World’s History
An 11-year-old girl in Ghor Province, Afghanistan sits beside her fiancé, estimated to be in his 40s, at their engagement ceremony shortly before the couple’s marriage in 2005.
Twenty years after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, which ousted the Taliban from power, the world is witnessing one of the most dramatic rollbacks of women’s and girls’ rights in recent history. Shortly after the Taliban's advancement, reports quickly began to emerge detailing war crimes and targeted violence against women and girls, including kidnappings, beatings, and forced “marriages” of young girls to Taliban fighters.
“My heart is tearing into pieces. For centuries we were the victims of wars – as children, as teenagers, as mothers. Always as women. We don’t want to be slaves to be beaten and abused," Jamila, an Afghan journalist, shared with me. "We don't want these 20 years of progress to just go, wash away…”
For decades, Afghanistan's women and girls courageously pursued freedoms and opportunities they were encouraged to fully embrace. Jamila's chilling testimony illustrates the collective trauma from prior Taliban repression, when public lashings and executions were part of daily life, girls couldn’t go to school beyond age 12, and women were stripped of nearly all individual rights. Today, with the nation sinking deeper into cruel tyranny, Afghan women fear the worst. “We don’t want to die like that. We won’t give up."
Twenty years after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, which ousted the Taliban from power, the world is witnessing one of the most dramatic rollbacks of women’s and girls’ rights in recent history. Shortly after the Taliban's advancement, reports quickly began to emerge detailing war crimes and targeted violence against women and girls, including kidnappings, beatings, and forced “marriages” of young girls to Taliban fighters.
“My heart is tearing into pieces. For centuries we were the victims of wars – as children, as teenagers, as mothers. Always as women. We don’t want to be slaves to be beaten and abused," Jamila, an Afghan journalist, shared with me. "We don't want these 20 years of progress to just go, wash away…”
For decades, Afghanistan's women and girls courageously pursued freedoms and opportunities they were encouraged to fully embrace. Jamila's chilling testimony illustrates the collective trauma from prior Taliban repression, when public lashings and executions were part of daily life, girls couldn’t go to school beyond age 12, and women were stripped of nearly all individual rights. Today, with the nation sinking deeper into cruel tyranny, Afghan women fear the worst. “We don’t want to die like that. We won’t give up."