The Russian invasion of Ukraine is pretty much soaking up all the air in the room when it comes to news coverage. Once in a while another story might break through briefly, if, for example, an Oscar-winning actor smacks a comedian on live-TV for insulting his wife, but the ramifications of war and peace have, and ought to, take precedence over just about everything else.
Of course as I and other skeptics of the current president have pointed out, this war may not have begun in the first place had President Biden not made the boneheaded decision to abandon Afghanistan, and project weakness across the globe to the world’s worst actors (Putin being at or near the top of the list.)
Many of us who opposed Biden‘s pullout had grave concerns, among them: that Afghanistan would once again become a haven for terrorists, that our own abandoned military equipment might be used against us and our allies, that those who had stood with us in Afghanistan would be retaliated against, and that women and girls, who had seen considerable gains over the last 20 years, would see those gains forfeited.
Biden reassured us that he had all this covered, especially the concerns of Afghan women. Well, it turns out his reassurances to those women were just as shallow as many of the other promises this administration has made since taking office. A few examples.
The Biden administration had been assured by the Taliban that Afghan girls would be allowed to attend schools, from grade school through high school through college. However, last week, when the school year began in Afghanistan, the Taliban refused to allow girls above the sixth grade to attend school. Girls across the country who tried to attend school were turned away.
Biden’s special representative to Afghanistan, Thomas West, expressed his “shock and disappointment” and “urged the Taliban to live up to their commitment,” but big deal. That’s what happens when, against the advice of just about anyone with any common sense, you abandon the sheep to the wolves. And that’s what Joe Biden did in Afghanistan.
Last month, the Taliban banned Afghan women from traveling without a male guardian.
Another story about women in Afghanistan that broke last week, was the Taliban‘s refusal to allow dozens of Afghan women to board airline flights, because they were not accompanied by “a male guardian.” Once again, the Biden administration had bought the lip service they’d been given by the Taliban, and Afghan women were the ones to suffer. Special Rep West feebly weighed in on this one too – we’ll see where that gets us.
And beyond this, the reprisal killings by the Taliban against former government officials, police officers, military personnel, etc. continues unabated. The Biden administration was warned this would happen. They apparently didn’t care.
Yes, the 44 million people who either live in or were forced to flee from Ukraine ought to be the focus of attention right now. But we must never forget the 40 million people who either live in or were forced to flee from Afghanistan. Especially the women and girls.