Life as a Woman in Afghanistan 10 Years After the US Invasion

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon about how women in Afghanistan have fared in the 10 years since the US invasion of that country, and how they’ll likely fair once US troops pull out completely in 2014.

Tzemach Lemmon has written about the lives of Afghan women both under Taliban rule, and post-Taliban rule.

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Marco Werman: The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was notorious for its repression of women. Since the US-lead invasion 10 years ago the restoration of women’s rights have been a key goal in Afghanistan. It’s also seen as key to whether a viable democracy will be able to take hold there. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon has written about the lives of Afghanistan’s women both before and after Taliban rule. Her book, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana tells the story of one woman who not only manages to survive under the Taliban, she also manages to create a business for herself and other women. The author says that for women under the Taliban the main imperative was survival.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: When I started interviewing women who worked during the Taliban years what I saw over and over again was that these women had decided that their families were either going to eat or not going to eat, and that it was up to them to find a way to support them. And so you had women who were selling fruits and vegetables from their house, women who were making burkas, women who were actually teaching other women Microsoft Office in a women’s hospital, women who staffed up because they absolutely knew their families would not be supported otherwise.

Werman: What about the women you focused on in your book, the Dressmaker of Khair Khana, what was life like for them and what’s changed post 2001?

Lemmon: I first met Kamila Sidiqi who’s the protagonist of The Dressmaker in 2005 when I was there writing a Financial Times piece. And I asked her about this new business she was starting and I said so how did you decide to go into business? She said oh, well, actually this is my third business; the first one I started under the Taliban and it was an enormous success and that was actually what made me an entrepreneur. And that was for me as a reporter, I’m sure you understand this, a real Eureka moment because…

Werman: Right, it’s surprising to hear that.

Lemmon: Absolutely, because we are so used to seeing women as victims of war to be pitied, that we almost overlook stories about how they make the absolute difference when it comes to survival during incredibly difficult times. And here were girls who had managed to become breadwinners during years when they were banned from their own streets. And I think in the end you see in the story of The Dressmaker, there were women all around Kamila’s neighborhood who were desperate for work, who would just knock on the door and say my sister’s cousin’s friend tells me you have a job, can you please give me work? Because the economic story of the Taliban is one people often forget, that people could not feed their families. And so a business like this, the dressmaking business, really constituted the difference between survival and starvation for a lot of families.

Werman: 10 years ago women’s rights was something the US was pushing as being very crucial to the future of Afghanistan, people like Hillary Clinton said that treating women better in Afghanistan would be a harbinger of a more peaceful, prosperous and democratic future for that country. Has the promise of focusing on women’s rights been made good on?

Lemmon: Women themselves I think have been making good on that promise, but the international community which spoke a great deal about women’s rights on the way in is fairly quiet about it now, particularly in the US. And Hillary Clinton is doing a great deal to try to keep the issue on the agenda in terms of bringing it up often, and she has promised women that they will not be abandoned. But what is going to happen come 2014 I think remains a very open question. And I do think it’s very interesting that women were talked about a great deal at the start and almost no one wants to talk about them now that they’re trying to finish the war.

Werman: Is it simply because there’s a war and a deadline that women’s rights are no longer a priority?

Lemmon: Absolutely, I think that the domestic constituencies and the fact that this war has now become America’s longest ever means that this administration wants an end to the war. And I think women have become secondary, and so what you see now is women leaders, women community activists saying come on, we want to be heard. And I think you see women and I interview them all the time who say we are not collateral damage, we are contributors.

Werman: Right, now the pressure is mounting for the US to get out of Afghanistan and there’s more and more talk that any political solution there will involve the Taliban. What does all this mean for whatever progress has been made for women’s rights in the last decade?

Lemmon: It is an open question. Whatever happens the Taliban era that I talk about in the book is an example of this, women will find a way. Women will not be silent I think in whatever comes next. But will the international community support their effort to make a country that’s more stable, because countries are more stable when women have a role, and a voice and a seat at the table. And so the question is will whatever comes next in Afghanistan include a Taliban agreement to respect the Afghan constitution that does give women opportunity to go to work and go to school, which is what women are asking for. And I do not know the answer to that and I do not think that anybody in the international community can give you a good answer as to how serious they are about really holding sacred that idea that women must be a part of their own country. And it’s really amazing when you think that women are both half the population and relegated to a special interest group when it comes to having a say in their own nation.

Werman: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is the author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe. She’s also deputy director of the Council on Foreign Relations, Women and Foreign Policy Program. Gayle, thanks very much for speaking with us.

Lemmon: Thank you for having me.

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