This dissertation explores the aftermath of 9/11 and the creation of the War on Terror, particularly in Afghanistan. The United States invaded Afghanistan as the Taliban regime refused to give up Bin Laden, creating a narrative around the idea of the War on Terror that mobilized women’s rights. Ignoring America’s actions and support that led to the formation of the Taliban, the US used women’s rights as a political play leading to dichotomous rhetoric between the treatment of women in the West and women in Muslim countries who needed saving, with the biggest symbol of this oppression being the veil, representing a lack of rights and agency. Despite the clear violation of women’s rights and oppression under regimes such as the Taliban, the American discourse reinforced a sense of western superiority over the “Other”, based on a theory called gendered orientalism leading to an appropriation of women’s voices by the West without acknowledging their agency and individualism, in a representation that can be described as neocolonialist and paternalist. This discourse will be counterposed with the perspectives of Afghan women on the conflict, to understand if the narratives perpetuated by Washington did, in fact, help improve gender equality in Afghanistan, or if it further aggravated structural violence faced by women.

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