Empty platitudes and online courses won’t save Afghan women and girls

“Afghan women’s rights” — these words now compel me to turn away in disgust. They have become nothing more than hollow slogans. While the Taliban has come up with ever more brutal methods of oppression, the international community responds with empty proclamations and superficial actions.

It’s been 1,000 days since the Taliban banned schooling for girls beyond sixth grade. The Taliban’s cruelty has evolved with modern technology; they enforce their policies with relentless efficiency. Despite the global community’s vocal support, effective strategies to ensure that Afghan girls and women receive the education they deserve under this tyrannical regime remain elusive.

While there are courageous individual efforts fighting for change, the lack of coordinated, large-scale actions is a glaring failure. Our collective inaction in the face of such grave injustice is unacceptable. The time for real action is now.

In the dusty streets of Kandahar, my 10-year-old niece clutches her books to her chest. “I feel like my feet are tied,” she says over the phone, “and I can’t move.” She stands at the gates of her old school, now just a skeleton of what it once was. She is in her final year of schooling permitted by the Taliban and wants to fail her final exams just so she can stay in school a year longer.

The discourse surrounding Afghan women’s rights often reveals a stark contrast between the spectacle of advocacy and the harsh reality on the ground. The international community showcases its commitment in grand events, speeches and declarations that seldom translate into substantive change for the women and girls who suffer the most.

This approach not only fails to address the root problems but also perpetuates a cycle of ineffectiveness and disillusionment. Afghan women under Taliban rule continue to face severe restrictions on their freedoms, and the international community’s response has been woefully inadequate. Despite knowing the dire situation, the world has mustered neither collective will nor coordinated efforts needed to make a real difference.

Afghanistan is one of the only countries where more women die by suicide than men, and data shows there has been a massive surge in suicides and attempted suicides by Afghan women since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Today, 75 percent of all suicide attempts in Afghanistan are by women.

Afghan women’s rights activists and their supporters often speak empty words, merely to feel good about themselves. The Taliban are more creative than them. They use advanced technology to oppress women and the general population, while everyone else makes headlines with empty promises.

For example, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced in February that American companies like Microsoft, LinkedIn and Coursera will provide job training, certifications and employer connections to Afghan women. Such efforts lack transparency and will likely be subject to limited rollouts. The suggestion that these efforts constitute substantial support is an insult to the dignity of Afghan women. Meanwhile, the urgency for a comprehensive solution remains.

This initiative shows a profound disconnect from the actual needs and realities of Afghan women. They can’t just randomly go to Coursera classes without the right platform that incorporates the specific needs of Afghans in this extreme situation. As someone intimately familiar with the online education system, I can tell you there is nothing substantial there.

The physicist in me calls this change without change, a concept from physics that describes how a system or object can transform while keeping its core properties intact — its essence remains the same despite its altered appearance.

In the world of celebrity activism and big proclamations, this idea fits well. Celebrities and politicians support causes related to inclusivity and rights for marginalized communities, but this support is often shallow. Their activism changes the appearance — drawing public attention and praise — while the basic structure of societal inequalities stays the same.

When the Taliban was in power in the 1990s, brave teachers ran secret schools for female students. Some of these schools still exist, but they are rare, and risky to attend. Today, a safer underground school could look like a digital space where women can safely connect and learn.

Most existing online learning platforms are only designed to supplement in-person education for students in the West. They also require significant data and bandwidth, which is often not feasible in Afghanistan.

What we need for Afghan women and girls is something different — something that takes into account their culture, their context and their aspirations. Something that fosters a sense of community and solidarity. Something that empowers them to express themselves and share their stories. It needs a thought-out plan and the resources to get it right.

Afghan women and girls can be an abstraction for most people. But for me, they are my own young self, my relatives. My young nieces in Kandahar open their eyes, hoping their schools will be reopened. Sometimes, they venture out just to stare at the skeletons of their old classrooms. This reality demands more than empty promises; it needs sustained efforts to create spaces where Afghan women can thrive despite their oppressive circumstances.

The international community must move beyond hollow proclamations and token gestures. It is imperative to design and implement educational initiatives that are accessible, culturally relevant and sustainable. Only then can we hope to make a meaningful impact and support Afghan women and girls in their fight for a brighter future.

Sola Mahfouz is an Afghan refugee and a quantum computing researcher at Tufts University. Her memoir, “Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for an Education,” was recently published.