On War & Women: Operation Enduring Freedom's Impact on the Lives of Afghan Women

By Dr. Sharmon Monagan

On September 11, 2001, the US saw one of it’s greatest tragedies in history. The fall of the twin towers seemed to split time into two periods – the before and after - spurring the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom, the longest running war in US history.
As the justifications for war compounded, so did the list of groups who would benefit. Historically, women have been used as justification to enter into war, and Afghan women were no different. On paper, they became another reason for the occupation, as their life under the Taliban rule was something to be salvaged.
Now over a decade later, just how much of this goal has been recognizably achieved? On War & Women: Operation Enduring Freedom's Impact on the Lives of Afghan Women, is an academic research that seeks to examine the war’s impact of the on the lives of Afghan women, exploring several quality of life indicators to determine if the US military can cross this off as a triumph, or a wasted opportunity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365238932

Book preview

Chapter 1:

Introduction

We are traditional people. When we get a bad name, we prefer death to living with that name in society. I didn't want to ruin the life of my daughter or leave myself helpless so I agreed to marry him (Walsh, 2015).  This is the heartbreaking story of Gulnaz, a young Afghan women.  The man that she is referring to is not only her husband but he is also her rapist.  Afghan women are often outcast by their families for being raped.  It brings dishonor to the victim’s family.  Not only did Gulnaz face shame and being an outcast of her family and society, she faced going to prison if she did not marry her rapist.  In Afghanistan, women can be charged with adultery and imprisoned if they do not marry their rapist, as was the case for Gulnaz (Walsh, 2015). 

Rape is one of the most horrendous acts of violence that can be committed.  If your home is broken into, you can move.  You can install burglar bars.  You can purchase a gun, get a baseball bat, or a guard dog.  But what can be done when you do not feel safe within yourself?  America has it’s on terrible track record and rape culture. There are thousands of rape kits that have yet to be processed in every single state in this country.  Even still, it is inconceivable that a woman in this country would face prison for being raped and her only way to be restored into society is to marry her rapist.  This is unconscionable. 

The idea of imprisoning a rape victim was so reprehensible to the world, that Gulnaz’s case received international attention.  How could she be charged with the crime of adultery because she was raped by her cousin’s husband?  Due to the immense pressure from the international community, Gulnaz was given a presidential pardon by Hamid Karzai.  Despite this pardon, she still was not accepted by her family or society.

In Afghanistan, rape is not really considered a crime against the woman, rather it is a dishonor to her family.  Shame and honor play a tremendous role in collectivist cultures.  Family and tribe come before the well-being of individuals.  There is a strong sense of pride and family honor.  Shame plays a vital role in coercing adherence to rules, laws, and customs.  In this case, Gulnaz had to put her own feelings and well-being aside in order to restore her family’s honor and provide a life for her daughter.  Gulnaz felt that her only option for a meaningful life for her and her child was to marry her rapist. 

The statement by Gulnaz’s husband provides an example of how women are vulnerable to the views of men. During a CNN interview Gulnaz’s husband stated that he felt that he had made the situation right by marrying her and restoring her in the eyes of her family and society (Walsh, 2015).  Now she is beside me and knows that it (the rape) was not as big as they had shown it…If I hadn't married her, (but) according to our traditions, she couldn't have lived back in society…Her brothers didn't want to accept her back. Now, she doesn't have any of those problems (Walsh, 2015). Now, she doesn’t have any of those problems, except she has the problem of a daily reminder that she is married to her rapist. 

Gulnaz’s story of rape is only one of the critical issues that impact the lives of Afghan women.  Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world.  The World Bank lists the unemployment rate in 2014 as 9.1%. However, unemployment has peaked as high as40% in 2015 (Zhanmal, 2015).  There is a scarcity of housing, clean water, and electricity.  The major industries are agriculture and fishing.  Afghanistan is reported to have trillions of dollars in untapped natural resources including natural gas, petroleum, coal, and gold.  However, opium trafficking is one-fifth as large as the entire GDP (Nordland, 2014).  According to United States Institute of Peace, the Taliban has also profited from the cultivation and sales of opium that have allowed the funding of weapons and the Taliban’s resurgence (Peters, 2009). 

Afghanistan: Girls and Women (2007), recounts the story of 25-year-old Nasima that killed herself with a policeman’s gun, out of despair after suffering countless beatings and cruelty from her husband. She was traded away by her father the previous year to settle a debt with an opium dealer.  Afghanistan supplies ninety percent of the world’s opium (Afghanistan: Girls and Women, 2007).  Dealers pay farmers in advance for their poppy. When the farmers are unable to yield enough crops, they trade away their daughters to settle the debt.  These girls and women are often traded off to men that are at least twice their ages.  In many cases, the men already have other wives and families.  The new wife is often mistreated by the husband and his existing family.  In another example, 18-year-old Saliha, considers herself to be lucky, despite being traded off by her father for an opium debt when she was 12.  She feels grateful that her husband is only seven years older than her and she is his only wife (IRIN: Humaitarian News and Analysis, 2007).   

Another story that highlights the realities of life for Afghan women is that of 27 year-old religious studies student, Farkhunda.  On March 19, 2015, Farkhunda was beaten, pushed from a roof, run over by a car and set on fire before her body was thrown in the Kabul River after being accused of burning the Quran near a mosque (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, 2015). Her death was met with great public protest.  At her funeral, women rebelled against tradition and acted as pallbearers at her funeral.  Many of the protestors criticized the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani for his trip to the United States during this time of unrest.  Ghani’s administration pushed back against this sentiment arguing that the case was being investigated, and that thirteen civilians were arrested and thirteen of the police near the mosque at the center of this brutal crime were suspended for their lack of action to protect Farkhunda from the mob.  The people of Afghanistan were outraged by this case.  Both men and women protested against the government because the police stood by and watched Farkhunda be brutalized in this manner.  The fact that this could happen in front of the police was a sign that they sanctioned this behavior.  This was an affront to the protection that should be afforded to all citizens. 

Women in Afghanistan have suffered enough through years of violet internal conflict, foreign invasions, and the oppressive regime of the Taliban.  In addition to the existing conditions in Afghanistan, the women have had to live in a state of near constant internal and external war for decades.  These women, as is the case for women throughout the world, do not cause wars.  They have very little voice in the formal institutions that dictate when and how armed conflicts will unfold or the informal channels that manage rebuilding and peace.  Yet, women bear the brunt of the consequences associated with war. 

Over the past three decades, there has been a tremendous and troubling increase of civilians being targeted as a strategy of armed conflict.  Women, and by proximity, their children, have borne the consequences of war.  Women are often attacked as a war tactic because women normally bear the honor of a culture or society (Malone, 2006).  The sexual assaults and killing of women bring shame upon the men of that society.  During war there is an increase of sexual assaults, trafficking, forced labor, and the use of women and girls as to meet the sexual demands of armed forces. Women also suffer during war because they lack access to basic necessities such as shelter, food, clean water, and healthcare. Recent reports have even shown that peacekeepers sent to protect women are also culpable of victimizing vulnerable women in conflict zones, internally displaced women, and women refugees by means of transactional sex.  Peacekeepers have demanded sex from internally displaced or refugee women and