Burqa and the new age of terror
Article by Anna Karamanou
Published in the To Vima newspaper on Sunday, August 22, 2021
The tragic (and often absurd) images from the Taliban’s reconquest of power have caused deep concern and fear, both for the expected new era of terror, particularly for women, and for the intense reflection on whether it is truly possible to export Western democratic institutions to countries with deep social and economic underdevelopment, religious dogma, misogyny, and conflicting local interests, such as Afghanistan.
However, twenty years ago, there was a romantic belief and hope in the EU, expressed mainly by the European Parliament. The first mission to Afghanistan took place in early November 2002, one year after September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and the U.S. invasion, by a brave group of female Members of the European Parliament (Lissy Groner, Fiorella Ghilardotti, Marie-Helene Gillig, Genevieve Fraise, and myself). Many called it a crazy endeavor at the time. However, fear and doubt gave way to the goal: To express the unwavering support and solidarity of the European Parliament to the Afghan people and to ensure that the country’s reconstruction would include women’s rights.
The experience was unique and intense! Laws didn’t apply, there was no order, shacks instead of homes, no sanitation, dirt roads laced with landmines, public baths destroyed, broken windows, and intermittent water and electricity supply at the bombed-out “best” hotel in Kabul. A desperately poor, third-world country, with no established state, no strong central government. The market was in a miserable state, with only a few goods available, and a crowd of children begging on the streets. Hospitals were scarce, and the few that existed were built by humanitarian organizations. In rural areas, almost nothing. The human rights situation was tragic! 99% of women gave birth without medical assistance, and maternal mortality was among the highest in the world. One woman died in childbirth every half hour! Women walked the streets of Kabul like “blue ghosts,” as only a few dared to take off their burkas, risking their lives. The Taliban had lost power, but their spirit was omnipresent. Women were used as means to settle property disputes, exchanged between opposing families, and forced marriages were a daily occurrence. Girls as young as 10 were sold by their families to whoever paid the most, usually elderly men. Those who managed to escape were met with imprisonment and harsh punishment as a lesson to others. Leaving the marital home or committing adultery was considered a crime of treason.
In the city of Bamiyan, where the Taliban destroyed the Buddha statues, during a meeting with a women’s organization forum, women spoke publicly for the first time in their lives. They were too ashamed to even utter their names, constantly hiding their faces. The women confessed to enduring constant abuse, rape, unspeakable humiliations, and even killings. Local mullahs threw explosives-filled pens into schoolyards, causing mutilations and deaths among students. Such was their hatred for education! For the Taliban, the lives of women held no value, and the perpetrators were almost always left unpunished. This was the Afghanistan that the Taliban regime left behind from 1996 to 2001.
We met and spoke with the first transitional President, Hamid Karzai, who, in reality, controlled only Kabul, as well as the former king and Father of the Nation, Zaher Shah, the Ministers of Health, Education, Foreign Affairs, Women’s Affairs, Interior, Finance, and Justice, as well as the brave doctor Sima Samar, President of the Human Rights Commission, and many non-governmental organizations. We gathered information and testimonies, submitted proposals, and ambitious plans. A success of the mission was the immediate release of 20 women sentenced for adultery, the day after our intervention at the Ministry of the Interior, confirming the credibility and “soft power” of the European Parliament. At the same time, many European programs were underway in Kabul and the countryside.
Indeed, some modest progress was made over the last twenty years: The most significant change promoted by Karzai’s first government was the recognition of girls’ right to education, which remains in place to this day. A key achievement was the protection of women’s rights in the 2004 Constitution, access to some medical services, and participation in public life. Many young women now work as journalists and judges, participate in civil society organizations, and engage in politics. The EU’s contribution has also led to significant improvements in life expectancy, literacy rates, and maternal and child mortality. Between 2002 and 2020, the EU allocated more than €4 billion and has already committed €1.2 billion for both long-term and emergency aid for the period 2021-2025.
However, there was never a unified stance from the West, both in terms of providing and distributing aid and, most importantly, in terms of the policies pursued. The European Union supported a strong central government, while the United States favored the “divide and rule” approach, strengthening local warlords who were aligned with its interests.
Twenty years later, the swift return to power by the Taliban has created new realities. The European Parliament, once again at the forefront, in its resolution of June 9th, 2021, calls on all governments not to turn a blind eye to the humanitarian crisis, which primarily affects women, to find a way for safe escape from the country for anyone at risk, and for all negotiations to guarantee the safety of the women and girls of Afghanistan. We shall see!
Anna Karamanou
Former President of the Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Rights (FEMM) of the European Parliament, PhD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA).