Congress must echo administration's embrace of women’s and human rights in Afghanistan

This June, America’s campaign in Afghanistan became the longest war in U.S. History. This summer's total spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan hit the $1 trillion mark. American financial and human resources have been exhausted and emerging consensus from General Petraeus on down holds that there is no military solution in Afghanistan. The last of the combat troops left Iraq earlier this week, and as we look to election season, policy makers are under significant pressure at home to similarly deliver an Afghanistan exit strategy.  Proposed solutions have ranged from de facto separation between north and south to a power sharing agreement with the Taliban—grim proposals that would have significant impact on security, human rights and the overall stability of the society. Yet in our hurry to disengage, the voices of grassroots Afghans who make up that society and are voicing concern are increasingly overlooked. American policy makers must align themselves with Secretary Clinton’s insistence that these voices are heard—that women’s and human rights will be a redline for the U.S. in Afghanistan and will determine our support or not of whatever final arrangement is negotiated.

At this crucial time, it is imperative that American diplomatic and legislative efforts reinforce one another in a way that is consistent with internationally agreed human rights accords and international law ensuring the protection and the primacy of human and women’s rights. This is important not only to ensure that we honor our promises to the Afghan people, but also to the success of the overall mission in the difficult days ahead.  Secretary Clinton’s remarks in Kabul and the explicit endorsement of women’s and human rights in President Obama’s National Security Strategy constitute a laudatory and substantial break with the long foreign policy tradition that has largely considered these issues as “soft” or non-issues. Although the different branches of government can understandably be stove-piped in their efforts, the urgent situation in Afghanistan demands that the legislature must quickly fall in with this line of thinking if our goals for peace and security are to be achieved and our promises to protect and defend the rights of women are to ring true.

The case for this is well documented. The status of women is an indicator for the overall direction of society, serving as a valuable barometer for social unrest and instability. For instance, violence and extremism are often first visible when directed against women. Institutionalized violence under the Taliban regime was first directed against women when they gained power in 1996; the international community only began to pay attention to the group’s draconian rule when the violence manifested itself in other areas of the society and, ultimately, in the support of the Al Qaeda-sponsored terrorist attacks of September 11th.  World Bank data shows a strong correlation between gender parity and violence within a state, indicating that addressing women’s rights will directly improve security.  This year’s Global Peace Index found a strong correlation between a country’s GDP and its peace ranking as well as a country’s gender parity and its peacefulness. It is hence clear that what is happening to women in Afghanistan should be seen not as a marginal issue but as valuable intelligence about the efficacy of our efforts to achieve stability in the country. Tacit endorsement of violence against women through carte blanche reconciliation with Taliban leadership should be understood as a precursor to a violent and unstable Afghanistan that will remain a security threat to its people, the region and beyond.

It is incumbent upon policy makers to empower Secretary Clinton’s message to Afghans in its policy making.  Members of Congress must echo the Executive’s embrace of women’s and human rights.  They must make available sufficient resources and oversight to ensure an inclusive and just peace process, where women and minorities are represented, clear parameters are drawn around who is eligible for reconciliation, constitutional and human rights standards are sacrosanct and accountability measures are in place to ensure those parameters are respected. This is the only scenario in which the U.S. can conceivably withdraw in a manner that is consistent with past promises and enabling of future peace and prosperity so desperately needed in today’s Afghanistan.

Lyric Thompson is the senior policy analyst at Women for Women International, a global, grassroots women’s organization providing training and resources to help women survivors of war achieve their maximum level of self-sufficiency.