To help Afghan women, Canada will need to continue dialogue with the Taliban in 2023.
On Tuesday, Afghan women lost their right to attend university. From elementary school to higher education, all the doors of educational institutions are now closed to them. It’s disgusting. By blocking their access to knowledge, the Taliban are adding another brick to their prison walls. Afghan women have almost no rights left, one by one the Taliban have taken them away despite their promises last year.
Some Afghanistan specialists see this new ban on women as a provocation by the Taliban to attract the attention of the international community and force Western governments to sit down and negotiate with them. It is a valid hypothesis.
Anyway, Canada really has no choice, it has to keep the dialogue going even if it does so by pinching its nose. Because the other option would have more serious consequences. Cutting ties with the Taliban government would further isolate the already most vulnerable and isolated. Especially women.
Photo by Ibrahim Norouzi – Press Assistant
This Afghan teacher sorts books and activity books after closing classes announced Thursday in Kabul.
This dialogue is already underway. The Canadian government doesn’t brag about it much, but it has met with Taliban representatives on several occasions since the fall of Kabul in August 2021. On 13 occasions to be exact, according to documents obtained by CBC last October thanks to Access. of information law. We learned that the senior Canadian official in Afghanistan, former Ambassador David Sproul, championed three issues in particular during these meetings in Qatar: women’s access to education, counterterrorism, and the safety of Afghans wishing to leave the country.
Canada must keep the channels of communication open and continue this dialogue.
Because major public denunciations yield little results if they are not accompanied by concrete action. Yes, the international community should be outraged when the Taliban restrict women’s rights, but that is not enough. Western countries should also sit down and talk to this government. and support humanitarian organizations working with Afghans.
On this subject, there are signs that Canada’s position has evolved.
As currently drafted, our anti-terrorism law prohibits the intervention of Canadian humanitarian organizations who risk being charged with “doing business” with the Taliban government. Two committees, in the House of Commons and the Senate, decried the rigidity of these regulations. It seems that their voice has been heard. Last week, International Development Secretary Harjit Sajan announced that the law could be amended next spring. It’s not too early. Many Western countries have already done so.
But we’ll have to go further. The pragmatists believe that it is necessary to agree with the Taliban on specific goals such as women’s right to work and study. This is the opinion of, among others, Niba Banerjee, former chief of aid and development at the Canadian Embassy in Afghanistan. Mme Banerjee, a research fellow at the University of Ottawa, worked under Ambassadors Chris Martin and David Sproul. According to her, it is necessary to set clear goals with the Taliban whose progress can be measured concretely. She advocates a policy of small steps: first elementary school, then high school, then university.
Mme Banerjee also strongly believes in women’s economic empowerment through microcredit or work-from-home programs: “I’ve seen the results of such programs in Bangladesh and I think they can be rolled out to rural areas of Afghanistan,” she told us in a phone interview.
Canada should not let Afghan women down. Women’s rights are the spearhead of Canadian international politics. This is an opportunity to put our beautiful principles into practice.
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