08:20 22/08/2021
As the Taliban have taken control of the Afghan government, women say they fear for their future. Many experts are skeptical of the Islamic group's pledges that they will respect women's rights. President Joe Biden said Friday that if the Taliban want help and recognition, it will depend on how they treat Afghan women and girls.
With the Taliban back in power, some Afghan women say they now feel like they're back in the dark. During the 20-year US presence, many Afghan girls returned to school and Afghan women returned to the workplace. Under Taliban rule this was forbidden.
President Joe Biden said Friday that any international recognition or aid to the Taliban would depend on how the Islamic group treats Afghan women and girls.
"They are looking to gain legitimacy. It will depend on how they hold that place. They will receive aid based on whether or not they treat women and girls well, how they treat their own citizens," President Biden declared.
Afghan-American Nazila Jamshidi told VOA that she feels pain for the women and girls of Afghanistan.
"Those who were born after 2001, we taught them about human rights, human dignity and freedom of expression. We have given them hope and told them to build a new Afghanistan. Everything that was built with difficulty in 20 years was lost in two months", says Nazila Jamshidi, a protester.
Women and girls are most at risk, says David Phillips, director of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. He also worked as a senior adviser at the State Department during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.
"The Taliban will force little girls to marry. The future of civil society is bleak, as well as for independent media," he says.
In their first press conference, the Taliban pledged to respect the rights of girls and women, within the framework of Islam.
But the actions of the Taliban during the acquisition of the territory these two months have destroyed all hope, Rina Amir, an expert in mediation at the University of "New York", told the Voice of America.
"After taking over the territory, they interrogated women and members of civil society. They have created a real culture of fear. They enter their homes with lists in hand. They know their names, they search for materials, they check their cell phones. So they are doing all the things they did before", says Rina Amiri from New York University, she says.
At the State Department this week, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the issue of protecting the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan is a personal one for her. She recalled her meeting with Afghan women and girls in a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 1997.
"In the last 20 years, Afghan women and girls have embraced their freedom. Millions of Afghans have gone to school. They have become doctors, lawyers, journalists, entrepreneurs. They have built the life that Secretary Albright encouraged them to imagine."
As the United States is increasing the number of evacuees, American citizens and Afghans who helped them, Ms. Sherman said Washington will use every economic, diplomatic and political tool to hold the Taliban accountable./VOA
Source of information @TvKlan: Read more at: www.botasot.al
