Hirschkind and Mahmood show that the Taliban’s restrictive policies toward women impacted those living in urban areas more than those residing in rural ones, because the lives of women living in rural areas were already in line with these policies. They also note the majority of people in Afghanistan reside in rural areas, and there has always been some flexibility in the dress code. Rural women who work in wheat fields alongside men rarely wear the burqa and are not reprimanded (Hirschkind and Mahmood 2002). Furthermore, if one were to review the history of Afghanistan, one could see how U.S. foreign policy aided in the rise of the Taliban. The United States was responsible for arming conservative Islamic groups to fight against the Soviet Union in the Cold War, devoting aid to the most violent and extremist groups because they were viewed as strong fighters against the Soviet army (Hirschkind and Mahmood 2002). Yet the impact of imperialism and colonialism on Muslim societies, including the oppression of Muslim women, becomes considerably less visible when cultural practices such as religion are held solely to blame.

XREF: Connects to broader historiography of U.S. proxy warfare in Afghanistan and how imperial policy is obscured by cultural explanations.

Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, loc. 37