Judge Declines to Dismiss Murder Case Against Karen Read After July Mistrial

DEDHAM, Mass. — A judge ruled that Karen Read can be re-tried for murder in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, dismissing arguments that jurors came forward after the mistrial to say they had unanimously agreed she wasn’t guilty on two of the three charges she faced.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Read is accused of ramming into John O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him for dead in a January 2022 snowstorm. Her two-month trial ended in July when jurors declared they were hopelessly deadlocked and a judge declared a mistrial on the fifth day of deliberations.

Judge Beverly Cannone’s decision, released on Friday, means the case can move forward to a new trial set to begin Jan. 27.

The defense had presented evidence that four jurors said after the trial that the jury unanimously reached a not guilty verdict on second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident and were deadlocked on the remaining manslaughter charge.

Trying her again on those two charges would be unconstitutional double jeopardy, the lawyers argued. They had also reported that one juror told them “no one thought she hit him on purpose or even thought she hit him on purpose.”

But the judge said the jurors didn’t tell the court during their deliberations that they had reached a verdict on any of the counts. “Where there was no verdict announced in open court here, retrial of the defendant does not violate the principle of double jeopardy.”

Earlier this month, Read’s attorney Marty Weinberg requested that Cannone consider a range of options to prove the jury acquitted Read on the two charges.

She could poll the jury, Weinberg said, on whether they reached a verdict on the three counts or bring in the four jurors to be questioned anonymously. If she didn’t want to accept the defense declarations, he added, she could authorize the defense lawyers to ask the jurors “whether or not they would execute an affidavit that could be two sentences — we reached a final decision unanimously to acquit Ms. Read on counts 1 and 3.”

Prosecutors described the defense’s request to drop charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident as an “unsubstantiated but sensational post-trial claim” based on “hearsay, conjecture and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.”

Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally, in the hearing earlier this month, urged Cannone to dismiss the defense motion.

Lally argued that the jury never indicated they had reached a verdict on any of the charges, were given clear instructions on how to reach a verdict, and that the defense had ample opportunity to object to a mistrial declaration.

source https://time.com/7014357/judge-declines-dismiss-murder-case-against-karen-read-july-mistrial/

How Simple Monitors Can Prevent Air Pollution-Related Illness

Air pollution is the world’s second-largest cause of death globally, leading to 8.1 million premature deaths annually from lung cancer, heart disease, and emphysema, among other diseases. Regular forest fires are a reminder for many in the U.S. that our air quality can be precarious, but in much of the world’s cities, foul air has been a fact of life for decades.

Tracking air quality is a critical step toward preventing air pollution related illnesses, yet monitoring is nowhere near granular enough. Levels of pollution can vary dramatically within just a few miles. In the U.S, there is only one monitor in the Environmental Protection Agency’s network for every 750 square miles. In India, it’s one monitor per 3,000 square miles.

Inaccurate air quality information can lead to wasted time and money if people stay home from school or work because they think clean air is actually dirty, or worse, result in poorer health for people who venture out into dirty air thinking it’s clean.

What the world needs is the equivalent of Waze or Google Maps for air quality instead of traffic, a network of millions of personal devices collecting pollution data in real time and shared with everyone who wants it.

Unfortunately, your phone doesn’t yet have the capability to monitor air quality, but there are many devices on the market that do. These monitors are easy to use, and once installed, upload air quality data to online networks accessible to anyone with an internet browser (users can opt out of sharing data but most don’t). For monitor owners, and those in the know about the network, they provide real time data about local air pollution. While they’re not as precise as monitors used by the EPA, for most practical questions—is the air clean enough to go for a run today? can I send my kid to soccer practice?—they’re just fine.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

An air monitor in every school

While these monitors are widespread, they’re not in every neighborhood that needs them. That’s why we propose installing one at each of the 64,311 elementary schools in the U.S., ensuring every community has access to immediate information about local air quality. 

