Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: A top US diplomat to Afghanistan has apologised for her tweets suggesting Afghanistan women could find inspiration in Afro-American history and culture, particularly a #BlackGirlMagic social media movement.
#BlackGirlMagic is the movement that celebrates black women with millions of uplifting and laudatory posts.
US envoy Karen Decker, currently the Chargé d’Affaires of the US Mission to Afghanistan, tweeted that many of her last week’s posts went “awry” despite her “best intentions” as she had suggested Afghan women could learn from examples such as the pop culture icons Beyonce and Lizzo.
Her remarks sparked online anger from users who objected to the seemingly tone-deaf remarks about the plight of Afghan women, who have seen their rights curtailed since the Taliban swept back to power in 2021.
Since then, the Taliban have banned women from working for most aid groups, going to school and university, parks, and gyms, and ordered them to cover up in public, effectively segregating them from the public.
The poverty-stricken Afghan nation is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. According to aid agencies, more than half of its 38 million people were facing hunger this winter, and nearly four million children were suffering from malnutrition.
“Sometimes our best intentions go awry because we have not listened enough and do not truly understand others’ lived experiences,” Decker said. “My effort to celebrate courageous African Americans this month falls into the category. I apologize to any whom I may have offended and hurt.”
United States State Department Rebukes Decker
Decker’s apology came after her tweets drew the rare rebuke from a US State Department, with spokesman Ned Price saying that her messaging was “rather inappropriate or ineffective.”
In a series of tweets over many days, Decker, who has had multiple postings in Afghanistan dating as far back as 2006, evoked themes from Black History Month concerning Afghanistan or Afghan women.
“Is Afghanistan familiar with #BlackGirlMagic and the movement it inspired? Do Afghan girls and women need a similar movement? What about Afghan women?” Decker tweeted in a now-deleted post.
“Teach me, ready to learn.”
At the bottom of her tweet, Decker put hashtags for Beyonce, Lizzo, and actress Regina King. In other tweets, she cited civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the Super Bowl, and Abraham Lincoln.
“Decker asked if the nation needed the ‘movement,’ apparently oblivious to its need, which is food. Is she aware of the impending famine?” tweeted Lee Slusher, the global security expert.
“What the hell is this? The Biden administration is not embarrassed enough already by their Afghanistan debacle,” Donald Trump Jr, the son of former US president Donald Trump, tweeted.
Fawzia Koofi, an ex-Afghan woman lawmaker who fled to Britain after the Taliban takeover, tweeted: “I do not think many girls in Afghanistan are familiar with #BlackGirlMagic, but they made the day and night sleep difficult for (the) Taliban.”
