Afghanistan—Human Rights

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The chaos of over two decades of warfare has left Afghanistan without an infrastructure of any kind and without human rights. Human rights suffered especially after 1996, when the Taliban, a group of Islamic fundamentalists, captured Kabul and resolved to make Afghanistan accord with their vision of a pure Islamic state. The most flagrant departures from international standards of human rights were in the Taliban's treatment of women and the severity with which the Taliban punished crimes.

After consolidating power, one of the first things that the Taliban saw to was the removal of women from all social and public life. Thus, women and girls were not allowed to work outside the home or even to venture out unless in the company of a close male relative and they were prohibited from attending schools or universities. All women were forced to wear the burka, an all-enveloping garment that completely hides the body, with a mesh in front of the eyes to allow for seeing and breathing. Male doctors could not examine female patients and female doctors could not practice, which meant that women were essentially denied access to modern health care. Proscriptions for women reached absurd levels, with women and girls being forbidden to wear white socks or shoes that made any noise when they walked. In short, women had to become invisible, and were virtually under house arrest.

The punishments meted out on women for transgressing these laws were severe and harsh. A large number of women were stoned to death for walking with a man who was not a husband. Thousands of women were beaten for not wearing proper clothing. Many women were publicly executed for alleged sexual improprieties. A large percentage of Afghanistan's female population is war widows; these women were forced to beg in order to subsist, since all work was denied them. Women were shot at or beaten if they ventured out of the house alone.

Before the Taliban took control, women in Afghanistan were a very progressive group. In Kabul, prior to 1996, 60 percent of the teachers and 50 percent of the students at Kabul University were women; 70 percent of the schoolteachers, 50 percent of the government workers, and 40 percent of the doctors were women. Thus, the Taliban suddenly disenfranchised a large segment of the workforce and the intelligentsia.

Men were also subjected to brutal treatment. Every male was forced to grow a beard, wear a turban, and never show his arms or his legs. Flouting these laws meant public flogging or even summary execution. Most males of fifteen years and older were forced to join the Taliban army; those who refused were shot, along with their families; there were reports of entire villages being murdered in this fashion.

Severe punishment was meted out to those whom the Taliban saw as hindering their progress toward a perfect Islamic state. Thus, those convicted of stealing (most of these people stole food) had their right hands cut off; these events were held at the Kabul soccer stadium, and drew huge crowds. This stadium was also used for public executions. The relatives of victims publicly executed convicted killers; the method of dispatching the criminal was by cutting of the throat. Those convicted of homosexuality were placed against a brick wall, which was then knocked down by a tank; after thirty minutes, the rubble was cleared; those that could be pulled out alive were exonerated. For adultery, men were given a hundred lashes in a public place, while women were stoned to death.

With the toppling of the Taliban in 2001, a new set of human-rights problems emerged. Women still do not have free access to health, education, and personal safety; lifting of the veil has not bettered their lot. Post-Taliban Kabul has seen an influx of orphans, who have flocked to the capital in search of food, clothing, and some form of security. In the Taliban era, street children in Kabul were estimated at 25,000; currently, there are over 70,000, and this figure is increasing daily, since people keep flocking to the capital, all of them driven from their villages by extreme poverty and drought. In fact, many parents abandon their children at the city's two orphanages in the hope that these fledgling institutions will be better able to look after their children, which sadly is not the case. As well, female street children are routinely beaten and abused, because the larger society cannot accept a female wandering on her own.

Adding to this catalog of human misery are two additional factors: ethnic turmoil and avaricious warlords. Afghanistan is a land of many people. The largest and most powerful group is the Pashtuns, who populate the southern portions of the country. The Taliban were ethnically Pashtun, and they systematically sought to destroy their traditional enemies, such as the Persian-speaking Tajiks. The Taliban undertook an ethnic cleansing of sorts, and there is much evidence of mass murder, especially in the Shomali Valley, in the north of the country, which is the traditional Tajik homeland. The transitional government of Hamid Karzai has said that it will establish a tribunal to try individuals for war crimes and create a system of compensation for the victims. However, such a procedure will take many long years, and the transitional government will be gone before the tribunal can be securely established.

Warlords too have become a severe handicap for the country, in that they often hamper the movement of relief supplies from one area to the next. This is an acute problem when food and medical supplies need to be delivered to remote villages. It is often the case that entire truckloads of aid material simply disappear. The food and supplies given in aid by foreign countries is often stolen by these warlords and sold at a profit on the black market. Thus, the general population is still suffering because of widespread theft by those in power.

Extreme poverty and hunger still rule Afghanistan. Life expectancy is forty-six; one out of four children dies before reaching the age of five; almost 80 percent of the population is illiterate; and all rural areas (a large portion of the country) have no access to health care, safe drinking water, or electricity. A large percentage of the farmland has been sowed with land mines, so farmers are afraid to venture out into their fields. As well, years of drought have turned farming villages into dried, deserted ruins; urban warfare has destroyed factories, dams, and roads; there are no banks, no commercial infrastructure, and therefore no foreign investment. The only viable cash crop available to many farmers is the poppy, which is cultivated for opium. The land is still unstable and there are continued fears that powerful warlords, military commanders, or Muslim extremists may topple the present government. In such an atmosphere, human rights are of little concern in Afghanistan. The situation will only change when a measure of stability is established in the land.

Nirmal Dass

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Skane, Rosemary. (2002) The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

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