We conducted research into the adoption of these monitors, focusing on one that has the widest network across the U.S. PurpleAir, a Utah-based company, sells reliable air monitors for between $229 and $299. Tens of thousands of U.S. households have installed their monitors, and they’re in every state and most countries. (We have no financial interest in PurpleAir and they have not participated in our research.)

While these PurpleAir monitors cover the nation, they don’t do so evenly. As our research into monitor distribution in California demonstrates, they are clustered in affluent and predominantly white neighborhoods. In the Bay Area, for example, the concentration of devices is far denser in affluent Palo Alto, with six outdoor monitors in a neighborhood of roughly 4,000 people, compared to no monitors at all in a comparably sized neighborhood in poorer Oakland.

Read More: Less than 1% of Earth has Safe Levels of Air Pollution

The uneven distribution of the monitors shouldn’t be surprising. These monitors are a new technology, and more likely to be adopted by the tech savvy with disposable incomes. But the uneven distribution makes the network less reliable, and creates pockets where less information about air quality is generated and uploaded, predominantly in Black and Latino neighborhoods most vulnerable to illnesses created by air pollution.

That’s why we propose installing them in every American elementary school.

While not perfectly distributed around the country, there is an elementary school in virtually every neighborhood in the U.S. And significantly, where there are elementary schools there are children, the cohort most affected by air pollution.

A monitor at every elementary school would mean everyone can access accurate air quality information regardless of where they live, or how tech savvy their neighbors happen to be.

With a minimal amount of messaging, monitors located at schools will also create awareness within the school community about air quality more generally, and help encourage parents, teachers, and staff to log on. School-based monitors can also serve a teaching purpose, engaging students in practical lessons about the environment and their community.

The lesson of AEDs

While the monitors aren’t without cost, it’s pretty minimal in the context of a school budget.
But monitors could also be provided by the EPA, and both the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act contain funding for air quality monitoring. These devices will likely pay for themselves by facilitating behavioral changes that reduce healthcare expenditure, improve student performance, and increase labor productivity.

There is a template for schools adopting monitors. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are electronic devices that can stimulate the heart during cardiac events. A vigorous public awareness campaign has advocated for the installation of AEDs in every school, and now about half of all U.S. states have laws requiring their presence in schools.

AEDs save lives, and so can accurate information about air pollution. It’s time we asked our schools to install monitors.

source https://time.com/7013463/air-pollution-monitors-health/

Passenger Arrested After Opening Plane’s Emergency Exit and Walking on Wing at Australian Airport

A passenger was arrested at an airport in Australia after he left a stationary airplane through an emergency exit, walked along a wing, and then climbed down a jet engine to the tarmac on Thursday, officials said.

At around 10 a.m. local time, Jetstar Flight JQ507 arrived at Melbourne Airport from Sydney. That’s when one passenger exited via the emergency exit, though a spokesperson from Jetstar said that the plane was parked at the gate at the time.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

“We can confirm that a passenger opened the emergency exit door after arrival into Melbourne, which automatically deployed the slide,” the spokesperson said in a statement emailed to TIME. “We thank our passengers for their patience and understanding while our team assisted the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to manage this incident.”

The man was detained by staff at the airport and then arrested by the AFP, who later confirmed the man was taken to hospital, where he remains currently.

“AFP officers arrested a man for alleged aggressive behaviour and breaching aircraft safety protocols on a domestic service arriving from Sydney,” an AFP spokesperson said in a statement provided to TIME.

After the remaining passengers disembarked the aircraft, some spoke to news agencies about the incident. Audrey Varghese, who was on the flight, told 10 News First Melbourne that the man exhibited strange behavior.

“He charged a few rows ahead to the emergency exit, was pushing people out of the way and shoving them, and that’s when people started screaming and then he ripped open the emergency door,” Varghese claimed.

