Taliban leaders get a pass as treatment of women gets worse

Taliban leaders get a pass as women’s rights continue to erode

What you probably already know: The Taliban has instituted some of the strictest rules for women in the world, including that they are not allowed to speak when they’re outside their homes, no education after sixth grade, no right to travel without a male relative. This has resulted in isolation for the Taliban government across the globe as countries seek to try to convince them to loosen their rules. Now, though, governments are beginning to normalize relations with the Taliban only weeks after it instituted the harshest laws for women ever. 

Why? Several dozen countries have welcomed Taliban diplomats, according to the New York Times, and some have sent diplomats of their own to Kabul, and some have begun to remove the Taliban from international terrorist and do-not-fly lists. China was first, but other countries have followed, including the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. The U.N even agreed to defer talk of women’s rights so the Taliban could attend a conference on Afghanistan.

What it means: These changes are allowing the Taliban government to generate trade and investments in the country, which will reduce the pressure on political leaders there who rose back up into power after the U.S. pulled out. Afghanistan has significant mineral wealth and private companies are starting to build infrastructure to access it. Locking women out of the economy will cost Afghanistan $9.6 billion by 2066, so the country must find lucrative ways to overcome that. Meanwhile, in the last year, hundreds of thousands of Afghans who fled the country to Pakistan have been forced to return, 80% of whom are women and children.

What happens now? Women in Afghanistan who have stood up to the Taliban are increasingly being threatened and killed for speaking out. Some, who came up during the U.S occupation, became doctors, lawyers and advocates. Now, they’re confined to their homes. Some mothers have been forced to sell their daughters as young as 6 years old, just to keep the rest of their family alive. The UN Women interviewed and photographed women in Afghanistan earlier this year, and things have only gotten worse since then.