The world cop and Afghan women
"I think that what has happened to the women and children of Afghanistan is atrocious. The first lady and I had an event at the White House to highlight that on Human Rights Day, including having two Afghan women there who talked to the press about what was going on ... it is one of the worst examples of human rights abuses in this world today."
Bill Clinton was talking tough in 1998 about the Taliban's brand of fundamentalist Islam. Information from the US State Department outlines the living conditions imposed on women since the Taliban gained control of most of Afghanistan in 1996.
The State Department lists these under the heading "The problem" in a fact sheet released by the senior coordinator, international women's issues, on March 10, 1998, two days after International Women's Day.
It details a misogynist regime that excludes women and girls from the education system, that forces them to shroud themselves in the burqua (a full body and face covering), that refuses women treatment at most of the country's hospitals, that prevents women from going out in public without a male relative, and that has forced even professional women — doctors, professors, translators, lawyers, artists and writers — out of work and back into the home.
The fact sheet's next heading is "United States response", where we find US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also talking tough: "The United States does not plan to extend diplomatic recognition to the Taliban ... We do not plan to recognise any government unless it is broad-based, representative of all Afghans and respects international norms of behaviour in human rights, including the human rights of women and girls."
Less than two years later, with no evidence of any change in the conditions of women and girls living under Taliban rule, Albright seems to have had a change of heart. The Islamic fundamentalists no longer need to smarten up their act in regard to human rights. All that is required for the Taliban to "be treated with any sense of regularity" is for them to expel Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, enabling him to be captured and "brought to trial" by the US for allegedly masterminding the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last year.
Albright made the offer to the Taliban's Abdul Hakeem Mujahid during his visit to the State Department in October. "We want to make clearer that we consider Osama bin Laden and his activities a threat to Americans", said Albright at a news conference on October 25.
So, in its quest to be seen to outsmart the "new Saddam Hussein", the US government's heartfelt concern about the lives of hundreds of thousands of women under Taliban control has evaporated. The greater concern is for a perceived threat from someone who it suspects, but cannot prove, may have been behind acts of terrorism.
Even presuming that bin Laden is guilty of acts against the US, the racism and sexism underlying the US government's change of heart is breathtaking. Afghani lives (in particular of women) seem more than a peg or two down the scale on the Clinton-Albright human rights priority list.
On October 15, the US (via the UN Security Council) issued a threat to institute sanctions against Afghanistan, effective from November 14, if the Taliban do not hand over bin Laden. The sanctions would include a ban on flights into or out of Afghanistan. Even the UN aid organisation UNICEF is appalled at these measures. Explaining that sanctions would affect the general population rather than just the Taliban, a UNICEF official said, "The sanctions are like waging a war against those who are poor and vulnerable. They will achieve nothing and will cost lives."
Once again the US "democratic" government is demonstrating that its position as world cop extends only to its own interests, and falls far short of defending those of the vast majority of the world's population, in particular, in this case, the women suffering in Afghanistan.
By Margaret Allum