliban’s violent and criminal behavior, the US and European governments’ disregard for the group’s crimes is a clear example of their betrayal of human rights values, and in particular their betrayal of the fate of Afghan women.
But what has kept hope alive in the meantime is the protesting and valuable presence of Afghan women against the Taliban terrorist group. Afghan women have risen against the Taliban in the past six months by protesting on the streets of Kabul and other major cities, sending a representative to the Oslo summit to justify their protest and valuable presence against the Taliban have challenged the actions of countries around the world, especially the Norwegian government and the US government, in response to their questionable approach to complimenting the Taliban terrorist group.
The result of Norwegian and other governments that are struggling to recognize the Taliban terrorist group is still unknown. But what is being acknowledged as an undeniable fact in the case of Afghanistan’s politics and destiny is the issue of women in this country, which is being shaped by the committed presence of Afghan women.
Now that the United States and governments like Norway, which claim to defend human rights values, have keyed in the Taliban’s political compliment, Afghan women must launch a global protest to protect their human rights and draw the attention of human rights organizations and other civic institutions in influential countries in the United States and European countries, thereby exerting political pressure on governments and preventing the Taliban from being recognized.
Translated by: Jahan Raha