To Örebro University

Afghan women have traditionally been excluded from society throughout Afghanistan's history. Particularly during the Taliban regime between 1996 and 2001, women endured harsh conditions and were deprived of their basic rights, especially the right to education, employment and physical safety. The Taliban excluded women from public life by banning women from appearing in any public settings. On the other hand, ancient cultural practices grew out of Islamic fundamentalism and intensified existing misogynistic views about women, placing them in a subordinate position in the patriarchal society of Afghanistan. But over the past 20 years, when the US-led international community entered Afghanistan after 2001, Afghan women have gradually emerged as a social, political and economic force. This thesis examines how Afghan women have been empowered by the international community between 2001 and 2021. Despite advances in empowering Afghan women over the past 20 years, Afghan women have faced many challenges, including threats and insecurity, lack of economic and political representation and lack of equal rights, limiting their abilities to participate in the social, economic and political life. With the aim of helping social science research on the research of the root of social problems, this thesis examines the debates to find answers to these questions: What are main gains of women organizations and other agents of empowerment in the period 2001-2021? What are mains obstacles of women’s empowerment in Afghanistan? By examining the results and statistics that indicate the lack of progress of women in the past twenty years, this thesis discusses why the international community, especially the United States, has not been successful in empowering Afghan women?