Women, Afghanistan, and the Taliban

This past weekend, the New York Times ran a disturbing article entitled Afghan Women Fear Loss of Modest Gains. (I'll link at the bottom; I've become an acolyte of The Shallows, but more on that later.) During the 90s, I used to joke with the males in my family that if I'd been born in a place like Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, I'd have been stoned to death for being, well, an outspoken, independent female. I couldn't imagine being restricted in my movements, forbidden from venturing outside without a male family member. Not being able to work or go to school or take a bus alone, whenever I felt like it. But these are just a few of the depredations millions of Afghani women endured as they were forced into the shadows by the Taliban's peculiar view of Islam.

But while these women were shrouded into burkas and forgotten by the world—many of them alone, without men to protect them—somehow they survived. In an eye-opening and inspiring new book, former ABC journalist and producer Gayle Tzemach Lemmon introduces us to one of these Afghani women, a girl barely out of her teens named Kamela Sediqi who created a dressmaking business that kept her family alive, and helped support a number of others like herself. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana details how Kamela devised the idea for her home-grown business and the risks she took to make it work. Yet Kamela wasn't alone; the Taliban of course allowed women doctors—they had to since a woman cannot be touched by a non-familial male—and others to "earn a living." But only in the shadows, behind the locked doors of their homes. And one wrong move could have spelled disaster.

As we debate the pros and cons of our involvement in Afghanistan and the costs of the war, Kamela's story is a reminder of what's at stake beyond our own designs. It reveals the essential contribution millions of women—mothers, sisters, daughters just like us—offer their nation and its future; the strength and motivation, courage and audacity to create, to build, to believe. Hillary Clinton has promised we won't abandon these women again. But history is not on these women's side. Next time you wonder why we are in Afghanistan, think about Kamela and her sisters. Think about yourself and the young women you know. There are no easy answers, but as The Dressmaker of Khair Khana shows, the stakes are very, very real. Sure, these women can survive once again. But don't they deserve better from their own nation—and from us?

Watch the headlines now, and look for The Dressmaker of Khair Khana in March 2011. You won't look at Afghanistan in the same way again.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

Afghan Women Fear Loss of Modest Gains, NYTimes July 30, 2010