After the Taliban marched into Kabul in August, 2021, Zahir gathered 40 members of his extended family in the living room to discuss how the takeover would affect their lives. Twenty-five of them were girls and women. “I told them that I understand that they are suffering now, and that I and all the men this family are with you,” recalls Zahir, a 45-year-old public service professional. “We couldn’t stop crying.” (He asked that only his first name be used since the Taliban has a history of targeting people who criticize their policies.)
Despite stereotypes of Afghanistan as a deeply conservative and male-dominated society, Zahir is far from the only Afghan man to express support for Afghan women. While few Afghan men have voiced their protest of the Taliban’s regressive policies in public, a survey published in July revealed that a significant percent of them, including those that support the Taliban, are in favor of basic human rights for women.
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Among more than 7,500 Afghans living in the country with access to mobile and internet services, the survey found, 66% said they agreed or strongly agreed that human rights for women were a top priority for the future of Afghanistan. Nearly half, or 45% of those, strongly supported the Taliban’s control of the country.
The majority of Afghans agree that women’s rights should be a national priority, says Charli Carpenter, professor of political science and legal studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and one of the authors of the new study.
“Most of the Afghan population really don’t approve of the gender apartheid that the Taliban has inflicted on women,” Carpenter says. “What we saw just across the board was sweeping support for women’s human rights.”
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