(RAWA) Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan .... in
Afghanistan!
.....................................
(Sima Wali is the Executive Director of Refugee Women in Development)
The Politics Of Abandonment By Sima Wali
Ever since my return from the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan where I
listened to the voices of hundreds of increasingly desperate women and men,
I have anguished over how to explain what I have learned - that despite the
growing awareness of the total destruction the war in Afghanistan has caused
- the true needs, wants and desires of the Afghan people are largely absent
from campaigns waged on their behalf in the United States. Should this lack
of understanding continue for much
longer, the people who waged an unrelenting struggle against the forces of
outside domination with the backing of the United States will soon fall to a
far more pervasive and determined enemy.
As an Afghan activist who has worked for 20 years to bring about sustainable
change in the living conditions of Afghan women and men, I still grieve for
the Afghanistan that has been lost. But what disturbs me more is the new
Afghanistan that is emerging to replace it. The failure of the West to
influence events in Afghanistan is not due only to the growth of extremist
Islam and tribalism. The failure of the West in Afghanistan is a direct
result of the long standing inability of Western institutions to adjust to
the realities of what needs to be done and to listen to the voices of the
vast majority of Afghans who are willing and capable of ushering in
democratic change.
This is a bias that permeates American thinking. It was o gain a fresh
picture of this problem that I left the safety and security of the United
States and embarked on a mission to Pakistan. And I tell this story so that
you will know I carry with me the voices and the tears of the Afghan people
in their desperate efforts to survive what has come to be seen as an American
policy of abandonment.
The women of Afghanistan and their male escorts braved minefields and
dangerous mountain passes to secretly meet with me in a dusty town across the
border where Afghan refugees live in primitive conditions. Just as I arrived
in Peshawar, many new arrivals had just crossed from Afghanistan - fleeing
the recent drought and war conditions. During the two weeks I listened to the
voices of the Afghan women who run schools, provide health services and
conduct human rights activities while
providing social services to war-affected Afghans inside Afghanistan and
Pakistan. Traumatized by 21 years of war, they constantly spoke of severe
poverty, suicide and the growing hopelessness that sees their dreams for a
free Afghanistan swallowed by an army of Islamist mercenaries from all over
the world armed and supplied by Pakistan.
My colleagues and I met with 45 civic organizations led by Afghan women and
men representing the ethnic, gender, age and sectarian divides. Because I am
an Afghan, they freely voiced their trust in me, speaking in their own
language to tell me things they cannot easily divulge to others. They
universally echoed one aspiration. "We are looking to you to amplify our
voices which remain silenced to people in the free world."
I still hear their cries as they pleaded for me to "bear witness to our
suffering," and "get those of our faith to help us solve our own problems."
These Afghan women know they are now among the poorest of the world's poor,
telling me "we are now a nation of female beggars." But most tragically of
all they know "the world has forgotten us." "We fought to bring an end to
communism with the help of the United States," they told me, "but it too has
abandoned us."
The Afghans are hungry and traumatized, with no health services to care for
them, no access to education to teach them skills or societal resources to
assist them in gaining them, while they are forbidden from operating civic
institutions. "We are a proud nation but our dignity has been trampled
upon," they desperately told me over and over again.
These are the yet unheard voices of the grassroots community leaders who are
rebuilding the shattered lives of traumatized women, men, elderly,
handicapped, orphaned children and landmine victims - against all odds. But
if you presume that the work of these courageous women and men are supported
by international relief agencies you are mistaken.
I found a massive deterioration in the situation of Afghans living in
Pakistan from even two years ago. I was ardently sought out by ordinary
Afghan citizens, the youth, community leaders as well as political leaders
all beseeching me to witness the effect of misguided refugee policies and
their callous disregard for human lives.
Human Rights Issues in Pakistan
Although some attention has been paid to the problems of Afghans inside
Afghanistan, little attention is given to the estimated 2 million Afghan
refugees, the majority of whom are women living in exile in Pakistan. These
numbers are increasing daily due to drought and gender-based persecution.
Although many Afghan-run community associations are based in Pakistan and
extend their services to Afghans caught in the war zones inside Afghanistan,
only a few groups have permits to function in Pakistan. The others, who are
completely isolated from international donor agencies or the U.N. system are
harassed and occasionally shut down.
During my visit to Pakistan, many Afghan educators bitterly complained that
they were being harassed by Pakistani authorities. They are forbidden the
proper registration documents and thus denied the status to enable them to
serve their communities.
