A young woman who reached out to me from Afghanistan used to embody the promise of its young people. She was a women’s rights activist who competed nationally in karate competitions, paving the way for her daughters and so many other young girls. For years, she had proudly owned and operated a karate club in Western Afghanistan.
Today, the Taliban are hunting her as they severely restrict the rights of women across the country.
“Now, the Taliban do not allow me to play sports,” she told me. “They do not allow me to work, and they threaten me because of my prior speeches. I am threatened every day. They want to either kill me or marry me and they intend to rape me.”
That frightened young woman embodies America’s foreign policy of betrayal, as she and other women are left to fight off a brutal and repressive regime that came to power in August of 2021.
Back in 2001, then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) talked about “empowering women with the freedom to choose their own future,” so that Afghanistan can “become a symbol for people elsewhere.” Now, Afghans like the young woman above and others are seemingly forgotten.
As we near the second anniversary of the withdrawal, the U.S. needs a strong and stern reminder that it has special moral culpability and responsibility towards the Afghan people that it has, so far, failed to protect. It’s past time for the U.S. to take stock of its complicity in creating the current crisis.
First, Congress needs to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that would give a pathway to permanent legal status for almost 100,000 newly arrived Afghans who have restarted their lives in the U.S. They continue to live in legal limbo, retaining temporary status, all while they and their children have meshed into communities in nearly all 50 states plus the nation’s capital. Congress would follow historical precedent in doing so, but most importantly, it’s especially cruel for lawmakers to force Afghans and their families to face a daunting, backlogged and traumatic asylum process.
Second, the U.S. needs to recommit and increase humanitarian aid assistance as well as efforts to ensure Afghanistan’s economy can function. Donor countries have committed the least amount of aid in almost two decades, just as Afghans are suffering the most and millions face famine in parts of the country. Both the U.S. and the United Kingdom cut aid to Afghans by more than 70 percent this year.
The continued freezing of Afghanistan’s assets, the lack of utilization of the so-called “Afghan Fund,” as well as brutal sanctions against the regime disproportionately affect female-led households and ensure Afghans don’t have the money to buy the food that is awaiting them at the local market. Americans should ask themselves if they want to contribute to punishing ordinary Afghan civilians.
Third, Congress and the administration need to work together to ensure at-risk Afghans like the young woman mentioned above and her two young daughters can find refuge and a new life in America. They would be welcomed with dignity by decent Americans and a deeply committed Afghan-American community, ensuring a prosperous and hopeful future for her and her family. They, however, face closed legal pathways to be able to reach safety here.
For 20 years, this country waged war in Afghanistan, at the cost of almost 200,000 Afghan lives, only to see the Taliban return to power. The U.S. must come to terms with its responsibility for the harm it caused in Afghanistan and pursue reparative policies that allow Afghans a chance at a dignified life.
Many elected officials and policymakers in Washington, D.C., have moved on and forgotten about Afghanistan. Countless Afghan Americans like myself, however, are committed to it for the long haul and attempting to build resilient and thriving communities of new Afghan arrivals. To make that happen, though, Congress and the Biden administration must step up. It’s the least Afghans are owed.
To fail to do so will be a stain on America’s character — and an added deep, senseless betrayal of the Afghan people.
Arash Azizzada is the co-founder and co-director of Afghans for a Better Tomorrow.