The Plight of Women in Afghanistan
Consistently ranked as one of the worst places in the world to be a woman, women in Afghanistan have been left to suffer alone. So much so, that international institutions are moving to legitimize engagement with the Taliban, and turn a blind eye to the growing erasure of Afghan women in public society. As time goes on, things only get worse for these women. More rights are rolled back and more restrictions are put in place. None of this seems to stop international institutions, such as the European Union, from engaging with the Taliban, sending a stark message: women’s rights can be overlooked.
[As of 10 July 2026]
From the very beginning, the subordination of women and girls in Afghanistan was not simply social - the Taliban ensured that this would be systemic and fully engrained in the institutional framework of the country. Women and girls are being fundamentally erased from society and will eventually have no say in any part of the country. The space for women is shrinking, and a generation of girls who have never known freedoms are growing. Gender apartheid can and will lead a country to fail, and the international community is hardly decrying this. More recently, they are looking to legitimize the very body that is carrying out the worst forms of gender restrictions in the world.
Education is a tool, and often a weapon, so it makes sense that the Taliban has tackled this so fervently with restrictions on when education ends for girls. Girls in Afghanistan are prohibited from all levels of education after primary school. This means they cannot pursue secondary education or attend university. Without this education, employment is impacted, and this is not unintentional. This means girls won’t be able to study to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, and more. Women who have been in these fields are slowly being eliminated. Once judges and business owners, these women are now forced to return to their homes and close their mouths. Their inputs, knowledge, advice, and guidance will be nonexistent. Women and girls hold no autonomy. They are not viewed as full human beings deserving of agency.
As the Taliban has shown no intention to slow down or stop their assault on the agency of women and girls in the country, the European Union has found that that is not enough of a reason to avoid engaging with them. Issuing statements of concern for the status of human rights appears to be as far as they’re willing to go, and this means diplomatic engagements can go on. The recent meeting in Brussels was to discuss readmission of Afghan nationals who fled to Europe, aiming to deport them back to Afghanistan. It appears this goes beyond disregarding the rights of women; this shows the increasing xenophobia and anti-immigrant attitudes of European decision-making bodies. They are not only willing to overlook the rampant erasure of women and girls within Afghanistan and engage with a draconian government, but they are also making the decision to send back those who fled for the reasons of that government. In no way is Afghanistan now safe for nationals to return to. There have been well-documented investigations and reports proving otherwise. Deporting people who fled, often because they opposed the Taliban, is to send them to their death.
International law forbids countries from “engaging in refoulement, the forced return to a place where someone would face a genuine risk of persecution, torture or other ill-treatment, or a threat to their life.” The European Union often commends itself as a beacon of human rights and has issued condemnation on the actions of the Taliban, yet the glaring contradiction shows that condemnation is often just strong words. There have been no formal consequences for the Taliban’s decisions and no one is stopping them from continuing.
In years to come, there will probably be actions by the international community. Tribunals will be set and there will be a big show of prosecuting Taliban officials in the Hague. The west will make inspiring movies on the takedown, likely highlighting that it wouldn’t have been able to happen without them. And Afghan women and girls will be left to pick up the pieces. One of the most devastating parts of all of this is the little hope there is. These are girls who have only known Afghanistan as being Taliban-led. Young boys are being raised to see this as normal and just. An entire generation is at stake. Let this statement show that we still see the women and girls in Afghanistan, no matter the efforts taken to erase them, and we will continue to stand with them. We will not turn a blind eye, and we will continue to condemn the institutions who normalize the subordination of women.
Additional sources:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/07/07/eu-shouldnt-cut-a-migration-deal-with-the-taliban
