3 Years Ago Today

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is a day that I remember with sadness and unease. From 2010 to 2015, I spent 18 months in-country working alongside inspirational colleagues on USAID programs.

One of my favorite memories was the Kabul launch of PROMOTE Programs. At the time, PROMOTE had an initial budget of $450 million -- making the US government's largest-ever investment in women's empowerment. The big budget came with big goals: empower 75,000 Afghan women to assume leadership roles in business, government, and civil society.

The underlying theory of change was loftier. The belief was that this number represented a "tipping point." If 75,000 women assumed leadership roles across society, it would forever "normalize" the role of women as active participants in the public sphere. It was also believed that it would make a shift back to the Taliban-era societal norms or practices impossible.

We were spectacularly wrong.

Back in August 2021, many of us combed through our social media and deleted photos and posts featuring these women. The rumor at the time was the Taliban was searching through expat's social media accounts to identify individuals to arrest (or worse). Just like that, we erased the Afghan women leaders we once knew and the fact that programs like PROMOTE even took place.

I write this post today because erasing history is where we get into danger. Several female Afghan entrepreneurs I met back in 2014 actually launched their businesses during the Taliban era in the 1990s. Back when it was against the law, and therefore, it was believed that no female entrepreneurs existed. And yet they did...

This public narrative persisted even in 2010. That year, I was sent on a scoping trip to Northern Afghanistan to identify entry points for women to participate in local government and civil society. I was near the end of my trip. Everyone had told me, "It's not possible. Women aren't interested or capable in doing that. Women like that just don't exist."

That is -- until I met Mina Sherzoy. I remember her outrage and her declaring, "Yes, there are many women leaders, and I will take you to them." And she did. In fact, despite the return of the Taliban, I strongly suspect that they still exist in the Afghanistan of today. Just perhaps underground.

I will always feel grief thinking about August 2021. But I will also forever feel gratitude for having the privilege to get to know a side of Afghanistan that didn't appear in the news.