On August 15, 2021, the withdrawal of the U.S. and NATO from Afghanistan and the immediate takeover by the Taliban marked a foreboding turning point. Today, three years on, the international community has lost the trust of Afghan people, especially women.
The severe impact of the Taliban’s rapid, systematic, and total oppression of Afghan women and girls’ rights has shocked the world. Taliban restrictions on women and girls’ education, employment, and freedom of movement have not only stifled women’s ambitions, but also stripped away basic human rights that many around the world take for granted. Over the past three years, the Taliban have put in place over 80 edicts restricting women and girls’ rights and freedoms, enforced through escalating violence and persecution.
The human toll of the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan has led to a severe mental health crisis, with Under Secretary General and Executive Director for UN Women, Sima Sami Bahous, reporting the following: “90 percent of young women respondents reported bad or very bad mental health, and that suicide and suicidal ideation are everywhere.” The prevalence of torture and inhumane treatment of detained women and women in public for “violating” dress codes are also well documented.
Many women peacebuilders and human rights defenders, who have long championed justice and equality, were forced to flee Afghanistan after August 2021, becoming refugees and part of a growing diaspora. Displaced from their homeland, these women face the daunting challenges of resettlement, often in unfamiliar and unwelcoming environments. Their struggle to continue their vital work from afar is compounded by the trauma of displacement and the constant worry for the safety of loved ones left behind.
Despite these adversities, Afghan women have shown remarkable courage and keep showing up to salvage what they can of the society they worked so hard to build and rebuild a front of resistance to the Taliban and their policies. Women human rights defenders and peacebuilders continue to work at great personal risk to document abuses and support those most affected by the ongoing crisis. Yet, Afghan women have been intentionally excluded from peace processes and negotiations, both by the Taliban, the international community, and “especially [by] the UN mission in Afghanistan, [UNAMA] – [which has] adopted to normalise the human rights violations in Afghanistan in an effort to secure the Taliban’s participation in the Doha talks.”
However, Afghan women peacebuilders continue to strive to foster dialogue and reconciliation in communities torn apart by conflict. Their unrelenting efforts demonstrate an unwavering commitment to peace and stability in Afghanistan.
“As a woman peacebuilder, I breathe peace, I eat it, I dream it, I sleep it, I live it, I work it, I continuously, continuously, continuously have it on my mind, in my mind, in the front of my mind and it’s something I really want to do in order to get to something that makes a bit of sense in this crazy world. To see if there’s any peace anywhere and if I can bring something to Afghanistan. That will be such a joy.”
– Mahbouba Seraj, Executive Director, Afghan Women Skills Development Center (AWSDC), Journalist, Peacebuilder, and Afghan WASL Member
How ICAN is Supporting our Afghan Partners
After two years of emergency response, including providing resettlement support and rapid response grants, ICAN has shifted to ongoing programmatic and advocacy support for Afghan partners. With support from UK International Development, and additional support from the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation and the Shipley Family Foundation, ICAN initiated a new Afghanistan program, Not About Them, Without Them: Afghan Women’s Voice and Vision Shaping the Future, to expand and strengthen our support to Afghan women-led organizations working in Afghanistan. Since 2023, we have focused on grantmaking; institutional support for partners; advocacy for, with, and by partners; documentation of our partners’ work and activism; and training and capacity development for emerging activists.
By supporting our partners’ peacebuilding work, coordinating and collaborating with peer organizations, and engaging in joint advocacy, ICAN aims not only to preserve the legacy of Afghanistan’s women-led civil society, but to facilitate the ongoing work of Afghan women peacebuilders, document and build on their efforts, and prevent the erosion of their position internationally. ICAN’s advocacy has included meetings with policymakers from the U.S., UK, and UN, including Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan.
Our partners are actively engaging in and leading in the development of the evolving agenda for women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan. Statements and letters written by our partners, in collaboration with their broad networks of Afghan women inside and outside Afghanistan, can be found below.
WASL Partner Resources:
“A Statement: Marking the Taliban’s Three Years of Second Takeover of Afghanistan 15th August” – Afghan Women Coordination Umbrella
“Open Letter to United Nations, USA, NATO and International Human Rights and Women’s Rights Organizations” – Afghan Women Coordination Umbrella
“Expression of Hope in the UN and Disappointment at the Design of Doha III” – Afghans For Progressive Thinking (APT)
“Transformative humanitarian actions: women and girls at the center of prevention, response and protection” – Remarks by Negina Yari at the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment High-Level Panel
“Enhanced interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan” – Remarks by Negina Yari at the 56th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
“Statement on the Taliban’s New Law on Vice and Virtue and the Banning of UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennet” – Canada Feminist Forum for Afghanistan
ICAN’s Resources:
Statement on the Upcoming Doha III Meeting on Afghanistan
Humanitarian Response to Afghanistan Must Not Do Harm
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini: Why Don’t Afghan Lives Matter?
