Future Prospects

This chapter interprets contemporary analyses of Afghanistan's future by mainstream political observers, historians, economists, and other “experts” through the perspectives of women's rights advocates, feminist theorists, gender scholars, and others. It takes into account, first, the continued presence of international donor governments and aid agencies in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future, despite the scheduled allied troop withdrawal. It then considers what various approaches to Afghanistan's future central government might mean for the country's women and for their social status and access to resources and opportunities. The chapter further analyzes the implications for women's rights of negotiating with the Taliban and of conceptualizing Afghanistan as a coherent nation-state. The final section explores possible new ground for transnational collaboration between Western and Afghan feminist activists and theorists in light of the checkered history and structural power inequities that have hampered mutual understanding and plagued collaborations in the past.