You can't spell diversity without D-I-E.
In what can only be viewed as a triumph for the Biden administration's efforts to persuade the Taliban to adopt a more "inclusive" approach to governing, an Afghan woman played a key role in the authoritarian regime's first public execution since President Joe Biden's disastrous military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The BBC reports that a man was recently hanged at a sports stadium in Farah province after he confessed to fatally stabbing a man named Mustafa in 2017. The victim's mother told BBC that Taliban officials had "begged" her to "forgive this infidel" and spare the murderer's life, but she refused.
"They insist me to forgive this man in sake of God, but I told them that this man must be executed and must be buried the same as he did to my son," she said. "If you do not execute him he will commit other crimes in the future."
A public notice was issued prior to the execution inviting "all citizens" to come and watch. It was the first time the Taliban has publicly acknowledged carrying out a death sentence since regaining power in the wake of Biden's botched pull-out.
This heartwarming tale of female inclusion is precisely what the Biden administration has been calling for since abandoning our Afghan allies to the mercy of the Taliban. "We have made clear our expectation that the Afghan people deserve an inclusive government," a State Department spokesman said in September 2021. The administration expressed concern that the country's interim cabinet "consists exclusively of individuals who are members of the Taliban or their close associates and no women."
At the time, some diversity advocates criticized the Biden administration for failing to recognize the Taliban's progressive accomplishments. For example, the regime's senior leadership is comprised entirely of Muslim people of color, while a number of top officials are formerly incarcerated individuals impacted by the criminal justice system. That includes Khairullah Khairkhwa, a senior Taliban commander who was detained at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 until 2014, when former president Barack Obama ordered his release against the advice of U.S. military leaders in exchange for U.S. Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl.