Afghanistan is now in shambles – a cauldron of chaos, confusion and danger. In this turmoil, the human rights of women and children especially, are hanging by a thread.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York City that killed 3,000 Americans. The Al-Qaeda who carried out this evil attack, did so with the aid and blessings of Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders. The latter refused to turn over terrorist, Osama Bin-Laden, who masterminded the attack on the U.S. The Taliban had controlled Afghanistan since 1996, during which it enforced harsh conditions, based on their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Under Taliban rule, women had to cover themselves with the burka and only leave the house in the company of a male relative. It banned girls from attending school, and women from working outside the home. Women were banned from voting. Women were subjected to cruel punishments, such as beheadings or stoning to death in public executions for committing adultery. This treatment was based on the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia (Islamic) law which treats women as objects, available only for the service of men.
REAL Women Attains First-hand Knowledge of the Taliban
REAL Women by chance, acquired first-hand information about the abuse of women by the Taliban. While attending a UN International Conference, one of our members was sitting outside the conference room during the negotiations, when a tall, dignified, young woman, wearing a hijab (headscarf), sat down beside her. She introduced herself, explaining she was from Afghanistan and attending the UN Conference without official permission, and had travelled thousands of miles over mountainous and perilous paths to attend the conference so that the terrifying situation for women in Afghanistan could be brought to the public’s attention. She stated that she had first approached the feminists at the conference for help. The feminist organizations controlled the conference agenda, and the negotiations. They were not interested, however, in the plight of Afghan women. Their only interest at the UN conferences was to have abortion and homosexual rights included in the conference’s outcome document that would be implemented worldwide. Because of this rejection by the feminists, the young woman said she decided to approach REAL Women whom she understood had a different understanding of women’s rights.
Sadly, as Canadians, REAL Women was unable to offer her any assistance as the feminists present regarded REAL Women with undisguised contempt, and even hatred. Any overture we made to them would be regarded with disdain. Also, the Canadian Liberal government had sent a large contingent of delegates (thirty-nine women and one man), to the conference, who were all radical feminists and who refused even to speak to us at the conference. A Liberal government would never acknowledge REAL Women`s concerns at any time, under any circumstances.
The young woman sat silently, contemplating this information, and then quietly and with great dignity, walked away. Her unanswered request for help, haunts us still. We do not know what happened to her, or whether she even survived if she had returned to Afghanistan.
Women and Children Gain Protection under the Allies
During the twenty years that the Allies remained in Afghanistan, from 2001 to August 31, 2021, the country, as well as women and children, flourished. The troops and the Allied countries established schools, roads, bridges, irrigation systems, dam repairs, and tried to encourage a democratic form of government in the country.
This effort came to an end in April 2021 when U.S. President, Joe Biden, announced that the U.S. would be withdrawing from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021. The withdrawal was a chaotic nightmare, leaving thousands of Western citizens and Afghan supporters behind to the mercy of the Taliban.
Taliban Insists They Have Changed
The Taliban now want the world to believe that they have changed, claiming that they would allow women to hold junior roles in society if it was in accordance with Sharia law. This claim has been met with skepticism, based on the fact that the Taliban are presently in the course of hunting down 67 female members of the former Afghan Parliament; removing female journalists and news broadcasters from employment, and tracking down female judges who are in hiding. In addition, women have been instructed by the Taliban to remain at home, for their own ‘safety’.
The reason the Taliban insist that they have changed is that they are desperately in need of the foreign humanitarian aid that had previously poured into the country under Allied protection. In fact, international donors had provided 75% of Afghanistan’s budget over the previous twenty years. Further, the Afghanistan economy is dependent on the opium trade, which the Taliban claim requires international assistance to help Afghanistan farmers switch to alternative crops. Past attempts to ban poppy cultivation, the source of heroin, has faced violent opposition and is unlikely to be stopped any time soon. The economic problems of the Taliban, have also been exacerbated by the fact that the U. S. has frozen $9 billion of Afghanistan`s bank reserves. This raises a moral question – to send desperately needed humanitarian aid to Afghanistan also encourages and supports the Taliban. What is the West to do?
Canada`s Previous Contributions to Afghanistan
Canada provided military support to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Our soldiers (158 of whom lost their lives in Afghanistan), served with utter professionalism, both competently and courageously.
Also, since 2001, Canada pumped $3.6 billion into Afghanistan to help stabilize the country.
Trudeau had Different Objectives
Justin Trudeau appears to have little interest in stabilizing Afghanistan. Rather, he thought that what Afghan women really needed was to be educated on feminism. As a result, in the period between 2014 and 2020, Afghanistan was the top destination for Canadian aid dollars. During this period, Canada provided $966 million to Afghanistan, to focus on feminist issues only – such as gender equality and empowerment of women.
Global Affairs Canada reported a review of the policy on its website in December 2020 which concluded that Canada’s attempt to provide gender equality in Afghanistan had caused problems, since it had not taken into consideration the culture and Islamic traditions of the country.
Canada’s Failures in Withdrawing from Afghanistan
Canada had four and a half months’ notice, from April 2021 to August 31st, that the U.S. under President Biden’s direction would be withdrawing from Afghanistan. Canada did nothing about this until Afghanistan was on the brink of collapse. On July 29, 2021, Canada announced its “plan” to evacuate Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and individuals and their families, who had worked with Canadians, including interpreters, suppliers, contractors, drivers, cleaners, etc. before the Taliban took over.
Canada’s bungled plan was the worst among all the allies. Other countries flew helicopters into Kabul to rescue its citizens and supporters and to fly them directly to the tarmac apron at Kabul’s airport where the planes were waiting. Canada insisted that all the individuals for which it was responsible must make their own way to the airport, dress in red to identify them as Canadians, and hope for the best. Those who did so were turned away by the armed and hostile Taliban at the airport gates. These unfortunate individuals were then forced to retrace their steps (serving as sniper targets in their red apparel) and return to their homes. Estonia, Portugal and Ukrainian military officials had offered to partner with Ottawa to make the rescue possible by helicopter, but this never happened. No explanation was provided.
In addition, Ottawa had given applicants getting out of Afghanistan only seventy-two hours (later extended) to assemble all the necessary documents for evacuation. This required them to fill out paperwork in English (not the first language for many), and to find an internet connection, plus access to a computer to forward the documents to Ottawa – an impossible task in the chaos. Other countries had the sense to get the evacuees first out of the country to a safe third country such as Germany, and then carry out the documentation there.
As a result of Canada’s incompetence, it left behind in Afghanistan 1,250 Canadian citizens and permanent residents, as well as thousands of Afghans, who had helped the Canadian military and Canadian NGOs over the years. Incidentally, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan departed on July 16th because of stress, to safety in Ottawa, around all the turmoil of the evacuation, and left behind few embassy staff to process the thousands of Afghans clamouring for help.
Trudeau appears oblivious to the disaster his government had wrought. On August 27th, he stated, “our priority has been from the very beginning, and will always be, getting Canadians to safety … there are thousands of Afghans to whom we owe a duty of care, and we are doing tremendous things to get them to safety as well”. This statement, as usual, did not bear any resemblance to the factual situation.
Canada’s bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan is humiliating. Canada’s incompetence abandoned thousands of individuals, who deserve far better treatment from us for their support of our military and our country. Instead, Trudeau blithely continued with his election campaign, which is all about him getting a majority in Parliament, with no concern for the innocent lives of others whom we have failed.