August 15 marks four years since the world watched as the Taliban swept back into Kabul and reclaimed power in Afghanistan. The U.S. withdrawal marked the end of a twenty-year chapter, but for Afghan women and girls, it began an era of relentless rollbacks that has touched every part of their lives. What began as shock in August 2021 has hardened into a harsh reality, one where classrooms stay locked, jobs disappear overnight, and even speaking in public can carry consequences. Many are tired and scared of their new reality, yet they continue to hold on to the hope that this will not be their forever.
The bans have been sweeping: establishing over 150 edicts, shutting girls out of secondary school and universities, prohibiting women from working in most sectors, including NGOs that once relied on them to reach other women, and closing off public spaces from parks and gyms to libraries and beauty salons. The result is an intentional sense of invisibility that has left 78 percent of young Afghan women out of education, employment, or training, with little hope of reentering public life. The loss is also economic, stripping the country of the skills, labor, and leadership of half its population, and deepening a humanitarian crisis already amplified by sanctions, poverty, and climate shocks.
The cumulative effect is not just the denial of individual freedoms, it is the intentional construction of a society where women are absent from every sphere of public life. In 2020, women held over 25 percent of seats in Parliament; today, they hold none. Where once a woman could run for president, she can no longer speak in public without fear of punishment.
The toll on health is equally severe. Restrictions on education have cut off one of the last pipelines for female doctors and midwives. In regions where women cannot be treated by men, healthcare is increasingly out of reach. Humanitarian agencies warn that maternal mortality could rise by more than 50 percent by 2026. Early and forced marriage is on the rise, often used by families as a survival strategy. Inside homes, many women report having no voice in even the smallest decisions, underscoring how this exclusion reaches into the most private spaces.
Afghan Women Continue to Resist
Despite having their wings clipped, Afghan women continue to resist in ways the world rarely sees, running small businesses, gathering in secret to teach girls, risking arrest to deliver humanitarian aid. But their work is taking place under conditions that are harsher than at any point in the last two decades, while the international response remains inconsistent. As the world and our current U.S. administration begin diplomatic engagement with the Taliban, the priority has mainly been security or economic access over human rights, signaling that the world is willing to negotiate away the freedoms of Afghan women.
Allowing this erasure to stand sets a dangerous precedent beyond Afghanistan’s borders. If the rights of Afghan women and girls can be stripped away without consequence, it tells authoritarian actors everywhere that women’s rights are negotiable, which is a signal that the international community should confront rather than overlook. Supporting Afghan women means more than commemorating their struggle on anniversaries, it requires sustained funding for women-led organizations, advocating for the codification of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, making gender equality a non-negotiable condition in any engagement with the Taliban, and integrating women’s rights into every humanitarian and development response.
“Silence is not an option”
Four years on, it is not enough to mourn what has been lost. We must also make space for Afghan women to tell their stories, share their struggles, and define their own futures. Their voices, those still inside the country and those in exile, are essential to shaping strategies that reflect their realities.
To “stand with” Afghan women cannot be a slogan reserved for anniversaries. It must mean amplifying their calls for action, ensuring they are present at every table where Afghanistan’s future is discussed, and refusing to let their erasure become the status quo.
Four years on, the danger is not only in what has been lost, but in how quickly the world can turn a blind eye. That is why it is essential to make space for Afghan women’s voices, to hear their stories, share their struggles, and follow their lead in shaping the fight for their future. To “stand with” Afghan women cannot be a slogan reserved for Instagram posts and anniversaries. It must mean amplifying their calls for action, ensuring they are present at every table where Afghanistan’s future is discussed, and refusing to let their erasure become the norm.
Silence is not an option as one Afghan woman told us recently, and solidarity cannot just be symbolic. Afghan women are still fighting, and we must fight alongside them, until their rights are restored, their freedoms are reclaimed, and their futures are their own.
