The European Kurdish Women’s Movement (TJK-E), in a statement expressing solidarity with Afghan women, said in a statement: "Five years have passed since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan once again on 15 August 2021. During this period, repression, bans and restrictions against women have steadily intensified. Women have been excluded from education and working life and pushed out of political, social and public life.
The erasure of women from the public sphere is not only a violation of fundamental rights and freedoms; it is also a systematic policy that leaves women more vulnerable to violence, repression, torture and all forms of attack. This mentality, which denies women’s will, identity and right to life, is one of the most extreme forms of male-dominated and patriarchal thinking."
The statement underlined that "the war in Afghanistan, launched after the 11 September attacks under the banner of ‘democracy and freedom’, affected the lives of millions of people for twenty years. The Taliban’s return to power following the withdrawal of the US and other Western powers from Afghanistan in 2021, and the abandonment of Afghan women’s future to the mercy of this repressive regime, has been one of the grave consequences of interest-driven war policies.
It is unacceptable to remain silent today in the face of the deprivation of Afghan women’s fundamental rights. The international community must not ignore the systematic violations of women’s rights by the Taliban authorities and must not contribute to the normalisation of a system in which women are excluded, and fundamental freedoms are denied."
The statement added: "Despite all the repression, Afghan women continue to resist. The struggle of Afghan women who refuse to give up their right to education, work, political participation and a free life is part of the struggle for women’s freedom around the world.
For this reason, we support the freedom campaign that will begin on 15 August and continue until 25 November. As Kurdish women in Europe, we once again express our solidarity with Afghan women and declare that we do not see their struggle as separate from our own struggle for freedom.
Women’s solidarity is a common force that transcends borders.
As women’s common struggle against the male-dominated, statist and patriarchal mentality grows, so too will the possibilities for social liberation. Because society cannot be free without the liberation of women; where women’s will is not recognised, there can be no democratic society.
Transforming the 21st century into a century of women’s freedom, and creating free women and a free society together, is our common struggle."