What many knew would happen has now come to pass. The Taliban, having seized a state, are proving once again that terrorists and fundamentalists do not know how to build viable nation states. Rule requires more than guns, edicts and fear. It requires legitimacy, consent, economic competence and some understanding of human dignity.
In Afghanistan, the reality of Taliban rule is now setting in, and its barbaric treatment of women is beginning to create visible fissures in society. The protest in Herat, reportedly sparked by the detention of women accused of violating mandatory dress rules, leading to injuries and deaths, is a sign of a society being pushed beyond endurance.
Cultures across the world differ in their outlook towards women's rights. Some are conservative, others liberal. But what the Taliban are doing is barbaric even by medieval standards. A system that denies women education, employment, sport, mobility and basic public dignity is not preserving faith or culture. It is strangling half the nation and calling that suffocation order.
This crack will widen. It will widen in homes where daughters are denied futures, in cities where women are erased from public life, and in communities where fear is mistaken for stability. A country cannot progress while crushing its mothers, sisters and daughters. It can only decay.
For Pakistan, the lesson is clear. On this side of the border, Pashtun women are pursuing degrees, entering professions and reaching for the stars. That difference did not appear by accident. It exists because Pakistan, despite all its flaws, did not fall to the same barbaric forces. We must be thankful to our armed forces for ensuring that such darkness was held back. The freedom and dignity of women are not side issues. They are central to the kind of society we are fighting to protect.
