Afghan women’s groups eye uncertain future under vague ‘Islamic framework’

Published 25 Aug,2021 via FRANCE 24 - After 20 years of considerable gains and with much more still to do, Afghan women’s rights activists are battling rage and disappointment as they enter another chapter in the fight for gender rights. But the Taliban has still not provided clarity on its inconsistent statements and they fear that will come too late, when the world stops paying attention.

Not long after the Taliban blew up the ancient Buddha statues in Bamiyan back in March 2001, Sunita Vishwanath and a group of Afghan women in New York founded the NGO, Women for Afghan Women (WAW). Over the past 20 years, she has kept at the job as WAW expanded to become one of the largest women’s organisations in Afghanistan, running domestic violence shelters, as well as education and vocational training centres across the country.

Working on women’s rights can sometimes be a matter of life and death in Afghanistan and Vishwanath is no stranger to the dangers of the job. Women fleeing domestic violence can face death threats or fear abductions by family members determined to deliver them back to abusive husbands or in-laws.