A new chapter of Afghan history has been written. The Government of National Unity is formed. The Bilateral Security Agreement and the Status of Forces Agreement are signed with the United States and NATO. President Ghani has ordered a re-examination of the Kabul Bank Dossier1, instigated the development of legislation on harassment in educational institutions,2 and promised to appoint a female judge to the Supreme Court bench,3 not to forget the unprecedented4 act of publicly acknowledging his wife, Rula Ghani, whom he5 addressed as “BibiGul”, for her dedication to the cause of women’s rights during his inauguralspeech on29September2014.WhileAfghanshopethatpositivitywillprevailandgoodworkwill continue, both in words and in deeds, it is time for the concept of women’s leadership and the assumptions underlying women’s empowerment polices and strategies of the past 12 years to receive a reflective and depersonalized critical revisiting, with an aim to orient the work of the new establishment and its national and international partners.
