The topics on women rights and their safe status since 2001, after the fall of the Taliban regime were on their best review. The women believed that they had gained good status and were safe than ever before and that they were able to fight for their rights and secure their good status even if the U.S withdraws from the country. The government has been also adding that the departure of U.S and its allied forces from Afghanistan would not have any negative impact on the status of Afghan women beyond 2014.
But the growing rate of violence against women shook the people from all around the world, particularly the Afghan women who strongly believe that the status of women will get worst after the U.S exits from the region. The recent miserable public execution of an Afghan woman in central province of Parwan, few kilometers far from Kabul and the targeted killing of Hanifa Safi, the Head of Women's Affairs Department in Laghman province by a remote control IED that left her husband injured, including her children and six other civilians are the matter of ultimate concern and a reminder to the Afghan government and world at large that Taliban style rule is in its way to shake back again as per their brutal execution of local people everywhere near the capital, Kabul and other provinces.
As per the report, a member of Taliban a couple of weeks earlier, among local people, including small children, villager elders and scholars shot a woman on the head and left her in a cold blood in accusation of adultery case in Qimchok village in Shinwari district of Parwan province. This was one of the most horrifying executions since 2001, after the collapse of the Taliban.
It is still horrifying when remembering an old experienced man, who blames to own Islam with a white turban and long white beard, citing words from the verses of the Holy Koran and orders his man to shot her on the head in front of hundreds of local people. The people standing on the background are chanting, "Long live the Mujahideen" and the man cheers up to the death of this helpless woman. Thus, even they have given speed to their operations currently, in various safe zones of the country. After a decade of improvement and dedication to the rights of Afghan women, the ideology still seems to remain strong as these religious extremists and other tribal nepotism are strongly dominating the Afghan social structures.
The Chicago Summit Declaration on Afghanistan issued by the Heads of State said that the Government of Afghanistan and Nations contributing to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have the chief objective on the importance of full participation of all Afghan women in the reconstruction, political peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
The recent Tokyo deceleration endorsed on July 08 further focused that the equality of men and women to be protected in the Afghan constitution will be the key to obtaining a more pluralistic society which is the chief objective and most desiring will of Afghan nation.
Despite all talks on different sectors, the debates to target commitments or projects in tackling violence against women were not given that importance in either of the conferences nor there was a specific budget allocation for this purpose. With such a plan, the future of Afghan women seems more uncertain than ever and this has created further confusion among the women activists.
The release of the shaking video of the public execution of a woman mentioned above casts many doubts on the future of Afghan women and they are extremely suspicious about their future, after the exit of U.S troops from Afghanistan. According to reports, in most border zone cities, the influence of Taliban with their oppressive ideology towards women is in its extreme growth, particularly in the recent months, beginning from late 2011 up to now.
A woman is raped in the society and the culprit is not brought to justice because he owns backup. As a child, when she is just 13 or 14 years old, she is forced to marry someone who is completely against her will, mostly in exchange for money. As a result, most of these marriages don't survive longer.
Her husband treats her worst and beats her but she can't run away or seek a divorce as it will in return turn her into an outcast in the society and her children will be taken away from her. So instead, she burns herself or commits suicide, the only way to feel relief from all these discrimination and other traditional practices in a patriarchal system.
Such situation also suggests that nothing will change for better for the Afghan women; rather it is getting worse day by day. Even the men are not safe from injustice and integrated excursion by the Taliban, how the women can have a safe status or future after the U.S departure from the region.
As a matter of fact, there is no denying that today more girls are back in their classes than ever before, the female mortality rate has gone down to a record low and more women are employed today than they were in 2001. One can comparatively say that all these progressions have been extremely measured.
The work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the ground are valued and appreciated and the international organizations have been pivotal in the last decade in fighting for the rights of women, children and other social welfare. Indeed, these working bodies are currently under extreme scene of war conditions, as the foreign troops depart in 2014, it is strongly believed by women activists and other social workers that all these achievement would go with their withdrawal that will have worst impact on the status of women.
The current ground realities indicate that the Taliban and its other affiliates won't let the women live in peace and justice and that their reactions against women have poisoned all the gains that they have had in the last ten years with the support of U.S and its allied groups. Even, they have given speed to their operations currently, in various safe zone cities of the country.
Major steps have been taken by the Afghan government along with the women activists by enacting the law on the elimination of violence against women in late 2009. Judicial officials have begun to apply this law in some parts of the region but its implementation represents a very small percentage of how the government addresses cases of violence against women. Most of the cases are not even covered my media and the government in this regard, remained unconcerned in the last decade.
As per the current ground realities, the government must not give up in the gains made by Afghan women and their rights. The protection and advancement of women's rights factor in stabilization of the country. To make sure that the rights of women are protected and that the progress continues even if the foreign involvement and funding ends, initiatives need to be in harmony with Afghan values and frameworks that have local roots and wide acceptability in the society.
The year 2014 will mark the transfer of responsibility to the Afghan National Security Forces. More importantly, it calls for a transfer of the same commitment, resolution and institution, for the cause of women's rights protection to the Afghan nation. To make sure their status will remain stable, the change must take root within the government and the society at large.