The Doha Summit: Addressing the Humanitarian Crisis and Women's Rights Violations in Afghanistan

Following the Taliban victory in 2021 and the subsequent establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), the country has witnessed arguably the worst violation of women’s rights on earth. Half of the population has been excluded from higher and secondary education, employment, politics, and any other form of participation in the public sphere. Afghans at large are facing a plethora of other humanitarian crises that have been handled by international NGOs rather than the government. This has created a difficult-to-resolve moral dilemma. On one hand, NGOs are committed to alleviating the tragic hardships facing the Afghan population. On the other hand, by doing so, they are tolerating and therefore indirectly acknowledging and legitimizing a regime that is one of the worst human rights violators in the world. This has been the background for the Doha Summit, which took place on May 1st and 2nd, 2023 in Qatar, where the UN and a number of member states discussed how to resolve the difficult situation. While the Summit and UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) operational review period have been triggered by the IEA’s decision to bar women from working for NGOs, the problems have been accumulating since August 2021. While before the end of the summit, the withdrawal of UNAMA was widely expected, now it is clear the mission will continue its operations. Moreover, to add further to such a turn of events, it now appears that the recognition of the IEA is just a matter of time. This is because the UN Secretary General has openly stated that he would be willing to meet with the Taliban ‘when it is the right moment to do so’, a move that would strongly legitimize the regime. Therefore, while it is welcome news that humanitarian aid will continue to flow, the question of extreme violation of women’s rights persists.

Firstly, however, it necessitates acknowledgement that UNAMA and international support play a vital role in alleviating the Afghan humanitarian crisis. Ninety seven percent of the country lives in poverty; 28 out of 40 million people will need humanitarian assistance to survive the year 2023; the country has suffered a devastating earthquake, and the security situation, while improving, remains unresolved and fragile. International aid is therefore essential in helping 28 million people survive, a fact that is especially true considering that the IEA does not seem to bother, shifting blame on the West (which is partially true) and providing scarce, if any, services. While the needed funding for 2023 amounts to $4.6 billion and only $294 million has been provided so far, UNAMA nevertheless is simply and plainly the lifeline for tens of millions of Afghans.

Unfortunately, as the international community is aware, such operations necessitate cooperation with the IEA and mostly involve doing the government’s work. The hesitation about engagement, the topic of the summit in Doha, was caused by the direct order of the IEA barring women from working for UNAMA and other NGOs. It followed a string of other policies of the IEA that essentially removed women from any public participation. The UN, therefore, faced what it called ‘an appalling choice’: to continue lifesaving aid while partly legitimizing an inhumane government or to halt aid for humanitarian positions and leave 28 million people for almost certain death. The former route was thus taken, altogether showing that the Taliban is not ready to negotiate on its internal policies and is ready to leave its population to inhumane tragedies in the name of its dogmatic ideology. Now, since the UN Secretary General comments that ‘when it is the right moment’ the UN will be ready to meet the Taliban, it appears that under current political circumstances, at least a de facto recognition is just a matter of time. Even maybe an official one on behalf of countries friendly to the IEA such as Qatar, but in a more distant future.

While the provision of aid is simply the right thing to do, and the women's rights situation in the country is so tragic that the word “appalling” is an understatement, another problematic matter exists. Namely that, due to the IEA’s policies, Afghan women and people have no say whatsoever over their fate. While big politics were occurring in Doha, no one was even able to determine what Afghan women desired for themselves, effectively removing the entirety of their agency. This is because no female political representation in the country exists, neither do opinion polls, and the anecdotal evidence that does exist, is unsparingly contradictory. With some women protesting and risking their lives against the Taliban, and others demonstrating in support of the group. Therefore, humanitarian aid will continue to flow, the prospect of recognition is likely to increase over time, and the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, consisting of the most egregious gender segregation system, will sadly also continue. The only hope for improvement that remains is that the Taliban will react to positive incentives, such as talks and recognition, unlike the complete apathy that was displayed under the prospect of negative ones, such as the risk of complete international disengagement.