Afghan Women Are Vulnerable If the U.S. Returns Power to the Taliban

The U.S. government exploited the plight of Afghan girls and women and forgot its promises to help them

A 24-year-old artist and designer Zahra works in her office in Kabul on August 6, 2019. The deal between the U.S. and the Taliban leaves unresolved the fate of Afghan women. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty

Explosions abound in Afghanistan this week as the Trump administration tries to wrap up negotiations and hand over power to the Taliban, the very same terrorist group the U.S. government vowed to wipe out at the start of America’s longest war back in 2001.

Hashed out over months of talks between the Trump administration and the Taliban, the still-unofficial agreement, is supposed to pave the way for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and lead to negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The talks were handled behind closed doors and with no women present in the room.

The fact that the United States has been, and is still trying to, hammer out a deal with the Taliban should have us all collectively freaking out. Instead, it is exposing our collective amnesia over anything related to this war, especially when it comes to what we promised Afghan women, who we vowed to rescue from the clutches of the Taliban.

I was recently reminded of just how much we have forgotten about our promises to Afghan women when I appeared on an all woman political analysis TV show. During the…