Even more than men, Afghans share the general satisfaction of their country with the possibility that the truce of last week is transformed into a definitive ceasefire. They are also the most cautious before a peace agreement that involves the return of the Taliban. During the five years they were in power, they banned the presence of women in the public space, depriving them of the right to education, work and even laughter. No one can guarantee that there will be no setback in the advances that, despite everything, they have achieved since the United States overthrew the Taliban regime in 2001.
Some groups of women activists have organized meetings expressing their support for the truce and lasting peace. Even celebrating that step, others believe that a reduction in violence is not enough. They fear that the fragile advances made under the democratic Constitution of 2004, which for the first time guaranteed equal rights for Afghans, are sacrificed for the sake of outside political interests.
“I am not worried that the current partial truce is violated. I don't care seven days. What worries me is the next seven months and the next seven years. As US troops begin their probable withdrawal from Afghanistan, many Afghans hope that 2020 will not resemble the beginning of the 1990s, when civil war and extremist forces came to dominate our politics and our lives, ”Wazhma wrote recently Frogh, director of the Organization of Studies on Women and Peace in Kabul, in an opinion article for the CNN website.
In fact, the United States has left the negotiation of women's rights to the inter-agency dialogue that should begin as of now. The background is not rosy. During the meetings that extremists have had with representatives of civil society over the past year, they said they respected Afghans' right to education, work and health, but only "within the bounds of Islamic law and of the Afghan culture. ”
For many activists that is too ambiguous. “I have heard different points of view on Islamic teachings to different scholars. The Taliban follow extreme interpretations of the Qur'an, ”deputy Fawzia Koofi, one of the two women who participated in those talks with representatives of the group, told the BBC. The Taliban version of the Islamic law (Sharia) included flogging, amputations and the death penalty by stoning, punishments that put not only feminist hairs, but all human rights defenders.
Significantly, in the areas of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban (almost half of the country, although not the most populated areas), women remain deprived of their basic rights and as soon as girls reach puberty (between 9 and 12 years), stop attending school. In the report Life under the Taliban government in the shade , researcher Ashley Jackson could not find a single high school for girls in any of the regions under Taliban influence or control. He also found that girls are asked not to go to class in uniform, but covered with a burqa or a chador , not to carry mobile phones or to be educated in Koranic schools instead of official centers. But the biggest problem is having teachers, since few teachers want to practice under the Taliban splint, who are still determined that women don't go to the market alone.
"How are the Taliban going to do, with their obsolete and retrograde norms, to reconcile their beliefs with today's Afghanistan?" Asked Frogh, the activist cited above.
70% of 38 million Afghans are under 30 years old, which means they lack direct memory of what the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan assumed, as the Taliban called their regime. The new generations of Afghans, girls and boys, have grown up in a very different environment despite the violence. Access to education has been key. But also television (banned during the government of extremists), mobile phones and the Internet, which have ended the isolation of young people even in rural areas, where two-thirds of the population still lives.
Afghans have made it clear that they want peace. But not at any price. "We don't want to be victims of peace," Koofi told EL PAÍS last year, when the agreement between the United States and the Taliban began to be discussed. For her, as for the rest, peace "means living with dignity, justice and freedom."
The Taliban spokesman in Doha, Sohail Shaheen, said on Saturday that "those who are against peace are using women's rights to make negotiations fail." It is not clear to what extent they are willing to respect them once they enter political life.