In a powerful new article, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has issued a stark warning about the catastrophic impact of authoritarian regimes on women’s rights, citing Afghanistan under the Taliban as the most egregious example in the world today. Published in Foreign Affairs under the title “Women’s Rights Are Democratic Rights”, the article details how the Taliban’s brutal policies have systematically stripped Afghan women of their education, livelihood, and political voice, undermining democracy and stability in the region.
Clinton writes that immediately after seizing power in 2021, the Taliban took one of their first deliberate steps: forcibly excluding women from public life. Girls were abruptly barred from secondary education, women were expelled from universities, prohibited from government employment, and forbidden from professional work outside their homes. This sweeping repression has left half of Afghan society marginalized, silenced, and powerless.
“The Taliban claim these measures protect Islamic values and national identity,” Clinton states, “yet across the world, countries have successfully balanced Islamic faith with democratic governance. What the Taliban are doing is unmistakably about control denying women access to knowledge, income, and political influence to cement their brutal grip on power.”
Clinton warns that the Afghan Taliban’s actions are not an isolated danger but a model for other authoritarian leaders. She writes, “Other despots watch closely and learn how repressing women can be used to consolidate power, crush dissent, and maintain authoritarian rule.” She cites similar patterns in countries like Iran
