July 2024
In its 211th book, “The Status of Women in Afghanistan from the Era of Amanullah Khan to the Taliban,” published July 2024, the Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center examines the roles of women in Afghan society, politics, and education. It covers the period from King Amanullah Khan’s rule (1919-1929) and the “Republic of Afghanistan” era (1973-1992), through the first Taliban rule beginning in 1996, the early 2000s marked by the American war on terror, and up to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
The book begins with American researcher and academic Maxine Margolis, who analyzes the significant influence of the “Pashtunwali” law—a tribal custom governing life in Pashtun regions—on the lives of Afghan girls and women.
This law predates Islam and includes customs that take precedence over Sharia. The tribal rigidity under Pashtunwali affects women’s education, marriage, public interaction between men and women, women’s mobility, veiling, and concepts of shame and honor. These practices stem from tribal ideology rather than Islam and have intensified with the rise of extremism in Afghanistan.
To deepen this analysis, researcher Sayed Mahdi Mosawi studies the concepts of honor, local values, and laws, and their effects on both women and men. He examines cases of honor-related violence during Afghanistan’s post-conflict period, highlighting the pressures Afghan men face from tribal traditions in everyday urban life.
In the early twentieth century, social, political, and judicial reforms began during Amanullah Khan’s reign. Afghan researcher Bibi Fatima Hekmat explores these reforms through a historical lens, emphasizing their origins and the social factors contributing to their breakdown, particularly regarding women’s rights, which were seen as in opposition to traditional tribal structures and customs.
Following this failed modernization attempt, the communist era under the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan banned traditional practices deemed feudal, such as dowry and forced marriage. Lebanese academic Afif Othman notes the government’s focus on educating boys and girls through extensive literacy programs, but these efforts faced resistance in rural areas that viewed them as threats to Afghan culture and customs.
Both the monarchical era (1926-1973) and the republic witnessed growing awareness of women’s rights. Jordanian researcher Nadia Saadeddin traces this progression and highlights women’s resistance to Taliban extremism during its first period of rule. She examines the “temporary breakthrough” following the Taliban’s fall and the transitional Afghan government’s efforts to lift restrictions on women. This revival of women’s activism seeks to restore civil, social, and political rights suppressed by the Taliban. Saadeddin also identifies key women’s associations throughout these periods and discusses the activities of Afghan and human rights activists after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
Afghan activist and researcher Khojasta Sameyee investigates the historical, social, and religious contexts of girls’ education in Afghanistan. She highlights the complex interplay between political power, society, religion, customs, and traditions. Sameyee notes a strong social trend opposing girls’ education but emphasizes the importance of education in enabling Afghan women, especially in Kabul, to attain roles in civil, political, and military administration before the Taliban’s second return, which revoked these rights and barred girls from education.
The Taliban justify this ban by citing religious positions, as explained by researcher Farhana Qazi, who critiques Sunni educational institutions for largely dismissing women’s rights.
Afghan researcher Noor Al-Huda Farzam explores Afghanistan’s sectarian diversity and its impact on women’s rights, arguing that the Taliban’s 2021 ban on girls’ education has causes unrelated to religion.
Tunisian academic Amal Qarami offers a different perspective, contending that there is a moderate faction within the Taliban which breaks from the group’s more extremist views. Qarami utilizes postcolonial feminist theory to analyze Afghan women’s attitudes toward the Taliban.
Egyptian researcher Tuqa al-Naggar studies the waves of women’s movements in Afghanistan and their key figures. She documents the Taliban’s violations of women’s rights, including restrictions on education, work, and mobility. Al-Naggar focuses on Afghan women activists’ roles in resisting the Taliban and their strategies to confront its restrictions after the movement’s second return.
In conclusion, we thank the contributing researchers and those who facilitated the publication of this book, especially our colleague Rita Faraj, who coordinated the project. We hope this work fills a gap in the Arab academic library.
Editor-in-Chief
Omar Al-Bashir Al-Turabi
July 2024
