In Ms. Magazine, Gayatri Patel, vice president of external relations for the Women’s Refugee Commission, writes about the need to protect Afghan girls, noting the Biden administration’s responsibility to be a leader on gender equality.

When assuring the American people that the U.S. was prepared for every contingency of withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Biden also promised to support the rights of Afghan women and girls. Words matter.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan left behind millions of Afghan women and girls who now face uncertain—but assuredly worse—futures under Taliban rule. Afghanistan is engulfed in an urgent humanitarian crisis affecting the country as a whole, and women and girls in particular. Now is the time for the Biden administration to show the leadership on gender equality that President Biden promised.

Learn more about WRC’s work on Afghanistan.