This is not the first time in recent history that a passenger has opened up an emergency exit door to an aircraft—nor the first time they were arrested for it. In January, an Aeromexico passenger opened the emergency exit and walked on the plane’s wing—it was seemingly in response to being stuck for hours on the tarmac, reportedly without air conditioning or water for passengers. The fellow passengers even wrote a joint statement supporting the man who made the unorthodox exit.

In 2020, a female passenger pulled a similar stunt—opening up the emergency exit on a Ukraine International Airlines plane to walk on the wing.

Though the motive is currently not known for why the man at Melbourne Airport walked on the wing, AFP says they are continuing to investigate this matter, and charges are likely to be laid at a future date.

source https://time.com/7013952/passenger-arrested-opening-plane-emergency-exit-door-walking-on-wing/

‘The Stuff That Black Girl Magic Is Made Of.’ Amanda Gorman on Her Big Night at the DNC

There’s a man lingering around the corner, singing, and Amanda Gorman is a smidge distracted. Just minutes ago, she stepped off the stage at the Democratic National Convention after performing her poem “This Sacred Scene,” and now she’s tucked herself into the quietest spot she can find in the stadium: the Chicago Bulls’ showers. “I’m so sorry,” the 26-year-old poet says, her long gown rustling through the phone as she and her minder hurry to shush whoever’s out there making noise. There’s a pause, and then, “Oh, my God!” A moment later: “We love you—we love you.” It was John Legend, passing through on his way backstage.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Gorman and Legend were just two of the big names lined up to rouse the crowd at the DNC on Aug. 21—Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Oprah also took the stage at the United Center, urging voters to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in their campaign. Gorman, who became the nation’s youngest inaugural poet when she performed “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s swearing-in in January 2021, originally had a different candidate, and a different tone, in mind as she began to think about a potential recitation at the DNC. It was only about a week ago that she got the official invitation to participate and began writing “This Sacred Scene” for this moment.

[video id=k6IRdzno]

The energy has been high at this year’s DNC, and Gorman’s recitation added to the mood. “Invite her at your own peril,” one of ABC’s anchors said as Gorman took the stage. “She certainly stole the show in 2021.” Dressed in a stately, icy blue gown, Gorman delivered a poem reframing the American dream: “Only now, approaching this rare air / Are we aware that perhaps the American dream / Isn’t a dream at all, but instead, a dare.”

After the performance, John Legend dispatched, Gorman spoke to TIME about her own presidential ambitions, who she thinks should recite at a potential Harris-Tim Walz Inauguration, and how she’s thinking about hope during this election season. She also shared details on her next book, exclusive to TIME.

You looked so confident and so poised as you recited tonight. How do you feel you’ve changed in the past three-plus years when it comes to your confidence, your presence, and your ability to hold a room?

I had to do a bit of growth in order to show up at the DNC in the way that I did. At the Inauguration, there’d only been a few hundred people there. They were all behind me. There was no one at the National Mall because of COVID and the insurrection. So it was actually an incredibly intimate way to participate in politics as a poet. When I got the invite for the DNC, I was honored, but I was also very nervous about what it would be like in such a different environment—to be inside, to be in a stadium, to have so many people watching not just digitally but this time in person. I had to go back to my fundamentals and my basics as a poet to make sure that the poem was as good as it could be, to make every line sharp, and to feel really confident and comfortable in expressing that and holding that space.

Read More: ‘Unity With Purpose.’ Amanda Gorman and Michelle Obama Discuss Art, Identity and Optimism

Tell me about your experience right as you stepped onstage—what is your energy like in those moments?

It’s kind of like, let’s do this. I have a very fake-it-till-you-make-it personal energy that I go by, because you step out and the first thing that I felt was like, Oh my God, this room is huge. I saw it during rehearsals, but it had been relatively empty. When I walked out on stage, I was so blown away by the positive response of the audience. I didn’t realize that so many people would know who I was or remember, so I just soaked that in because it felt so heartwarming.

I have to tell you, I just saw a tweet that said, “I can’t wait to vote for Amanda Gorman for President one day.”

That’s amazing. That’s so sweet. Yeah, I’ll be back. I’m here for Kamala and Walz this time, and, you know—10 more years, I’ll be back. 

What would it mean to you to see a Black woman elected president?

Oh, my God, I can’t even describe it. I’m sure it’s going to be a full body experience. It would be the greatest dreams of my ancestors realized. If I could see that happen, I don’t think I could want for anything else.

• Your Questions About the DNC, Answered
• The Biggest Moments From Joe Biden’s Speech
• Read Hillary Clinton’s Full Speech
• A Breakdown of Barack Obama’s Speech
• Key Moments From Tim Walz’s Speech

Do you see yourself reciting if Harris and Walz win?

That’s totally up to them. If they were to ask, I would think about it, but I honestly think I would love for Joy Harjo to recite. She’s an amazing poet, has served as U.S. Poet Laureate, and does incredible research and poetry about Native Americans and that historicity. She really deserves the spot, and the spot necessitates her.

Hope is a theme of the Democratic Party this season. It’s also a term that can sometimes feel like a buzzword. What do you make of hope as a theme? Does that word feel right to you, for where you are?

I would absolutely use hope. For me, hope isn’t something I possess—it’s something I practice. You have to wake up every day and work it like a muscle, and not in this La La Land, fake, superficial hope way where everything is fine and everything will work out, not the kind of hope that doesn’t pay attention to grief, loss, hurt, and longing. The most powerful and sustainable hope we have is hope that is invested in the totality of our human experience, and that includes the pain and the power—only then can you marshal it for worldwide change.

You’ve made your endorsement clear—are you feeling hopeful for the outcome of the election? Do you believe Harris will be President?

Absolutely. I believe she can and will win. Part of the mantra that the campaign and a lot of supporters have been using is “When we fight, we win.” And I believe in that wholeheartedly, not just for Kamala but for changemakers in general. Regardless of how the Presidential election turns out, we know that when women run that has massive impacts in our community. I think back to Hillary Clinton—a lot of people have characterized that as a failure, but when you look at the number of women politicians who entered public service, that was astronomically high after that. So I have faith that Kamala will win, and even if I’m terribly mistaken, which sometimes happens, just in the fight and just in running she will have won so many victories for us in representation and in hope. And that’s why you run—not just to become a head of a government, but also to inspire hope and dreaming in the next generation.

Let’s talk about your next book: Girls on the Rise, which is a children’s book coming in January based on an adapted version of your 2021 poem “We Rise.” The theme is obviously very apropos, so why this poem in this moment?

I’m so excited about this book because it really leans into a poem that I wrote a few years ago when I was a bit of a younger woman, and I was thinking about the importance of elevating female voices and listening to them, but also in a way that’s gender inclusive, because there’s so many ways to be and identify as a woman. So when I was thinking about my next children’s book, I really was like, in none of my children’s books has my femininity shown up in a vibrant way. Loveis Wise contributes so much in terms of the art and having this really expansive, visual definition of womanhood. I didn’t realize Kamala was going to be running when I wrote that book, but I couldn’t have chosen a more perfect time to indulge in the fantasy of having it out in the world.

Is there one line from the book that you want to call out and encourage people to hold in their minds during this season?

We are Girl,

Glowing and growing, 

Knowing where the wind is

blowing.

We are where change is going.

I love this line because it encapsulates how girls are always at the forefront of progress. 

You’re very intentional with your fashion and the colors you wear, and I’d love to hear the story behind your gown tonight at the DNC. Why did you choose it?

The dress is Solace London, in baby blue. I really like the color, not just because it’s similar to the color of the Democratic Party, but when I’m in therapy and I’m trying to envision things I want from my life—new joys, new peace—we call it my blue sky to imitate the sensation of laying in grass and looking at the sky and the clouds and daydreaming. So I really wanted to wear my blue-sky color to remind myself to dream and hope big.

And now I must know: Did you get to go see Oprah tonight?

