The 1980s proved critical not merely for contemporary Afghan history but also for the women’s struggle in Afghanistan. Showcasing Afghan women’s struggles, this article argues that the 1980s proved crucial in shaping feminist debates in Afghanistan. Arguably, Afghan women’s lived experience from the 1980s drove home the conclusion that foreign occupation does not bring women freedoms, while religious tapestries to sugarcoat secular women’s demands reinforce patriarchy. They learnt in the 1980s that their struggles antecede and should succeed foreign interventions. It was, therefore, understandable that the first demonstration against the Taliban, when they re-entered Kabul in August 2021, was held by women.
Abu-LughodL. (2002). Does Muslim women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others. American Anthropologist, 104(3), 783–790.
2.
Afghanistan Study Group. (2021). Afghanistan study group final report: A pathway for peace in Afghanistan. United States Institute of Peace. https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/afghanistan_study_group_final_report_a_pathway_for_peace_in_afghanistan.pdf
3.
AhmedF., & PaulJ. (1980). The Khalq failed to comprehend the contradictions of the rural sectors. MERIP Reports, 89(Jul–Aug) 13–20.
4.
Ahmed-GhoshH. (2003). History of women in Afghanistan: Lessons learnt for the future. Or yesterdays and tomorrow: Women in Afghanistan. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 4(3), 1–14.
5.
AlimajroohP. (1989). Afghan women between Marxism and Islamic fundamentalism. Central Asian Survey, 8(3), 87–98.
6.
AliT. (2003). The clash of fundamentalisms: Crusades, jihads and modernity. Verso.
7.
BathaE. (2022, March23). Taliban U-turn leaves Afghan girls shut out of school. Thomas Reuter Foundation. https://news.trust.org/item/20210831110425-cvykj/
8.
BenardC. (2002). Veiled courage: Inside the Afghan women resistance. Broadway.
9.
BrodskyA. E. (2003). With all our strength: The revolutionary association of the women of Afghanistan. Routledge.
10.
BurkiS. K. (2011). The politics of Zan from Amanullah to Karzai: Lessons for improving Afghan women’s status. In HeathJ. & ZahediA. (Eds.), Land of the unconquerable. University of California Press.
11.
CallinicosA. (2005). Epoch and conjuncture in Marxist political economy. International Politics, 42, 353–363.
12.
DupreeN. H. (1984). Revolutionary rhetoric and Afghan women’. In ShahraniM. N. & CanfieldR. L. (Eds.), Revolutions and rebellions in Afghanistan: Anthropological perspectives (pp. 306–340). Institute of International Studies, University of California.
13.
EmadiH. (2015). Women in the post-Taliban Afghanistan: Dialectics of oppression and token recognition’. Race, Gender & Class, 22(3–4), 244–259.
14.
FarrellA. and McDermottP. (2005). Claiming Afghan women. In HesfordW. S. & KozolW. (Eds.), Just advocacy? Women’s human rights, transnational feminisms, and the politics of representation (pp. 33–55). Rutgers University Press.
15.
GhobbarM. G. M. (2012). Afghanistan darmesir-e-tareekh (Afghanistan through the course of history). Mohsin Publications.
16.
GoodwinJ. (1994). Price of honor: Muslim women lift the veil of silence on the Islamic world. Little Brown.
17.
GouldE., & FitzgeraldP. (2002). Excerpts from the Apostle’s diary. In MehtaS. (Ed.), Women for Afghan women: Shattering myths and claiming the future (pp. 59–66). Palgrave Macmillan.
18.
Graham-HarrisonE. (2022, August14). Hypocrisy or a reason for hope? The Taliban who send their girls to school. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/14/hypocrisy-or-a-reason-for-hope-the-taliban-who-send-their-girls-to-school
19.
GramsciA. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. Lawrence & Wishart.
20.
HirschkindC. and MahmoodS. (2002). Feminism, the Taliban, and politics of counter-insurgency. Anthropological Quarterly, 75(2), 339–354.
21.
HopkirkP. (1992). The great game: The struggle for empire. Kodansha International.
22.
JoyaM. (2009). Raising my voice. Pan McMillan.
23.
KabiriS., & SulehriaF. (2021, Aug21). Women confront the Taliban. Green Left. https://www.greenleft.org.au/video/women-confront-taliban.
24.
KazemS. A. (2005). Zanane-eAfghan zair-e-fishar anana o tajadad [Afghan women under the pressure of tradition and modernization]). Maiwand Publications & Printing Press.
25.
KhattakS. G. (2004). Adversarial discourses, analogous objectives. Cultural Dynamics, 16(2/3), 213–236.
26.
KhattakS. G. (2007). Living on the edges: Afghan women and refugee camps management in Pakistan. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 32(3), 575–580.
KolhatkarS., & IngallsJ. (2006). Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, warlords, and the propaganda of silence. Seven Stories Press.
29.
MannC. (2006). Models and realities of Afghan womanhood: A retrospective and prospect. UNESCO. https://www.academia.edu/6324163/Models_and_Realities_of_Afghan_Womanhood_A_Retrospective_and_Prospects
30.
MohantyT. (1984). Under western eyes: Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses. boundary 2, 12(3), 333–358.
31.
NawidS. (2007). Afghan women under Marxism. In MoghadamV. (Ed.), From patriarchy to empowerment: Women’s participation, movements, and rights in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (pp. 58–72). Syracuse University Press.
32.
NematO. A. (2011). Afghan women at the crossroads: Agents of peace or its victims?Century Foundation.
33.
NematO. A., & SulehriaF. (2016, Aug14). Afghan women’s struggle will not end with NATO pullout. The News on Sunday. https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/561544-afghan-womens-nato-pullout
34.
OdellH. C. (2016). Economic empowerment: An avenue to gender equality in Afghanistan. Global Tides, Vol 10, Article 6. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1233&context=globaltides.
35.
ReuvenyR. and PrakashA. (1999). The Afghanistan war and the breakdown of the Soviet Union. Review of International Studies, 25, 693–708.
36.
RosenbergJ. (2005). Globalization theory: A post-mortem’. International Politics, 42, 2–74.
37.
RubinB R. (2002). The fragmentation of Afghanistan: State formation and collapse in the international system (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press
38.
SamarS. (2019). Feminism, peace, and Afghanistan. Journal of International Affairs, 72(2), 145–158.
39.
SkaineR. (2000). The women of Afghanistan under the Taliban. McFarland & Co.
40.
SpivakG. C. (1994). Can the subaltern speak? In WilliamsP. & ChrismanL. (Eds.), Colonial discourse and post-colonial theory (pp. 66–111). Colombia University Press.
41.
SulehriaF. (2020). Washington post scribe orientalises Afghanistan. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 22(1), 156–174.
42.
SulehriaF. (2021, Sep2). Afghanistan: Women defy Taliban, demand the right to freedom. Green Left. https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/afghanistan-women-defy-taliban-demand-right-freedom.
43.
SulehriaF., & SabaS. (2018). Afghan women: Beyond binaries. South Asian Survey, 24(1), 20–36.
44.
WaliS. (2002). Forward: Afghanistan truth and mythology. In MehtaS. (Ed.) Women for Afghan women: Shattering myths and claiming the future. Palgrave Macmillan.
45.
Zoya. (2002). Zoya’s story: An Afghan woman’s struggle for freedom. Review.
