Twenty years after they were initially ousted by the US invasion, the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Afghan women and their perspectives were systematically excluded from the US-Taliban peace process. After decades of serving as an international symbol of women’s oppression, the erasure of Afghan women from the exit process is evidence of the failure to create effective and equal transnational feminist networks (TFNs).
TFNs could have helped uplift Afghan women’s narratives about their exclusion from the US-Taliban peace process but that didn’t happen. If we are to ever build meaningful transnational solidarities and create a truly feminist foreign policy regarding Afghanistan, feminist activists, organizations, and policymakers from and beyond the US must acknowledge and address power disparities within TFNs.
To create a powerful resistance movement against the ongoing oppression of women by the Taliban we need to rethink the process of building effective transnational feminist networks.
Imperialism and Transnational Feminist Networks
Western feminist interest in the oppression of Afghan women under Taliban rule was only the most recent iteration of a long, vexed tradition of “global sisterhood.” As many scholars have shown, Western feminism has historically been complicit in colonial and imperialist projects and Western feminists often approached non-Western women as objects or victims to be rescued. Recognizing the limits of “global sisterhood,” “Third World” feminist organizations and actors have demanded awareness of the power differentials that ensue when women come together across national borders to address social, economic, and foreign policy issues.
While “transnational” has become the new framework for feminist organizing, imperialist hierarchies continue to reverberate in transnational feminist activism.
Afghan Women and US Feminists
In our moment, TFNs are important non-state actors due to their ability to mobilize resources and organize beyond the boundaries of nation-states. The transnational feminist apparatus, led by US and/or Western NGOs, was entangled in the military campaign conducted in Afghanistan as part of the global war on terror. Indeed, US-based feminist organizations, such as the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), became important actors in the leadup to the invasion of Afghanistan. Before 9/11, the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) led a campaign to call attention to the oppression of Afghan women known as “End Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan.” As part of this campaign, FMF focused on the image of Afghan women in burqas, reinforcing an “orientalist,” stereotypical image of the oppressed Afghan woman. At the same time, FMF was silent about the US’s history of intervention in Afghanistan and its contribution to the Taliban’s rise. In the months following 9/11, the FMF and other feminist groups collaborated with the US-led war machine by justifying “saving Afghan women.” Mainstream media picked up the simplified story of Afghan women’s oppression at the hands of the Taliban and inundated the public with it. Military and political intervention became seen as a legitimate means of promoting gender equality.
The FMF failed to oppose the cynical appropriation of feminist ideals by the Bush administration to justify its unjustifiable “war on terrorism.” The FMF was able to assimilate into state policy due to the alliance of its agenda with the latter’s liberal language of freedom, individual rights, and parity. By framing Afghan women’s situation as a struggle between “barbaric” Third World cultures and “civilized” Western ideals, the FMF justified imperialist interventions. The FMF’s sole focus on gender-based oppression elided the multiple forms of resistance engaged in by Afghan women. It also displaced a nuanced reading of the complex geopolitical history that led to the rise of the Taliban and an intersectional understanding of Afghan women’s lives.
In contrast to their active role during the invasion, TFNs were passive during the peace process in 2021. Despite repeated warnings from Afghan women about the impact that a deal with the Taliban would have on women, TFNs were notably silent.
Those who previously supported military intervention in Afghanistan failed to support Afghan women’s efforts during the US-Taliban peace negotiations.
Instead of building upon the expansive “advocacy programs” witnessed during the lead-up to the invasion, TFNs simply issued statements condemning the exclusion of women from the peace process. These actions did little to advance the concerns of Afghan women in shaping the country’s future. Afghan women criticized the silence of TFNs and the international community. For example, Malalai Habibi, in a poignant act during her BBC interview, symbolically sealed her lips to underscore that Afghan women’s requests for solidarity have tragically gone unanswered.
TFNs’ lack of meaningful engagement with the peace process paved the way for an easy US-Taliban deal, allowing the latter to regain power. Since the Taliban’s resurgence and their oppressive actions against women, Afghan women have called for international governments to refuse to recognize the Taliban. However, TFNs have failed to take up this demand and use their considerable resources to push for non-recognition as part of a commitment to a feminist foreign policy agenda. Instead, countries such as China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and Qatar have chosen to cooperate with the Taliban by giving them control of Afghanistan’s consulates, pointing to possible future formal recognition of the Taliban as a government.
Transnational Feminist Networks Can Advance Peace
TFNs can be an essential force in developing humane security policies and advancing social justice. A transnational feminist understanding of security aims to eliminate not only all forms of violence but also militarism’s ideology. Feminist scholars and advocates have developed alternate policies and transformative visions of security that consider the complicated histories of imperialism and its role in war-making, and the critical role of women in peacebuilding. For instance, the WILPF was one of a few Western feminist organizations that consistently challenged global hierarchies, beginning with an anti-imperial resolution in 1926. Diverse groups of women in situations of armed conflict later pursued their model. In recent years, organizations like Femena have emerged as prominent advocates for women’s rights in this complex geopolitical landscape—focusing on the unique challenges faced by women in the MENA region. Femena addresses the intersections of imperialism, militarism, and neo-colonialism while prioritizing Afghan women’s perspectives and resistance against the Taliban and imperialist power.
TFNs committed to peace and anti-militarism can engage in multi-level advocacy. They can mobilize pressure on local and national governments and international NGOs—working to address the root causes of militarization and women’s exclusion from peacebuilding. These networks must take on a more deliberate role in promoting foreign policies guided by feminist principles. Feminist foreign policy requires effective accountability mechanisms for governments and international bodies that have declared feminist foreign policies; without accountability, women’s rights will go unfulfilled.
To build solidarities that move beyond the traps of neo-imperialism a new communicative practice among women of diverse backgrounds must be developed. Afghan feminists, both in the diaspora and within. the new movements emerging in Afghanistan, desire spaces for dialogue and exchange with their feminist counterparts transnationally. In the current moment, Afghan feminists are organizing with limited possibilities and despite the Taliban’s harsh retaliation. To drive tangible change, TFNs, including organizations such as the FMF, must support Afghan women’s demands for non-recognition of the Taliban. TFNs can facilitate transnational platforms, such as conferences and advocacy meetings, for Afghan women to share their experiences and strategies for resisting the Taliban. Honest critique and renewed collaboration amongst transnational feminist networks is essential to preventing another military response and fostering long-lasting transnational movements.
