German Media Discourse and the War on Terror: Afghan Women as Heroines

Since the attacks on September 11th, 2001, much has been written regarding the oppression and the liberation of Afghan women. They have developed into one of the most prominent symbols of war reporting in the 21st century, but academia has thus far failed to explore the topic to its full extent. In particular, the literature has neglected to address the differences in representation specific to national contexts. Instead, a view that tends to overly homogenize “Western” discourse and emphasizes the construction of Afghan women as victims has been prevalent. Following a constructivist, comparative mixed methods approach, this project strives to add to the academic debate through the analysis of German elite newspapers. Germany, with a (strategic) culture and national identity heavily influenced by the experiences of World War II, presents an especially interesting case. A significant portion of both the German public and the armed forces themselves sees the Bundeswehr as “development workers in uniform”, which has influenced Germany´s presence and conduct in Afghanistan and has set the tone for the corresponding discourse in its national media. Framed as a humanitarian mission and, for a long time, never explicitly referred to as a war, the German discourse relies on constructions of Afghan women that deviate from the prominent, burqa-clad victim. In fact, for the intervention to be a successful one by German standards, the national discourse demands stories of female Afghan emancipation and agency to reassure the German public regarding the nature of the Bundeswehr´s engagement in Afghanistan and to underline its success.