Last month, the Taliban put into effect new laws stripping the women of Afghanistan of the last of their basic human rights. While here in America, feminists like to define their basic human rights as access to abortion, Afghan women are no longer allowed to speak in public, show any skin or leave their home without a male chaperone.
As of late August, the Taliban received approval from supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada to put into place its “Vice and Virtue decree,” which prohibits Islamic people from many religious and daily practices. Females were, unsurprisingly, hit the hardest by these new laws. Afghan women have been deemed as temptations, and therefore cannot show any skin or use their voices in public for any reason. They also may not make eye contact with men to whom they are not married, or blood related, out of fear of punishment and torture.
These new practices and ones already in place, including the end of education for women at 12 years of age and the inability to see male doctors, have not only left women with no rights, but truly no chance at a healthy and contented life. If these women are not allowed to be educated enough to be health care providers, and also can’t see male doctors, what will happen to them if and when they need health care? They will clearly become sick and suffer — which is, ultimately, the Taliban’s goal.
Women have been banned from most public spaces including parks, gyms and many stores. This has left women-led households particularly vulnerable. Since women are no longer let out of the home without a male, they are unable to walk, exercise or even shop for basic necessities like food.
Why is no one talking about this? Coming up on a month after the new bans took effect, the Biden Administration has barely mentioned this situation, let alone done anything to combat it. Where are the thousands of women who marched and protested after the overturn of Roe v. Wade and chanted “my body my choice?” Why don’t these people seem to care about the Afghan women having no rights over their bodies — including what they can wear, who they can speak to, or if they can speak at all? Or what about the girls as young as 5-years-old being sold into marriages under the Taliban — what about their choice?
The answer ultimately comes down to the sad fact that it was the Biden-Harris Administration who helped fuel the Taliban to be able to perpetrate these acts in the first place. It is American taxpayer dollars that have been sent to make all of this happen. In August, the Taliban received nearly $240 million in U.S. aid. The funds, ironically, even came from a State Department division called “Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.” How does funding a brutal group that uses physical abuse as punishment for speaking in public qualify as maintaining human rights?
In Afghanistan, women’s lives are truly not their own. This is not just a matter of abortion or contraception as we hear in America. Women are being sentenced to death for “moral crimes” such as adultery or refusal of arranged marriages. Women who commit these crimes are being put to death, even by stoning. Afghan women are also eligible for forced “virginity testing” which are often inaccurate tests performed on young women to determine if they have abstained from sexual relations. If girls “fail” these tests, they can face torture, ridicule or death, even in cases of rape. If a woman has been raped and is married, she is an adulterer, which once again circles back to the “moral crimes” punishments.
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It’s important to note that Afghanistan wasn’t always like this. Prior to the Afghan–Soviet War in 1979, women actually experienced a fair number of freedoms. They were able to work, express themselves through choice of clothing. But after the war, and the initial takeover by the Taliban in 1996, these women and girls slowly started to lose themselves to the evil that had taken over their home.
American feminists might want to open their eyes to see beyond their tired and misguided rhetoric. Take a look at what actual denial of a woman’s control over her body looks like.
These women will continue to suffer under the Taliban as long as Biden and Harris remain in office. It is their policy blunders that have assisted in the progression of these inhumane acts. In the meantime, Islamic women have taken to social media and to singing in the streets to protest the laws leaving them deprived of actual human rights.
The next time American feminists try to tell you about your “oppression” as a female in America, remember you are still allowed to speak in public, receive an education, carry out a career, and have access to world-class health care — all unattainable dreams for Afghan women who don’t have the blessing and privilege to be a woman in America today.
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Tessa Gervasini is a recent graduate of Texas Christian University.
The view expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.
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