Afghan Women in the crossfire of clash of principles: Taliban principals versus the UN Charter, should UNAMA leave?  

History, repeat itself in many ways in Afghanistan. After the collapse of reformist regimes of king Amanullah Khan and president Daoud Khan, the American backed regime of president Ghani, collapsed after years of applying political, social and economic reforms in Afghanistan. Taliban’s long and erosive guerrilla war, after being removed from power by US and UK military coalition in 2001, forced the United States to sign in 2020 the unpopular ‘Doha Agreement’ with the Taliban. Terms of this agreement were too bad for Afghanistan and a declaration of victory by the Taliban.  This agreement weakened the morale of the Afghan soldiers and caused the fall of the Ghani government as the advancing forces of the Taliban entered Kabul. We don’t talk about the deepening of huge humanitarian and human rights crisis caused by wrong policies of the caretaker government of the Taliban, because everybody knows about it.  The main source of our concern is the escalation of UN relations with the Taliban, after ban on work of UN local female employees. We try to describe the background of this escalation. 

The second term of Taliban:   

Once back in power, the Taliban started to re-manage every aspect of the live of the people of Afghanistan, in accordance to the principles they learned from Dewbandi clerics in Pakistani religious schools (madras’s).  Every step in this re-management process starts with a decree of Tainan’s supreme leader mullah Hebatullah akhund.  Beginning from the first decree, the target of a large number of these decrees was rights and freedoms that Afghan women enjoyed from the beginning of the 20th century. Hibatullah himself calls his measures “reforms” in his message on the occasion of Eid-ul-adha  on 18th April 2023: “Significant reform measures have been taken in the fields of culture, education, economy, media and other sectors, and the wrong ideological and moral effects of the occupation are coming to an end”. He ties everything he does not like to occupation, but in reality, the education and work of women in Afghanistan started in the second decade of the 20th century. In 1996, when the Taliban came to power for the first time, their previous leader Mullah Mohammad Omar applied, hardliner “reforms” using force and intimidation, but the effects of that reforms were removed from Afghan society together with the removal of their regime. The closure of UNICEF classes in Kandahar and Helmand on 16th April is the last “measure” of mullah Hibattullah so far and another blow to critical UN-Taliban relationship. UNICEF has been active in Afghanistan for many decades and has played a very important role in development of education in this country.  

Clashing principals:  

Having in mind the significant place of Taliban’s ideology in behavior and policies of its leaders, we can say that the situation mentioned above and the current stand-off between the Taliban’s caretaker government, and the UN and NGOs implementing its humanitarian programs in Afghanistan, that the clashing of principals of the Taliban’s ideology and the UN Charter, is the main reason behind this standoff. The Taliban’s principle command that women must largely be kept inside the home to avoid the risk of social disorder and sin, and the principle of UN Charter accepted by almost all countries and humanitarian NGOs sounds: “equitable and effective delivery of aid is impossible without female workers”. The words of mullah Hibatullah in his message on the occasion of Eid, published by his spokesperson  on 18th April 2023, makes our suggestion more understandable: “Significant reform measures have been taken in the fields of culture, education, economy, media and other sectors, and the wrong ideological and moral effects of the occupation are coming to an end”.  The most unconceivable standpoint of Hibattullah is his condition for having good relation with other states. In the same message he says: “Afghanistan wants positive and effective relations with all neighboring countries, Islamic countries and the whole world based on good and mutual interaction within the framework of Islamic principles”. Usually, other UN member States want their international relations to be based on international law and the principles of UN charter. But the Taliban leader puts all useable and workable globally accepted principals aside and proposes the Taliban version of framework of Islamic principles to all Islamic and non-Islamic states and International organizations as applicable law in relation with the Taliban. The caretaker government stamps all critics by other international players on its limitations and repressive measures against women and on its violation of Human rights as intervention in their internal affairs.  

The Taliban’s leader, mullah Hibatualla Akhund said some months ago, in promotion of his decree on application of physical punishment: “Our mujahedin fought 20 years for the reestablishment of our Islamic government. We succeeded. We should now enjoy our victory by applying our principals”.  Ordinary Afghans confused while the Taliban ignore their problems and do what they want. They believe the  USA left Afghanistan to be occupied by the Taliban because its strategic priorities were changed and he Taliban enjoy their victory by using Afghanistan as a laboratory for testing their contradicted principles in this country.   But the people of Afghanistan are forced to pay for these experiments with their lives, rights and freedoms.  For example, when women and girls were deprived from their right to work and education, many families lost their income and were driven into poverty, Girls above the 6th class were band from attending school and girls who are no longer allowed to study at the universities, are subject of different psychological diseases and forced young marriages. These belong to families. The total number of persons hardly affected by these decrees is in the millions.  

How can UN deal with the Taliban?  

On 24 December 2022, the spokesperson Mr. Mujahidin confirmed that women could no longer work for NGOs, citing serious complaints regarding non-compliance with the Islamic hijab and other applicable laws and regulations.” The next step was the Taliban’s extension of the ban to include women working for the UN. This is a major escalation. As the spokesperson of UN Secretary-General said on 4 April 2023;” banning women from working for the UN was “frankly, inconceivable”.  We can understand the difficulty of the position of UN when the organization is placed by the Taliban to the point of leaving the long suffered people of Afghanistan in de middle of a humanitarian catastrophe alone. UN has to choose between the principles of its Charter or remaining in Afghanistan. But Afghanistan is one of the almost 200 members of UN and the bigger interests of the UN weigh heavier. From the other side,  the UN is currently the only hope and support for those who live inside Afghanistan. By leaving Afghanistan, the UN will leave those suffering from poverty in a helpless situation behind. It also gives a more free hand to the Taliban to suppress the women and men of Afghanistan without observation or political pressure by a strong international organization. It is , Off course, up to the UN general secretary and UN security Council to decide on this issue. We don’t recommend leaving.  

With kind regards, 

Executive Board of FAYAZ Foundation.