Cheryl Benard’s statements, particularly those in her recent article in The National Interest titled “Afghan Refugees Should Not Fear Repatriation,” are provoking a wave of discussions and protests from Afghan women’s rights activists, human rights organizations, and members of the Afghan diaspora, but especially from those who are fighting with all their might against a regime that is depriving the entire Afghanistan of its present and its future.
Benard, an expert scholar in international affairs, has downplayed the Taliban’s repression, questioning the severity of the restrictions imposed on women under the Taliban regime and suggesting that some news reported by the media is exaggerated. She argued that Afghan refugees in the US “should not fear repatriation,” suggesting that “Afghanistan is safe for their return and that reports of women’s oppression are “overblown and cherry-picked” and defended her views by stating they are based on personal observations during a recent trip to Kabul, where she saw women working and moving freely.
I would hope that Benard’s words, the wife of an experienced diplomat like Khalilzad, have been somehow misunderstood, perhaps she did not express herself well or there was a transcription error. Otherwise, I cannot explain why a woman in her position did not use her opportunity to highlight the drama unfolding in the country since the Taliban returned to power. To argue that the Taliban promotes the well-being of Afghan women means being complicit with that regime which, with violence, has deprived them of fundamental rights and continues to subject them to all kinds of deprivations. The words we use are important, especially when talking about delicate contexts with blatant human rights violations.
Her statements in fact contradict the conclusions of reports by the United Nations Special Rapporteur, UNAMA, Amnesty International, and the direct testimonies of Afghan women living under Taliban rule. Afghanistan has become for many an open-air prison, where no right is guaranteed or protected. For women, the drama is even more unbearable; they suffer systematic discrimination that is impossible to accept and justify.
Certainly, the thousands of people who are currently undergoing forced repatriation and who risk falling into the hands of those they fled from do not feel safe either. Journalists, lawyers, judges, all those who served the state in the previous government, students, professors, are all at risk.
Denials and justifications such as those presented by Sheryl Benard dangerously undermine international efforts to hold the Taliban accountable and provide support to Afghan women fighting for their rights.
Maria Noori, founder of the Afghanistan Women’s Light of Freedom movement and a direct witness to Taliban repression, who now lives in exile, told The Media Line that she found Benard’s article “not only deeply offensive but also seriously misleading,” as it ignores the experiences of millions of Afghan women who have suffered under a regime that has “systematically erased women from public life, denying us education, work, and freedom of movement.”
According to journalist Khalil Alshawwa, a correspondent from London, “Cheryl Benard’s article offers a misleading picture of the real condition of Afghan women under the Taliban regime, despite women being excluded from schools, work, and public life. It suggests that it is safe for refugees to return. Saying that things are improving hides the truth and contributes to covering up the daily abuses that women suffer.”
Dozens of Afghan women’s rights and civil society organizations have formally asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation into Benard, accusing her of misrepresenting the Taliban’s crimes and contributing to “whitewashing” an oppressive regime. As the wife of Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US Special Envoy for Peace in Afghanistan and a rather divisive key figure in the peace process with the Taliban, her views are perceived by many as part of a political effort to justify the US approach towards the Taliban regime.
I believe it is our duty to raise our voices to support the daily struggle of Afghan women and men who are fighting for a free country that guarantees the rights of everyone.
