OPINION:
Democrats are supposed to be the party where the beleaguered find solace and the burdened find equality — where the women, Blacks and LGBTQs, for instance, turn when the mean ol’ Republicans get all misogynist and hateful and racist on them.
But for the poor, pushed-aside women of Afghanistan, it’s all talk, no walk.
Look at the lip service that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just paid them: “We are deeply concerned about reports regarding the Taliban’s brutal treatment of all Afghans, especially women and girls. The U.S., the international community and the Afghan government must do everything we can to protect women and girls from inhumane treatment by the Taliban,” she said.
The backdrop of those remarks would be delicious irony — save for the utter horror of it all.
“Taliban kill woman for not wearing burqa on same day it vows to honor women’s rights,” The New York Post wrote in one headline.
“The Taliban knocked on her door 3 times. The fourth time, they killed her,” CNN wrote in another headline.
“Taliban Fighters Beating and Whipping Women and Kids on Way to Airport, Reports Say,” The Daily Beast wrote in yet another headline.
But Pelosi is promising protection.
Pelosi is promising women’s rights will prevail.
“Any political settlement that the Afghans pursue to avert bloodshed must include having women at the table,” Pelosi said.
Notice she said “must.” That shows she really means it.
“The Taliban’s Return Is Catastrophic for Women,” The Atlantic wrote in a headline.
“For Afghan Women, Taliban Stir Fears of Return to a Repressive Past,” The New York Times wrote in another headline.
Maybe they’ve not read Pelosi’s statement; maybe they’ve not seen Pelosi’s promises — maybe they’ve been distracted by the televised dot on the screen beneath America’s fleeing aircraft that turned out to be the desperate last cling of an individual falling to his or her death.
Former President Barack Obama, the guy who once said women are “indisputably better” than men, has taken a different tack than Pelosi on the Afghanistan matter. He’s simply ignoring it. Obama’s Twitter feed includes a plea for compassion for the people of Haiti, who are suffering the fallout from a devastating earthquake, as well as a reminder to “sign up for health insurance during this special enrollment period.” But on the plight of women and girls in Taliban-run Afghanistan? Crickets. But that’s not to say women aren’t still “indisputably better” than men.
Lip service.
His wife, Michelle Obama, is similarly quiet.
“Enough is enough,” the former first lady once said, during a 2018 interview on NBC News, while calling for a stronger fight for women’s rights. “The world is, sadly, a dangerous place for women and girls. And I think young women are tired of it. They’re tired of being undervalued. They’re tired of being disregarded.”
Her Twitter feed today?
On Aug. 11, she retweeted from Girls Opportunity Alliance a note about the $3 million Jack Dorsey was giving to girls’ education. On Aug. 5, she tweeted a call for support for Stacey Adams and voting equality.
Unlike in 2016, when she made a big show of tweeting #BringBackOurGirls for Nigerian victims, Michelle Obama couldn’t even manage a tweet for Afghan females. Nary a #SaveAfghanistanWomen hashtag in sight.
“We are deeply concerned about the future of Afghan women and girls as the Taliban retakes control of the nation,” leaders of the Democratic Women’s Caucus wrote in a recent statement.
Great.
Good strong expressions of concern and care.
But it’s lip service; it’s not as if the Taliban’s terrible treatment of women is a surprise.
“Just last year,” USA Today just reported, “there were ‘targeted attacks on women leading up to the start of the negotiations,’ including an assassination attempt on Fawzia Koofi, one of four women on the government’s negotiating team, according to the latest State Department report on human rights. The Taliban also ‘burned a girls’ school in Takhar Province’ and about a year ago prevented 200 women from taking university entrance exams ‘by threatening them with fines.’”
Those are called: clues.
Or, in the Democrats’ minds, Things To Ignore.
That’s certainly what happened when the Joe Biden administration decided to yank American troops from Afghanistan without taking proper care for those they were leaving behind; without taking steps to first evacuate, shelter or otherwise protect and provide for the ones the Taliban would assuredly hunt. Like the women. Like the girls. Like the defenseless females who are now facing a nightmare from true misogynists who place less value on them than on dogs.
Democrats, party of women?
Lip service.
Democrats left these women and girls in dire straits, to face deep distress. And there’s just no politicking or spinning around that truth.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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