Even in those few cases where they are allowed, they must contend with high
rents charged by host country landlords. And where can these Afghans take
their grievances? Nowhere. The majority of Afghans living in exile in
Pakistan are termed "de facto" refugees and are not granted official status
by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a UN entity
mandated with refugee care and protection.
The majority of Afghans who have sought asylum feel that the Pakistani town,
Peshawar, is a microcosm of life under the Taliban here refugees told me they
regularly experience human rights abuses. Our children are forced into child
labor" the teachers told me, complaining that "children fall asleep in
classes" after coming to school tired from their jobs. Forced to study in a
foreign language (Urdu) with no standard curriculum, Afghan children are
gradually becoming indoctrinated to an alien culture.
Beyond the Gender Divide:
Since the advent of the Taliban and ensuing gender-restraining edicts
against women, much attention in the West has been focused on what has come
to be known as "gender-apartheid." Although American feminists and
the media have rightly focused on the situation of Afghan women, no attention
has been paid to the supportive role of their Afghan men. These Afghan
women-led community-based groups lack training, information, permits, fax
machines, telephones, paid staff and computers to conduct their services. But
most important of all, Afghan women lack mobility.
Afghan men have stepped in to provide women-specific education, agricultural
training, and serve as intermediaries in the market place. Afghan women I
interviewed repeatedly requested that their men be supported in order to
advance the cause of Afghan women and not be classified as part of the
problem. I was heartened to witness the passionate defense of Afghan women's
leadership and empowerment by Afghan men from various ethnicities. However,
in the West this vital contribution is missed.
Western Solutions that create more problems - Two examples.
1. Creating schools for Afghan Girls in Pakistan
In an attempt to alleviate the harsh effects of Taliban edicts barring
female education, the U.S. government has designated funds for the education
of Afghan girls. But these good intentions have created yet another problem.
While educating Afghan girls, these programs keep boys out. This misguided
approach has led many Afghan families to resort to the only recourse
available to them - sending their boys to the Pakistani seminaries - the very
seminaries where the Taliban are schooled. One male educator passionately
defended schooling for young boys as well as girls by saying, "If keeping
girls from education it is tantamount to cutting off one arm, keeping boys
from education cuts off the other. We need both arms to function."
2. Repatriation
While it is evident that conditions inside Afghanistan are far from
conducive to the return of Afghan refugees in "safety and dignity," the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.S. government are
funding a massive program to expedite the "voluntary" return of Afghans from
neighboring Iran and Pakistan. I was told over and over again by horrified
eye witnesses of the gaunt faces and hopelessness of the returnees. But
despite the UNHCR's full knowledge of the barren
conditions in the war zones, the process pushes ahead.
Sustainable Responses For The Future
A major shift in policy is the only solution to the dire problems of the 24
million Afghan people, of which according to the latest CIA estimates l2
million are women. But in order for that to happen, the West must listen to
the voices of the vast majority of Afghans who are willing and capable of
ushering in democratic change.
Though vitally important, emergency aid neglects the development of
community-based civic leadership, ignoring the very people necessary to
rebuild society. Innovative approaches such as empowering Afghan civic
leaders from across the ethnic, sectarian and gender divides are necessary
precursors to developing a tolerant, civil and democratic Afghan society.
Afghans want to be linked with democratic-minded and civic institutions in
the free world. But they need technical assistance and access to information
technology in order to implement exchange programs with the West. Rapid and
long-term development projects aimed at strengthening Afghan community-based
institutions through direct financial aid are priorities consistently
identified by the Afghan people.
Afghan Mythology
In those weeks I was in the field I had scant time to process the
overwhelming responsibility entrusted to me. But now, although I am humbled
by the authority given to me by my people, I feel personally empowered to
project their voice. I carry with me their pain and suffering. Yet I also
represent their triumph.
For over 200 years Afghanistan has been the object of Western Myth, a land
little understood but romanticized from Europe and America. That myth was
played upon following the Soviet invasion as the role of "Fiercely Religious
Freedom Fighters" won hearts and minds to the Afghan cause. During those
terrible years Afghans built many myths about the West as well, believing
that once our country was freed from the tyranny and slavery of an invading
nation we, as men and women could rebuild our land and share in a great
freedom by building on the foundation of democracy. The time to begin that
rebuilding is now.
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Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
Mailing Address: RAWA, P.O.Box 374, Quetta, Pakistan
Mobile: 0092-300-8551638
Fax: 001-760-2819855
E-mails: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
Home Page: http://www.rawa.org
Mirror site: http://my.rawa.org
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