Afghanistan deal: Don't trade away women's rights to the Taliban. Put us at the table.

Afghan women have been working to build peace for decades. We have spent years fighting for basic rights and, over the past year, for a seat at the table in talks between the United States and the Taliban. We are not reassured by the agreement signed Saturday by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban’s Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, or by the process that led up to it.

This is a critical moment for our country. The window of opportunity to ensure that all Afghans are protected in the next phase of the peace talks is narrow. Despite the significant progress made in women’s political participation in Afghanistan, Afghan women still face huge obstacles in representation.

For a start, Afghan women and representatives from civil society and other minority groups should have been at the table for the U.S.-Taliban talks that led to this agreement, but we were not. History has shown us that women and minorities stand to lose the most from any deal made behind closed doors and by a room full of men.

Doublespeak puts our rights at risk

Saturday's agreement lays the groundwork for talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. We were not surprised to read recently that while Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani is tired of bloodshed and war, he opposes preconditions to these talks. Instead of guaranteeing to protect the provisions in the Afghan Constitution that grant women equality, he suggested in a New York Times op-ed that this issue can be resolved through "consensus among Afghans."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/afghanistan-deal-don-t-trade-away-women-s-rights-to-the-taliban-put-us-at-the-table/ar-BB10A8Sx?ocid=msn360