I did get to see Oprah, which was so amazing because we’ve connected a lot—she’s done interviews with me, she bought my jewelry for the Inauguration, she’s so supportive and has been like a guardian angel on my shoulder—but we’ve never been in the same room together. I was texting her so excited, like, Oh my god, I can’t wait. To see her in person tonight was so wonderful. She gave me a big hug, and I was like, Oh, this is the stuff that Black girl magic is made of.

Read the full text of Amanda Gorman’s DNC poem, “This Sacred Scene” here:

We gather at this hallowed place
Because we believe in the American dream.
We face a race that tests if this country
We cherish shall perish from the earth,
And if our earth shall perish from this country.
It falls to us to make sure that we do not fall,
For a people that cannot stand together cannot stand at all.
We are one family,
Regardless of religion, class or color;
For what defines a patriot
Isn’t just our love of liberty,
But our love for one another–
Loud in our country’s call.
Because while we all love freedom,
It’s love that frees us all.
Empathy emancipates,
Making us greater than hate or vanity.
That is the American promise, powerful and pure:
Divided, we cannot endure,
But united, we can endeavor to humanize our democracy,
And endear democracy to humanity.
Make no mistake, cohering is the hardest task history ever wrote.
Yet tomorrow isn’t written by the odds of hardship,

But by the audacity of our hope; by the vitality of our vote.
Only now, approaching this rare air,
Are we aware that perhaps the American dream
Isn’t a dream at all, but, instead, a dare: To dream together.
Like a million roots tethered,
Branching up humbly,
Making one tree,
This is our country:
From many, one;
From battles won,
Our freedom’s rung;
Our kingdom come
Has just begun.
We redeem this sacred scene, ready for our journey from it.
Together, we must birth this early republic
And achieve an unearthly summit.
Let us not just believe in the American Dream.
Let us be worthy of it.

source https://time.com/7013701/amanda-gorman-dnc-poem-interview/

Pakistani Man to Remain in Officers’ Custody Over Misinformation That Sparked U.K. Rioting

LAHORE, Pakistan — A court in Pakistan on Thursday allowed investigators to question a man in their custody for four more days about his role in spreading misinformation that sparked widespread rioting in the U.K. earlier this month, officials said.

The court’s decision came a day after authorities charged the suspect Farhan Asif, 32, with cyber terrorism following his arrest from his home in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Asif, who is a freelance web developer, was produced before the court amid tight security. He was not allowed to talk to the media.

Kiran Muqeem, a prosecutor for the Federal Investigation Agency, told the court that Asif did not cooperate with officers after the same court the previous day allowed them to question him for a day. They demanded his custody for two weeks but the court said it would only allow it for four more days.

Muqeem later told reporters that Asif disseminated fake news and caused riots in England.

Asif was handcuffed and wearing blue shalwar kameez garments when brought to the court.

His lawyer Rana Rizwan told reporters that the court remanded his client into the custody of the federal agency in a hurry and without hearing him.

“We were informed by the court that the case of Asif would be taken up after lunch break. But the court took up the matter before the lunch break, and allowed FIA to keep him in their custody,” Rizwan said.

Asif is accused of spreading misinformation from YouTube and Facebook about the British teenage suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three girls and injured 10 other people on July 29 at a dance class in Northwest England.

The false information claimed that the suspect was a recently arrived asylum-seeker and had a name that suggested he was Muslim. After the misinformation led to a violent mob attacking a mosque near the site of the stabbing the next day, police took the unusual step of clarifying that the suspect was born in the U.K.

British media has widely reported that his parents are from Rwanda and are said to have Christian beliefs. Channel3 Now, an account on the X social media platform that purports to be a news channel, was one of the first outlets to report the false name, Ali Al-Shakati.

