When Joe Biden embarked upon his humiliating and deadly retreat from Afghanistan, the one boast he had was that the Taliban had absolutely promised that they’d treat women well. They lied. Having let a little time pass for memories to dim, they’re now returning to the bad old days of extreme Islamic misogyny. By doing so, they’re showing their disrespect for both women and for Biden.

All of us remember the 13 dead American troops, the way we abandoned Afghans who had aided Americans, the frantic people hanging on the wheels of departing American planes, and the billions of dollars of American equipment left behind. However, what many may have forgotten is that one of the things Biden got in return was a promise from the victorious Taliban that they’d be nice to women moving forward:

The Taliban vowed Tuesday to respect women’s rights, forgive those who fought them and ensure Afghanistan does not become a haven for terrorists as part of a publicity blitz aimed at reassuring world powers and a fearful population. the late 1990s.

[snip]

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s longtime spokesman, emerged from the shadows Tuesday in his first-ever public appearance to address those concerns at a news conference.

He promised the Taliban would honor women’s rights within the norms of Islamic law, without elaborating. The Taliban have encouraged women to return to work and have allowed girls to return to school, handing out Islamic headscarves at the door. A female news anchor interviewed a Taliban official Monday in a TV studio.

Did you ever hear of “Taqiyya”? That’s the doctrine that allows Muslims to lie to advance Islamic goals. I mention it because, while the Taliban might have meant what they said, they also might have had no intention of abiding by this promise once the world was no longer watching them.

Regardless of their motives in August 2021, the reality is that, almost three years later, the Taliban have completed the process of returning Afghanistan to the bad old days of pure Islam, with the final act being the state-sanctioned sadism against women.

 Image: The Taliban flog female “adulterers.” YouTube screen grab.

While the Taliban has been flogging women for at least a year now, this time it’s official. Thus, the Taliban’s Supreme Leader recently announced that the days of flogging and stoning women are back:

The Taliban’s Supreme Leader has vowed to start stoning women to death in public as he declared the fight against Western democracy will continue.

“You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death,” said Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada in a voice message, aired on state TV over the weekend, addressing Western officials.

“But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery. We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public,” he declared in his harshest comments since taking over Kabul in August 2021.

According to the Mullah, torturing women is a form of human rights because their God (that would be Muhammed’s Allah) wants it. Indeed, the same article says that sanctioned misogynistic sadism is just the latest in a long line of reinstated Islamic “human rights” in Afghanistan:

Despite promising a more moderate government, the Taliban quickly returned to harsh public punishments like public executions and floggings, similar to those from their previous rule in the late 1990s.

My former mentor once told me that the core of Islam’s battle with the West was that Western values challenge Islam’s complete control over women. Reports such as this from Afghanistan are certainly a reminder that any woman who finds herself in a Muslim-dominated society will not fare well…as women across Europe have been discovering since 2015. I assume the same will soon be true for Western women who find themselves living too close to Islamic enclaves in America.

The return of misogynistic Sharia law to Afghanistan isn’t just a sadistic blow (literally) to women. It’s also a nose-thumbing at Biden, who credulously accepted the Taliban at their word. As Monica Showalter reminded me, this isn’t the first time a dictator has taken Biden for a ride.

Venezuela’s Nicolás promised Biden free and fair elections if Biden dropped American sanctions, so Biden complied. Freed from restraints, Maduro disqualified his opponent and refused to allow her designated successor to register. Biden shows no sign of restoring sanctions. (Of course, cynically, one could say that Biden envies Maduro's openness and élan in ridding himself of political opponents and would never punish him.)

It hasn’t always been good for America to be the world’s policeman. However, beginning with Obama, we saw the chaos that results when America withdraws from that role.

We had a respite with Trump, but now that Biden is in office, the world’s devolution is happening faster and harder than ever before. That’s because the world’s bad guys know that Biden doesn’t stand for principled withdrawal into Fortress America. Instead, he’s a weak, credulous fool who has withdrawn from the world and left America’s gates wide open.