Obama abandons abused women in Afghanistan

By Warner Todd Huston

President Barack Obama is putting the finishing touches on making a mockery out of the unsupportable claim that Democrats care about women's rights by his signal to the Afghan Taliban, warlords, strongmen, militias, and tribal leaders that he's ready to negotiate with anyone there in order to smooth his efforts in that troubled region.

President Obama is letting it be known that he's prepared to cut deals with the Taliban in order for Afghan warlords to cut ties with al Qaeda. Obama thinks he can work with the supposedly "moderate" Taliban groups in Afghanistan in a bid to oust al Qaeda. A Taliban moderate. What sort of mythical creature is this?

One thing is sure, however, if Obama turns Afghanistan back over to the Taliban and other Islamic warlords in an effort to make it appear as if he's had success there, women will be the hardest hit. The possibility that Obama will abandon Afghanistan's women frightens Wazhma Frogh, an Afghan women's advocate who received the U.S. State Department's 2009 International Woman of Courage Award.

As an Afghan woman who for many years lived a life deprived of the most basic human rights, I find unbearable the thought of what will happen to the women of my country if it once again falls under the control of the insurgents and militants who now threaten it.

Since the American efforts in Afghanistan began women have been most favorably affected. Human rights for women have advanced immeasurably there since 2001 but much, much more needs to be done. After all, centuries of abuse and entrenched attitudes that women are barely even human have to be overcome. That doesn't happen in so short a time unless support for change is upheld and if the U.S. leaves Afghanistan all support for change will go with it.

The world community has focused on women's rights in Afghanistan since 2001, but that focus will dim and disappear if the west is no longer heavily engaged there. As Frogh said in the Washington Post, if the west disengages in Afghanistan and allows militant, extremist groups like the Taliban to take over once again, it will "raise questions about the commitment of Western democracies to such rights and to democratic values."

It won't take long for women to be negatively affected by a return to the Taliban's control.

Bearing in mind how fragile the Afghan government is at this moment, it will not take long for the country's women to come under attack again. The consequences will be even more bitter this time because no matter how limited our success, we have at least managed to act in the forefront of public life in Afghanistan. We have had a taste of what it's like to have rights.

This is what Obama is sentencing Afghani women to. Second class (or worse) status, beatings, forced use of the burka, continued genital mutilation, rape, and abuse is what the future once again holds for Afghan women if Obama has his way.

And what will Obama get out of it? An easier political situation with his own extremist political supporters in the U.S. and little else. Obama is willing to throw away the progress that women have made in Afghanistan and any possibility that such progress will continue to grow for a little political success in America. What could be more disgusting? And what could better prove the lie to Obama's pretense that he and his party much care about women's rights?

© Warner Todd Huston