Ms. Basir Ahang must have been raised outside of Afghanistan. As a Westerner, I can relate to her view. Violence against women, which takes so many forms in Afghanistan, must end! Most Afghans even agree with us!
However, the approach must not come from the West, or from the minority of Afghans who agree with the international community.
If, as the above article reports, 87% of Afghan women have experienced physical violence in some way (forced marriage, physical/sexual harassment), and we assume that this violence was committed by the opposite gender, what have we learned about the men in this society? These acts are not committed by those on the margins of society. If the "Elimination of Violence Against Women Law" was enforced, as this author calls for, what will happen to quite conceivably the majority of men in the society?
And does this mean that the majority of Afghan men are "bad guys"? Decades of war has indeed caused psychological damage to both men and women, but should we really demonize the entire gender?
I believe that putting a stop to violence against women does not begin and end with changing the law or enforcing it. Instead, Afghans (not Afghans who have lived abroad and are back now that the Taliban are out of power) should have open discussions about these issues (and I hope that they will include women too). If they are making laws, let's start small. If they choose which acts are the most destructive, they can decide to change them a bit at a time.
Change will not come by demonizing the majority of men and telling them that they are incapable of making moral decisions. Let the men be the ones to influence change, to shame the men who deviate from these agreed upon mores.
We cannot expect Afghanistan's gender issues to be solved overnight, either. Step by step, things can change. But if an external force pushes too hard too quickly, the reaction will put Afghanistan into even more chaos!
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