If Afghan women are being liberated from anything, it is from whatever meagre freedoms they enjoyed under the Taliban—and that is it. This war must end.

They are no better off then they were before October 7—if anything they are worse off and their situation is worsening—and it is unlikely that they will be better off when the nightmare they currently face has ended. Stop the bombing.

The United States had no interest in fighting for women’s rights in Afghanistan before September 11 and I find it hard to believe that they will have an interest in doing it once September 11 has been avenged (whatever that might entail). The idea that the United States is fighting for women’s rights now is laughable. End this war now. If anything, the United States and its allies have shown a staggering disregard for women and children in Afghanistan, many of whom have suffered the most from decades of war, years of drought, and now, tonnes of munitions. Homes have been uprooted; families have been separated. Stop the bombing. The further refugees must trek into hardship, hunger and fear the more distant and difficult it becomes to make out the questionable intricacies of a “just war” argument. (If they are visible at all. Ever. To any sane person.) Stop this war.