October 13, 2023
Afghan hunger striker spotlights US-Taliban dirty deal
On September 1, 2023 Tamana Paryani began a hunger strike in Cologne, Germany for the rights of Afghan women. She is demanding that the United Nations and the German government declare the Taliban government is misogynist and practices gender apartheid. Ms. Paryani, a women’s rights defender, was arrested by the Taliban and suffered 26 days of physical and mental torture. Upon release, she fled to Germany in October 2022. The Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women publicized Paryani’s heroism in a press release on September 8. (The press release and a statement are at the end of this article)
Two years ago the US ended 20 years of military action in Afghanistan and transferred power from the elected government to the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban. The transfer was conditional on the Taliban agreeing to “not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control.” The turnover was arranged by both the Trump and Biden administrations. It did not stipulate requirements for safety, education, and healthcare for women, children and all Afghani people, but it could and should have.
The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko, released a report in August 2021 that the US had “struggled to develop and implement a coherent strategy” for the war. It stated “if the goal was to rebuild and leave a country that could sustain itself and pose little threat to US national security interests, the overall picture is bleak”. The report also found that the US prioritized internal political interests instead of Afghan interests, that it had demonstrated ignorance of local context, and had wasted billions of dollars on unsustainable and bureaucratic projects.
The Taliban set out to create a state of Islamic Sharia. They ensured that women lost their positions in government offices and foreign and domestic institutions. Even beauty salons were shut down. No provision at all was made for economic and financial programs for women who support their families. Many suffer from hunger, malnutrition, and health and mental problems.
CBS News reported that the US has made $8 billion in aid available to Afghanistan since the military withdrawal, including around $2 billion in humanitarian aid. The Taliban garner this aid by imposing customs charges on shipments coming into the country and imposing fees on NGOs and their vendors, such as landlords and cell phone companies. They also seize funds intended for groups such as the oppressed minority Hazara community.
Afghans who oppose the crushing of civil and labor rights, free speech and women’s freedom have been largely driven underground or out of the country by ruthless Taliban suppression. Afghanistan’s refugees are the third largest displaced population in the world, after Syrians and Ukrainians. After two whole years, 250,000 applications for U.S. asylum are still pending.
Hopefully, Ms. Paryani’s hunger strike will illuminate this catastrophe and push the US. and the international community to take action. In addition, rallies are being called throughout the world on October 7 to urge the major powers to grant immediate and unconditional asylum to Afghan women activists who are being hunted down and threatened with death because they have dared to fight for their rights.
The U.S. government must immediately process the backlog of visa applications and provide sufficient aid to Afghan refugees in the U.S. to start new lives here.
Hunger Strike against Gender Apartheid
The Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women (SMAW) supports the brave and selfless struggle of Tamana Paryani for the rights of Afghan women. On September 1, 2023 Paryani went on a hunger strike in Cologne, Germany, demanding the United Nations and the German government to recognize the Taliban government as gender apartheid.
Even in exile, Tamana Paryani never neglected to fight and raise the voice of deprived women of Afghanistan and was always critical of the international community for dealing with the Taliban. With her hunger strike, Ms. Paryani was able to draw the attention of the people of Europe and the world to the important point that the issue of Afghan women has become a victim of the political expediency of Western governments and the cries of Afghan women’s oppression under the brutal rule of the Taliban are not heard. Pariyani said in a recent interview that the silence of the world against the cry of Afghan women is shameful.
After the eight days of the hunger strike, while Tamana’s health is deteriorating, the German government and the United Nations have not paid any attention to her demands. The Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women asks the United Nations, the German government and other countries to respond to the demands of Tamana Paryiani immediately and while recognizing the Taliban as a misogynistic group, put pressure on the Taliban to stop suppressing and detaining protesting women.
Click the following links to learn more about the harsh rule of the Taliban and the challenges faced by the Afghan women:
- Watchdog describes litany of US failures in Afghanistan mission.
- Misery mounts two years after ignominious US exit from Afghanistan.
- Bread, Work, Freedom—Afghan Women’s Two Years of Resistance.
- US taxpayers helping fund Afghanistan’s Taliban? Aid workers say they’re forced “to serve the Taliban first.
- Two years on from Taliban takeover, Afghan women are being ‘erased from everything’
