On the 18th November 2013 media outlets such as Associated Press and ABC News reported that US Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, stated that Afghanistan is reaching a turning point that will be critical to maintaining advances made by its women over the last decade. Clinton mentioned, “the hard-fought gains that women and children have been able to enjoy” while Kerry commented that Afghan women and girls had made great progress since 2001, enjoying greater access to education and healthcare. Ironically this news was covered on the same day that seven schoolchildren were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. They also argued that the US should remain engaged in the fight for women’s rights in the country, warning about the dangers following withdrawal of US troops in 2014. These statements from US politicians come predictably at a time when the US is attempting to convince the Afghan public of the need for some combat forces to remain in the country after the withdrawal.
The issue of women’s rights was used in part to justify the invasion of the country in 2001 and now it is being cynically exploited yet again through fear-mongering to continue US colonial policies in the region. However, the true reality facing women and children in Afghanistan today is ample proof that 12 years of Western occupation has brought nothing to their lives but death, destruction, extreme poverty, and insecurity. Since 2001, tens of thousands of Afghan women and children have been killed, injured, or displaced from homes. The UN has stated that deaths and injuries to women and children caused by improvised explosive devises alone increased by 38% in the first half of 2013. In addition, 1 woman dies every 2 hours in the country due to maternal deaths resulting from a pitiful healthcare system, and there is only a 14% female literacy rate. Afghan women also face a society of lawlessness and spiraling levels of abductions, violence, and rape. All this, accompanied by crippling levels of poverty as well as non-Islamic practices such as forced marriages that have been allowed to flourish under this Western-backed agent Karzai government has resulted in a significant rise in depression and suicide attempts amongst women and girls. Is this the progress, hard-fought gains and women’s empowerment Clinton and Kerry talk about!!?
This is the true lasting legacy of over a decade of Western colonial policies in Afghanistan. Are the women and children of Afghanistan really expected to endure further years of this living nightmare as a result of continued Western meddling in the country, including the continued rule by an incompetent, Western orientated regime and failed secular political system on their land? The women in Afghanistan does not need yet another treasonous security agreement with the Americans that will simply continue bloodshed and instability in the country. They need a system that will protect their lives, honour and chastity, property, and provide them financial security, shelter, and good quality, free healthcare and education facilities. Such a system cannot be delivered by other than the system of Allah (swt), embodied in the Khilafah which is obliged to expel all colonial forces from its land, provide basic needs to all its citizens, and ensure that the wealth of the Muslim world is used to establish a good level of living for all those under its rule. This is alongside implementing the Islamic social and judicial system of Islam that would safeguard the dignity and rights of women, enforcing harsh punishments on those tempted to assault women or for any form of abuse or violation of their honour. We call the women of Afghanistan to reject the presence of Western troops in their land as well as the Western-imposed secular system, and all forms of Western interference in their affairs. Rather, we call you to work with Hizb ut Tahrir to establish the Khilafah upon your soil that alone holds the key to the protection and security of your lives and a dignified future.
The Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
Saturday, 20 Muharram 1435 AH
Issue No : 1435 AH /003
23/11/2013 CE