Sima Samar is an Afghan women’s rights activist who gained additional recognition recently for not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Unfortunately, she stands to gain further distinction if U.S. policy in Afghanistan changes.
Samar struggled to keep schools and clinics for Afghan women and girls open despite the Taliban’s laws prohibiting education for girls more than eight years old. I can not imagine the level of her courage. After U.S. and Afghan forces freed Afghanistan, Samar became the Minister of Women’s Affairs in the interim government. Even with the Taliban gone, Samar was chased out of her office by powerful religious leaders whose opposition to a woman in public life led to everything from taunts to “thinly veiled death threats.” She was forced to give up the position and now holds a non-cabinet post as the chair of the Independent Afghanistan Human Rights Commission.
There is a movement in the Obama Administration to separate the Taliban from al Qaeda. Officials have tried to position al Qaeda as the main threat facing the U.S. and not the Taliban. “White House officials have sought to play down the threat of al Qaeda returning to the country, even if the Taliban regained control of large swaths of territory,” according to Reuters.
Administration officials have gone as far as suggesting that more moderate Taliban elements could have a future in Afghanistan.
How will the Obama Administration’s position affect Samar, other Afghan women’s activists, and Afghan women and girls? Is the question important to the Administration? Should it be important to the Administration? To U.S. citizens? To women’s groups? I must point out that I can think of few groups that would quietly accept matters if members of their specific group were treated the way the Taliban treats Afghan women. But maybe we have to just accept that.
I don’t know the answers to these questions; I pose them to stimulate thought and to see your comments.
