Women Rights in New Government

With the transition of power to the new government, the future of the country hinges on the election result and the new president. As the transition of power will happen soon in the country, there are several issues to be taken into account. Among the three leading candidates Ashraf Ghani, Abdullah Abullah and Zalmai Rassoul each promised a full support of women’s rights and implementation of laws that will protect women from domestic violence and harmful norms that remained unreported within the country. In addition, the fate of the U.S.-Security deal is dependent upon who will take the power after Karzai. Signing the bilateral security agreement will let a limited number of the U.S. troops stay in the country to cooperate with the national army of Afghanistan.  The presence of the foreign troops in the country will help ensure the international community’s further attention and further support for the country. More likely, the security deal will be signed by the next president as in some occasions both leading candidates declared their support on security deal with the U.S. For instance, Abdullah Abdullah stated that he will sign the security deal with the U.S. within the one month if he wins. If the U.S. and Afghanistan agreed upon the deal, it could positively support the further women’s rights protection and strengthen and the international community’s advisory role however the main consistent conflict between conservatives’ and progressive’s values/norms/beliefs will still be of substantial challenges in the country.

In the 2014, April presidential election, Habiba Sarabi, the former governor of the Bamiyan, was nominated as the second vice president pick for Zalmai Rassoul, a former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan who is by ethnic Pashtun. Sarabi is the only female candidate in Afghanistan’s third-ever presidential polls. Whether having a woman in the cabinet, mobilize the women and women’s rights activists to vote for Zalmai Rassoul is a question to be answered after the election’s result. However, including a woman in such a position shows the importance of women’s power in the country which implies that women’s choice and women’s rights are a matter for both the people and the candidates besides western partners. Nevertheless, according to an interview by Crisis Group, even when women had a choice to vote specially in the rural areas their vote was influenced, if not dictated, by the male relatives. Overall, post 2001, the participation of women as both political leaders and voters make huge steps forward toward improvement of women’s right’s situation in the country.  In recent presidential election, April 5, 2014, the women’s turn-out was unprecedented despite of the Taliban threats and serious risks. According to the National Electoral Commission of Afghanistan, women have made up 34% of the 60 percent turnout of 12 million eligible voters. Abdullah Abdullah, the leading candidate as of the time of writing, expresses his views on women’s engagement in the country’s development as follows: “if you want to see this country or any other country even being able to deal with the challenges and develop, it cannot happen without the role of half the population”. Afghan women had achieved considerable freedoms after the collapse of the Taliban and they would not give up their rights for anything even for the sake of the peace with the Taliban which was considered under the Karzai’s administration. 

Both Abdullah Abullah and Ashraf Ghani who have the chance of winning are moderated and western educated leaders who are supportive of women’s participation in public life. Considering the current situation of women’s rights in the country, there is a big tendency of improvement within the government and the society however it certainly is dependent on the effectiveness of the future governmental institutions and the overall security. Predominantly, whoever wins the vote will have to deal with problems those faced by Karzai including balancing women’s rights and conservatives’ values. More likely, if the process of transition of power happens in a peaceful way, the bilateral deal with the U.S. will be singed as well as both leading candidates such as Abullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, the leading candidates declared to support the bilateral security agreement. Thus, the country would have the support and attention of its western backers by then which is a relaxing sign for the women’s rights advocates. If the US and Afghanistan agreed upon the deal it could positively support the further women’s rights protection and further international community advisory role as well as financial support of the government in this sector however significant challenges including balancing between the conservatives and progressives remain for anyone who will be the next president.