Women’s rights after the Taliban.

After the fall of the Taliban women were promised many rights that have yet to be realized. According to international women’s rights organization, Womankind Worldwide, women in Afghanistan still face systematic discrimination and violence.
via BBC.

The report admits that there have been some legal, civil and constitutional gains for Afghan women. But serious challenges remain and need to be addressed urgently, it states. These include challenges to women’s safety, realisation of civil and political rights and status.

Furthermore, women have received at least 25% representation in the government, but the culture surrounding female politicians and activists is still a hostile one.

“Women who are standing up to defend women’s’ rights are not being protected,” says Brita Fernandes Schmidt of Womankind Worldwide.
“My message, really, to the international community is: you need to address specific security issues for women,” she says.
“Women’s rights activists are getting killed, women’s NGO workers are getting killed, and that is not going to change unless some drastic action is taken,” Ms Fernandes continues.
Womankind Worldwide says the international community needs to fulfil promises made after the fall of the Taleban to help protect Afghan women.

What I find interesting about this is that the US government used the rights of women as its rationale for military aggression in Afghanistan. But now after the fall of the Taliban (and since we couldn’t find Bin Laden there you know and attempts at building a natural gas pipeline have failed) we are suprisingly not present to protect women. Oh the smell of hypocrisy, so rank.