Taliban control puts Afghan women in even more vulnerable positions

A group of Afghani women wearing burkas. Image credit: USAID, Pixnio FACULTY Q&A The United States' hurried withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan after 20 years left many Afghans-especially women-and the civilian government vulnerable to the Taliban. Debotri Dhar , a lecturer in women's and gender studies and faculty affiliate at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, said women's rights had already been restricted in the country before the Taliban takeover, as a result of complex historical and political factors. The situation might worsen-the United States and other world powers bear some moral responsibility for it, she said. Dhar's research is interdisciplinary, in the areas of feminist and cultural theory, postcolonial and South Asian Studies, and transnational feminisms. With the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, are you worried about the situation for Afghan women? The world has been watching the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan with collective anxiety and apprehension. The last time the Taliban was in power, it was chilling to We are aware that schools were closed, and that education, employment and mobility for women were restricted under the Taliban, even though the effects of these restrictions may have been faced more by urban than by rural women.