A Rare Bipartisan Show: Senate Women Call On Biden To Ensure Women’s Rights, Safety Protected After Afghanistan Withdrawal
Letter urges president to immediately appoint an ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues
One of the most demonstrable improvements in Afghanistan since the US invasion nearly 20 years ago has been the advancement in the status and treatment of women and girls.
From having virtually no civil rights during the rule of the Taliban, women and girls have steadily improved their position since their overthrow in 2002.
The position of women and girls have steadily improved to approach their status under Afghanistan's 1964 constitution. Girls, in particular, at least have more sporadic access to comprehensive education.
Now, with President Biden's announcement in April that all US forces would be withdrawn from Afghanistan for the first time since the invasion in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there's widespread concern that those gains be upheld in the absence of an American presence.
It's solidified enough as a political interest to attract the rare bipartisan scrutiny of women senators to write President Biden a letter urging him to “take immediate steps to ensure women’s rights and safety after the U.S. departure,” including the appointment of an ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues to serve as the “senior administration official responsible for coordinating all U.S. government efforts for the protection of women’s rights in Afghanistan.
“This is an urgent priority as our forces withdraw from the country and thereafter,” the senators wrote. “The Taliban rule that preceded U.S.intervention was marked by the violent repression of Afghan women and girls. Women were barred from working, attending school, and the basic freedom of movement.
"After twenty years of U.S. and NATO presence in Afghanistan, uneven but undeniable progress has been made in advancing rights for Afghan women and girls in society. There is work still to do, but our progress must not be reversed,” the senators concluded.
Sens Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) signed the letter.
The full letter can be downloaded here.