A Facebook account for the channel said it is managed by people in Pakistan and the U.S. But, officials say Asif was solely running the Channel3 Now, and he spread misinformation to gain more viewers.

source https://time.com/7013901/pakistani-man-officers-custody-misinformation-sparked-uk-rioting/

Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies Across American Schools Are Seriously Impacting Queer Youth

Nearly one in three LGBTQ+ students say their school has at least one anti-LGBTQ+ policy, a survey released Wednesday found. 

The survey was conducted by the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization that provides 24/7 crisis support for LGBTQ+ youth. About 18,000 LGBTQ+ youth, ages 13-24, were polled about whether students were able to do things like use their chosen name or pronouns and use locker rooms that matched their gender identity.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Many anti-LGBTQ+ rules in schools target students’ access to support services and affirmative spaces, though others were much broader—limiting conversations about LGBTQ+ topics both during classroom instruction and out of it. Schools with at least one anti-LGBTQ policy were also less likely to have a gay-straight alliance—a student-led club that is intended to be a safe space for queer individuals—or a gender-neutral bathroom, according to the survey. Seven percent of respondents also said that their school used to have a gay-straight alliance but stopped offering it.

The new survey adds to another Trevor Project survey published in May that found 40% of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the last year. The latest study didn’t re-measure suicidal ideation, but found that LGBTQ+ students attending more supportive school environments had lower suicide risk rates and reported fewer depressive symptoms compared to queer youth attending schools that were less supportive. Attending a school with anti-LGBTQ+ policies also meant students were more likely to be exposed to verbal and physical attacks, as well as unwanted sexual contact, because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.   

“These alarming findings signal that anti-LGBTQ+ school policies have real-life consequences on the mental health, well-being, and overall safety of LGBTQ+ youth,” Ronita Nath, Vice President of Research at The Trevor Project, told TIME. “Young people learn harmful and discriminatory behavior from the adults, communities, and institutions that raise them…When anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is normalized in school environments, it is then internalized by students and creates a culture of intolerance and hostility towards LGBTQ+ people in general.”

School districts and local legislatures have become hotbeds for culture wars across the U.S. At least eight states—including New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Alabama—explicitly forbid curriculum about LGBTQ+ people or topics, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank. By contrast, only seven states have laws that require LGBTQ+ inclusion in state education curriculum.  

And while anti-LGBTQ+ policies impact the queer community as a whole, transgender and nonbinary students are disproportionately impacted, according to Nath, as they confront barred access to sports teams and bathrooms, as well as parental notification laws, which require staff to inform parents or guardians of their child’s gender identity or pronouns. Other data by the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute looking at the broader effect of anti-LGBTQ+ policies, including those outside of classrooms, found that 93% of transgender youth ages 13 to 17 were living in a state that had passed or was considering a bill that targeted access to gender-affirming-care, the ability to use pronouns that match students’ gender identity, and more.

Anti-LGBTQ+ policies appear to be more prominent in certain regions. For instance, the survey found that 34% of LGBTQ+ youth living in the South reported going to a school that had at least one anti-LGBTQ+ policy—the highest rates in the country—followed by the Midwest at 29%.  

The impact of such policies is perhaps best seen in states like Florida, which Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, calls the “frontline in America’s fight against the far-right anti-LGBTQ agenda.” Gov. Ron DeSantis made headlines in 2022 when he signed a bill dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” that would ban public schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity. (This March, the state settled a lawsuit that allows students and school staff to write and speak about LGBTQ+ issues and people in classroom discussion, though the ban is still active in terms of classroom instruction.) A January 2023 study by UCLA’s School of Law’s Williams Institute found that 88% of LGBTQ+ parents living in Florida were concerned about the impact Don’t Say Gay would have on their children, and more than half of LGBTQ+ parents considered moving out of the state because of the bill. 

“Despite what proponents of anti-LGBTQ+ policies say, these efforts do not make school safer or better for any student. Instead, they stop LGBTQ+ students from being able to bring their full selves to school, and prevent school staff and allies from providing them with the support they need,” says Nath. “Making schools inclusive of LGBTQ+ students can provide a life-saving sense of belonging for young people.”

