When I first arrived in Afghanistan in February to work for NATO, I spoke with verve about the country’s immense potential and the social progress of the past 14 years. The number of children in school has skyrocketed—rising from less than one million in 2001 to more than eight million today—as has the number of people who have access to basic health care.
Afghan society has made great strides but has a long way to go, particularly on women’s rights. On March 19, a 27-year-old Afghan woman and Islamic scholar named Farkhunda Malikzada was falsely accused of burning a Quran outside a mosque in Kabul’s Old City. A mostly male mob beat her to death in a gruesome murder that lasted 30 minutes. They threw her from a roof, stoned her, struck her with wooden beams, ran her over with a car, and then set fire to her body on the banks of the Kabul River. In all, 49 people stood trial for her murder, some receiving long prison terms. In May, four were sentenced to death for the killing, but last week an appeals court overturned those sentences.
What does this kind of mob murder say to the rest of the world? Kabul is the seat of Afghanistan’s new unity government, a fragile power-sharing agreement between President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. It is home to NATO headquarters, dozens of diplomatic missions, hundreds of charitable and nongovernmental organizations, as well as humanitarian institutions like the International Committee of the Red Cross. Given such an expansive, international presence, Kabul should have been the last place such a brazen murder would take place.
Yet despite its progress Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous places on the planet to be a woman. Violence against women here is staggering. As Rashida Manjoo,U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women, said last November while visiting Afghanistan: “A large number of women and girls live in a context of deep inequality, underdevelopment, high levels of illiteracy, and the lack of educational and employment opportunities.” Moreover, the “difficulties of obtaining a divorce, inheritance deprivation, fears about removal of children from their custody, and the inability to return to their homes and communities, all contribute to women choosing not to leave abusive situations.”
According to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health, in 2013 women accounted for more than 90% of all suicide victims in Afghanistan. Most are young women suffering prolonged physical abuse and desperate to escape the violence.
There are good people here working to help Afghan girls and women. Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation, a nonprofit that empowers girls and young women through community-based education, is an example. The foundation’s flagship project is the Zabuli Education Center, an all-girl K-12 school that provides a free education to more than 400 students. The founder of the school and the foundation is Afghan native Razia Jan, a U.S. citizen, businesswoman and humanitarian.
“One of the first things we do is to teach the girls how to write their father’s name,” Ms. Jan told Rotary magazine last year. “Then they take it home to show their parents. The fathers have come up to me, crying: ‘My daughter can write my name, and I can’t.’ That is a big moment. I have proved to the men . . . that this is the best thing that’s happened for their daughters—to become educated.”
Nearly four decades of conflict have consumed this country. From the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s, to Taliban rule, to insurgent factions running amok—some now claiming allegiance to Islamic State—war has exacted a heavy price on Afghan society, especially its women and children.
NATO’s primary goal now is building and mentoring the Afghan National Security Forces so they can protect themselves and Afghan citizens. At NATO headquarters, we push for the protection of women as well as for their participation in the Afghan government and military.
The great majority of women cannot act alone here. More often than not, they need the approval of brothers, fathers and husbands. That’s why it is so critical to communicate with Afghan men to help them understand how the whole society will benefit from more opportunities for their wives, sisters and daughters.
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