In the first days of the fall of the republic, the women of Afghanistan practically started street protests by organizing protest groups in Kabul and other big cities and opened a new page in the history of women’s struggles in the historical memory of this territory. The continuous struggle of women within the last year has continued with all the big challenges they are dealing with and many women were able to organize and continue their protests in different parts of the country through feminine groups.
These protest movements have been so strong and powerful that the terrorist group of the Taliban, neither by ignoring it at the beginning nor by suppressing, jailing, and torturing, were able to create an obstacle to these protests, which had been a completely feminine movement. Although they had tried many times to exercise power with a forced march of a group of women wearing black Arab veils on the streets and with slogans of support for the Taliban’s laws or to organize meetings by these same women in university halls, these movements lacked public support and were against the life of native women of this geography which seemed completely ridiculous.
After the unsuccessful efforts of the Taliban to be recognized and a decrease in financial aid from the international community, now the Taliban have started their political game with the help of lobbies outside Afghanistan. When all the media are under severe censorship, sometimes images from public places are broadcast showing women smiling and wearing colorful dresses. Artificial and customized images in which symbols of women’s freedom are abundantly used to hide what is happening in the context of society from the eyes of the world.
But the Taliban use all kinds of violence and tricks to implement their policies. Intelligence spying of the Taliban among women fighters cannot be ignored. Precisely since the women’s protest movements were formed and occupied the streets of Kabul, some women joined this movement at the order of the main managers of the Taliban’s policies to create deep faults in this conscious and active movement. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the Taliban to show their face to the world upside down with such dramatic images and far from the truth.
In an era when human rights institutions, governments, and civil societies of progressive countries pay special attention to the status of women, the Taliban want to create a different image of the entire people and women of Afghanistan. This artificial image is contrary to the existing reality. As the Minister of Education of the Taliban group claimed in Uruzgan, “People in the remote areas of Afghanistan do not want their daughters to go to school”, then during the last two weeks, people from all over Afghanistan sent their messages by any means that the Taliban are lying, from the farthest places of Kandahar, Helmand and From Uruzgan to Balkh and Badakhshan and Faryab and Jawzjan and to Nangarhar and Nuristan, young and old men sent the text, picture and video messages to the media saying that we want our daughters to study. The Taliban are trying to create the same false image by using “deceived and self-sold” figures.
The Taliban use women who have been deceived by several lobbies of this terrorist group, or who have a special view of the Taliban and their policies, and who have aligned with them outside of the status of women, as a tool. This lobbying and praising group plays an important role in whitewashing the Taliban. The presence of this group of women in the women’s protest movement makes this stronghold weak and vulnerable. They may have knowingly or unknowingly been involved in this dangerous game, but playing a role in such an important matter can lead the movement of women fighters against the Taliban astray and after a while bring despair and hopelessness to the women fighters.
Therefore, it is very necessary to identify spies among the women’s protest movement and remove them from the cycle of struggle.
Taliban lobbies in Afghanistan and other countries have started a continuous effort to recognize this group. These lobbyists do not spare any plans to achieve their goals. The politics of women against women does not end with a few domestic plans.
Unfortunately, this terrorist group has also recruited another group of women who have an economic view of the current situation more than anything else. For this group of women, the security of themselves and their relatives and achieving an economic channel are more important than anything else. Women who, unfortunately, from this bloody and suffocating situation, create an economic cycle for themselves, and to circulate this cycle, they play every show in favor of the Taliban and Taliban policies. These women can be seen every day at different levels inside and outside the country, who are sacrificing Afghan women to stabilize their position and protect their economic interests, and behind the decorated faces and words decorated for women’s rights and civil society, they make women victims of Taliban policies. It is also important to be aware of this situation and to ignore these women who, as female representatives of Afghanistan, are constantly looking for economic channels and have become Taliban lobbyists. While several countries are moving towards recognizing the Taliban and this can be understood from their news reports. In such a situation, it is important that women who believe in gender equality and women’s freedom with all their being and are committed to representing Afghanistan’s women in the corridors of the United Nations and important meetings of the world regarding Afghanistan as well as countries that support human rights play a constructive role in supporting Afghan women.
Afghan women are not in a position to miss opportunities, or it is better to say that they no longer have time to make mistakes and miss opportunities. It is necessary to overcome the barriers of conflicts and hypocrisies that create opportunities for the enemies of freedom and democracy to achieve their goals and organize this movement. There is very little time and the women’s struggle movement is becoming more vulnerable every day, so it is important to manage and organize women’s struggles with a more accurate vision and not lose hope even with so many challenges facing women.
Translated by: Ali Rezaei