WOMEN’s POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN AFGHANISTAN BETWEEN 2001 AND 2021

Abstract

This master’s thesis explores women’s political representation in Afghanistan between the fall of the Taliban and their takeover of Afghanistan. This research’s main question is “How did women’s political participation in Afghanistan change by the intervention of the international community between 2001 and 2021?” This research analyzes the political representation of Afghan women through the lens of feminism, especially liberal feminism, and will clarify the main aim of international coomunity, especially US behind twenty years of presence and efforts in Afghanistan. Firstly, the topic is theoretically important because women’s rights issues are currently one of the most hotly debated questions in the domains of international relations and security studies, particularly in the case of Afghanistan, numerous negotiations have taken place since the Bonn Conference on the economic, political, religious, security, and social situation. Furthermore, Afghanistan has been shaken to its core by more than three decades of political instability, terrible battles, and foreign invasions. More than 1 million people were displaced or orphaned, and 1 million women were widowed. Afghanistan is unsafe, intolerant of various opinions, and home to nearly two generations who have grown up surrounded by strife and war due to decades of violence, mass evacuation, and displacements. Violent and aggressive behavior, especially against women, has become the accepted norm in Afghanistan. Secondly, from 2001 to 2021-time interval is such a vital period in Afghanistan’s history, especially regarding women’s participation in governance, because, in the mentioned time interval, the Taliban lost their power in Afghanistan and took over the power. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine women's political representation in Afghanistan after 9/11 through the intervention of iii the international community, mainly from 2001 to 2021. In addition, how did women's political representation and participation in governance soar during the mentioned years, and how did it impact the government’s decision-making process. This research is a qualitative and documentary-based case study, which used secondary data. Hence, it reviews some of the documents, published articles, books, national and international organizations report, and news that are related to women's political representation in Afghanistan during the mentioned time interval, from 2001 to 2021. We were able to answer research questions and meet research objectives by analyzing mostly secondary data sources. Since 2001, the Afghan government and the international community have invested large sums of money towards improving women's conditions, especially supporting women leaders in politics, industry, and civil society was among the most important programs for accelerating women's efforts in political participation and overall women's participation in decision-making. Nonetheless, this research will figure out factors that had a significant role in the emergence of women leaders, by analyzing the past decades, to clarify and describe all the related themes, reliable journals, articles, websites, reports, and news would be used