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental-health crisis or contemplating suicide, call or text 988. In emergencies, call 911, or seek care from a local hospital or mental health provider. 

source https://time.com/7012940/anti-lgbtq-policies-impacting-queer-youth/

What Kamala Harris Could Do for Afghan Women

Three years ago, Afghan women lost most of their civil rights overnight, when the Taliban marched into Kabul and quickly seized the country against little resistance. As Vice President Kamala Harris accepts the presidential nomination this week at the Democratic National Convention, the Taliban’s wholesale disregard for women’s rights is a stark contrast to the possibility of the first woman President in American history. But Harris, who has taken a strong stance on women’s rights, could break with previous U.S. policy failures and reset the U.S.-Afghan relationship in a way that genuinely prioritizes Afghan women.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Today, Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are prohibited from going to school. Women and girls are banned from many public spaces, are required to cover their faces in public, and are restricted from employment. These increasingly prohibitive fatwas—legal rulings under the Taliban’s perverse interpretation of Sharia law—severely restrict women’s movement and participation in society in what many are calling “gender apartheid.”

Read More: Why TIME Dedicated an Issue to Afghan Women Around the World

The horrific impact of gender apartheid in Afghanistan is unsurprising. Afghans are poorer, jobs have been decimated, civil society and media have collapsed, and the country now has one of the lowest Human Development Index rankings. The social, cultural, and political gains that were made for women during the U.S. war in Afghanistan have all but disappeared. The country remains the unhappiest in the world.

Yet Afghan women continue to resist. Despite serious risks to their safety, women are protesting in the streets under the slogan “Bread, Work, Freedom,” organizing underground schools just as they did in the 1990s, and allying with women’s rights champions like Malala Yousafzai and Angelina Jolie to raise global awareness.

With the prospect of a President Harris, Afghan women are wondering: can they expect an ally in the White House? 

President Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was catastrophic for Afghan families now painfully separated and, especially, for the women now repressed under Taliban rule. What’s more, a push to normalize U.S.-Taliban diplomatic relations is gaining momentum. The Taliban is now the U.S.’ primary counterterrorism partner in Afghanistan. Even U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres met with Taliban leaders in Doha in June, granting them more legitimacy and undermining women’s rights advocates who were excluded entirely from the gathering.

Instead, a President Harris could globalize her outspoken support for women’s rights to include Afghan women. She could embrace the effort to codify gender apartheid in the U.N.’s Crime Against Humanity treaty, allying herself with women in places like Afghanistan and Iran to elevate their cause while building trust with the U.S. government and an international system that has disregarded their issues.

The U.S. has already disbursed around $3 billion to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover. But Harris could step up that humanitarian funding, particularly to aid locally-led organizations working in Afghanistan to support women—recognizing that living under a gender apartheid system presents unique challenges. And she could recommit to offering asylum to Afghan women endangered by the Taliban. There are about 70,000 Afghan evacuees in the U.S and their future is still uncertain. A President Harris could secure their future by ensuring that the Afghan Adjustment Act passes through Congress.

More fundamentally, Harris could be the first President since Jimmy Carter who chooses to not view Afghanistan solely through a geopolitical lens—whether anti-Communism during the Soviet invasion or counterterrorism following 9/11. She could renegotiate the diplomatic relationship with the Taliban, making it conditional upon respect for women’s rights, including a guarantee of access to healthcare and education.

Some may argue that women’s rights are secondary to the need for partnership with the Taliban to counter the threat of a rising Islamic State-Khorasan in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. Indeed, Trump’s record suggests that a transactional approach would guide his Afghanistan policy. But 40 years of failed U.S. policies in Afghanistan are the result of this faulty thinking. 

Ultimately, Afghanistan is more stable and its people more successful when women are not repressed—when they can be educated and work.

A President Harris offers the chance of a reset.

source https://time.com/7013395/kamala-harris-afghanistan-women/