[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 83 (Thursday, May 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2501-S2502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Afghanistan

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to address 
what I believe is an urgent and fundamental issue of our policy in 
Afghanistan, and that is, what happens to the women and girls when the 
United States and NATO forces leave after 20 years?
  Over the years, as I have talked to my constituents and people around 
the country, one of the things they have all been united on about our 
effort in Afghanistan has been the difference that our intervention has 
made for women and girls.
  Before we went into Afghanistan in 2002, girls were not allowed to go 
to school, women were not allowed to work, and there was no freedom of 
movement for women and girls unless they had a male escort. They 
couldn't listen to music. They were required to wear burqas anytime 
they went out of their homes.
  What we have seen has been safety and security for Afghan women and 
girls as the result of our intervention, but now all of these gains are 
at risk as we withdraw our forces. The lack of emphasis on the safety 
and security of Afghan women and girls in the peace process is what has 
brought us to this point.
  We are leaving by September, and there is no plan to ensure that the 
rights that were achieved for women and girls are actually protected, 
even though we have legislation that says that in conflict areas like 
Afghanistan, we have a responsibility to ensure that women are at the 
negotiating table.
  Well, as we rethink the role of the United States in Afghanistan, I 
want to put a face on what we are talking about, what it means if we 
don't prioritize women's rights there.
  In March of this year, the State Department posthumously honored 
seven women who were given the International Women of Courage Award. 
These are all women who were killed in Afghanistan in 2020. They are 
pictured here. They were murdered--assassinated, really--for choosing 
to live their lives outside of the narrow confines of what the Taliban 
and other extremist groups deem acceptable for women, and they reflect 
the thousands of other women in Afghanistan who have been the targets 
of violence.
  We have seen over the last months of 2020 and beginning of 2021 that 
women were deliberately targeted for assassination, particularly women 
in high-profile positions. These women have been murdered for going to 
school, for reporting the news, for delivering healthcare or running 
for public office. We talk about them as courageous, and certainly they 
are, but they should not have to be courageous to do the kinds of 
things that they were murdered for.
  It should not require courage to be a journalist like Malalai 
Maiwand, who

[[Page S2502]]

is right here in the lower left-hand corner. It should not require 
courage to stand up for basic human rights like Fatima Khalil, who is 
up here in the middle, or Freshta Kohistani, who is right here. Fatima 
was a human rights official. Freshta was an activist for women rights. 
Yet both of these women were killed by the Taliban for doing what they 
believed in, for trying to improve the lives of other women. Sadly, 
that kind of courage is what is required of all women in Afghanistan 
today.
  I worry that this reality is only going to escalate after our 
departure. Indeed, we saw this over this past weekend when 85 people, 
most of them schoolgirls, were killed in a car bomb outside of a girls 
school in Kabul.
  I saw them interviewing one young woman who, I think, was about 14, 
about why she thought they had been targeted. She said: ``I guess it's 
because we want an education.'' This is the future we risk if we don't 
have a plan for how we are going to continue to support the women and 
girls of Afghanistan.
  I also want to talk about the other four women who are pictured here.
  Fatima Rajabi, who is in the middle, was a 23-year-old prison guard. 
She was on her way home from work and was on a civilian bus when the 
bus was stopped by the Taliban. She was kidnapped, tortured, and 
murdered, and 2 weeks later, her body was sent to her family.
  Then there is Freshta, who is the daughter of Amir Mohamed. She was a 
35-year-old prison guard who was killed on her way to a taxi to get to 
work--again, killed by a gunman.
  At the bottom is General Sharmila Frogh. General Frogh was the head 
of the gender unit in the National Directorate of Security and was one 
of the longest serving female NDS officers in Afghanistan. She was 
assassinated when an IED explosion targeted her vehicle in Kabul.
  Finally, I think the most horrific and barbarous of all of these 
murders was of Maryam Noorzad. Maryam was a midwife, and she was killed 
when the hospital in Kabul was attacked by the Taliban. She was there, 
helping a woman deliver a baby, and she refused to leave when they were 
attacked. She didn't want to leave the woman she was helping as a 
midwife, so the Taliban not only killed her when she refused to leave 
the woman, but they killed the mother, and they killed the baby. These 
are the Taliban whom we are being asked to join at the negotiating 
table.
  I can tell you that I don't intend to support any political efforts 
that will allow the Taliban to continue to commit these horrific acts 
of violence. The agreement we made with the Taliban has already been 
breached by the Taliban. They have refused to cut ties with al-Qaida 
and other terrorist groups. They continue to escalate the violence.
  What we are going to see over the next several months and what we do 
is going to impact the lives of women for generations to come in that 
country, which is why we must do absolutely everything in our power to 
support the women and those in Afghanistan who want peace and who want 
to see the country move beyond the extreme religious rhetoric of the 
Taliban.
  These seven women didn't deserve to die, and those schoolgirls in 
Kabul didn't deserve to die. We owe it to them and to the generations 
who will come after them to do everything we can to prevent any more 
Afghan women from meeting the same fate.
  This is not a partisan issue, and it is not a woman's issue. It is a 
human rights issue, and it is a security issue for the future of 
Afghanistan because, if women are empowered in that country, the 
potential for stability is so much greater. So I urge the Senate to do 
everything in our power to ensure that women are represented at the 
table in the future of negotiations and that their rights are preserved 
in Afghanistan.
  We must remember these seven women and the thousands of women like 
them and the schoolgirls in Kabul--the girls who should have the 
opportunity to grow up in a world with the freedoms that their mothers 
fought to secure. The women and girls of Afghanistan are watching what 
we do, and we can't afford to let them down.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Shaheen). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be able to 
complete my remarks before the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered