The Silent War on Afghan Women

Authored by: Sophia Butler

Art by: Carla Hu

In 2021, after 20 years, the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. In less than six months, Afghanistan was overtaken by the Taliban. Yet although the rest of the world has seemingly moved on, Afghans face grave challenges every day. Women in particular face increasing restrictions on basic human rights and self-expression, effectively trapping them in a world of second-class citizenry and abuse. Such maltreatment has resulted in a crippling mental health epidemic, one which Western media has failed to document.

The Taliban’s Policies for Women

The Taliban is best known in the US for their 2001 terrorist attack on the United States. Yet globally, the Taliban is notorious for their restriction of human rights, particularly women’s rights. It is important to note that the religion of Islam does not impose such heavy restrictions on women, which is unique to the Taliban and their interpretation of Islam. Most prominently are the disruptions in education and basic self-expression. 

In terms of education and work life, women are no longer allowed to be educated beyond the 6th grade (pre-2021 transcripts and diplomas are invalid). Nearly every form of employment has been banned, from educated positions to street vending. Women are also encouraged to leave their homes in general with a male supervisor. 

The Taliban has also worked to strip women of any form of identity or expression. In public, women must be covered from head to toe with only their eyes visible, despite the 80-degree summers. Women are also not to use their voices in public or any form of media. Failure to comply with these policies can lead to brutal punishment in the form of public stoning, which is enforced by the Female Moral Police.

The Impact

As the Taliban attempts to erase all forms of identity for women, it comes as no surprise that the mental health of Afghan women has reached all-time lows. The cultural “straitjacket” being put on women has led to startling levels of self-harm and suicides [2]. Data indicates that women are at double the risk of suicide of Afghan men [3].

The two largest precursors of suicidal tendencies in Afghan women are forced marriages (often wedding young teenage girls to middle-aged men) and violence from male family members [4]. It is believed that many Afghan men feel powerless about the changes occurring in their lives and their country and thus often take their emotions out on their wives or daughters [5]. Afghanistan ranks the highest of any country in physical, emotional, and sexual domestic violence [6].

From a clinical standpoint, depression, anxiety, and PTSD rates are beyond concerning. 80% of Afghan women are diagnosed with major depression, compared to 1 in 20 American women [7]. A study of 500 Afghan women revealed that 81% of women have anxiety, 38% of which have “extremely severe anxiety.” These numbers are likely caused by a combination of war trauma, domestic violence, and rules placed on women regarding emotional expression. 

Solutions

As women are banned from most jobs, and males are banned from practicing medicine for females, women in Afghanistan are not receiving anywhere near adequate mental or physical care. Worldwide lack of support for the Taliban also prevents many nations from assisting through investments and charitable programs. Yet the violation of basic human rights in Afghanistan requires increased attention and support both internally within the country and externally in the form of assistance from other countries. 

Internally, programs should be built in a way that reflects integral aspects of Afghan culture, incorporating family relationships and religion, as most struggling Afghans turn to religion to help cope with their emotions in a private manner. There are also heavy restrictions on who Afghan women can speak to, so these services would likely consist of community circles for Muslim women in the immediate community and female family members. Such programs should also be made more available to Afghan refugees.

Financial support is also needed from other countries in order to support the health care system within Afghanistan. Currently, the system is underfunded, understaffed, and overstretched. Although it can be difficult to communicate from outside and ensure the funds are correctly allocated, solutions must be found to provide basic, necessary care to all Afghans. The issue of brain drain, or the movement of skilled workers from one country to another, further amplifies this lack of healthcare resources. Many skilled professionals who have the funds and/or education- educated healthcare workers in particular - choose to leave Afghanistan’s politically unstable and dangerous environment, creating an imbalanced patient-doctor ratio [10]. Creating incentives for healthcare workers to migrate to Afghanistan, and removing barriers from remaining is necessary to provide the space and support for the health of Afghan people.

 War in Afghanistan did not end at the fall of Kabul in 2021 – the war against women has continued despite the lack of attention and support from the outside world. Taliban policies may not be within our control, but there are still actions that can be taken to help women in the current context. We must take action to guard women from the external hardships they face every day and to protect their well-being and identities despite the denial of their existence. 

Works Cited

1. United States Institute of Peace. (n.d.). Tracking the Taliban’s (Mis)Treatment of Women. United States Institute of Peace. 

2. Chiovenda A. Crafting Masculine Selves: Culture, War, and Psychodynamics in Afghanistan. Oxford University Press, 2019.

3. Sabawoon A, Keyes KM, Karam E, Kovess-Masfety V. Associations between traumatic event experiences, psychiatric disorders, and suicidal behavior in the general population of Afghanistan: findings from Afghan National Mental Health Survey. Inj Epidemiol 2022

4. Raj A, Gomez C, Silverman JG. Driven to a fiery death—the tragedy of self-immolation in Afghanistan. N Engl J Med 2008

5. Missmahl I. Value-based counseling: reflections on fourteen years of psychosocial support in Afghanistan. Intervention 2018

6. Coll CV, Ewerling F, García-Moreno C, Hellwig F, Barros AJ. Intimate partner violence in 46 low-income and middle-income countries: an appraisal of the most vulnerable groups of women using national health surveys. BMJ Glob Health20206

7. Guo N, Robakis T, Miller C, et al.. Prevalence of depression among women of reproductive age in the United States. Obstet Gynecol2018

8. Neyazi A, Haidarzada AS, Rangelova V, et al.. Prevalence and predictors of depression among women in Afghanistan: a cross-sectional study. Discov Psychol 2023

9. Neyazi, A., Padhi, B. K., Mohammadi, A. Q., Ahmadi, M., Erfan, A., Bashiri, B., Neyazi, M., Ishaqzada, M., Noormohammadi, M., & Griffiths, M. D. (2023). Depression, anxiety and quality of life of Afghan women living in urban areas under the Taliban government: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 13(8), e071939. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-071939

10. Shoib, S., Saleem, S. M., Essar, M. Y., & Armiya'u, A. Y. (2022). Challenges faced by healthcare workers in Afghanistan amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and political instability: A call for action. Clinical epidemiology and global health, 15, 101050.