Afghan Women Ask Anti-War Left to Turn Right

On Wednesday in London, an esteemed collection of Afghan women leaders met with the public in Britain's House of Commons to discuss the NATO and Karzai Administration's war strategy for Afghanistan. They called for NATO and Afghan political leaders to mainstream women's rights protection, but also asked anti-war activists to reconsider calls for immediate NATO withdrawal. Their argument may surprise you.

The event, "The Missing Link in Building Sustainable Peace in Afghanistan: Women's Priorities," starred the very professional Ms. Homa Sabri (UNIFEM), the eloquent Ms. Wazhma Frogh (social leader), and the passionate Ms. Orzala Asraf (civil society leader), and was chaired by energetic Member of Parliament (UK) Anne Milton. Also, Ms. Shinkai Karokhail, an unstoppable force from the Afghan parliament, and others spoke out. A shockingly small crowd of about 35 people attended, including people from Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, Women in Black, UN Dispatch, and others.

Sadly, there were only four men in the room; none were decision-makers on the Afghan strategy, which echoed the fact that there was rumored to be only one woman representing Afghans in the formal summit. Everyone at Wednesday's women's event was furious about these facts, not least the event speakers. However, they argued that even as they demanded greater prioritization of women's rights protection, greater reform of government, and a ban on negotiations with the Taliban, they must nevertheless back the NATO and Karzai administration's other strategic efforts to secure and rebuild their country.

The talk came one day before the UK-sponsored London Conference on Afghanistan led by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Afghan women leaders fear NATO and the Karzai Administration are so concerned with wooing radical insurgents away that they are falling into a bitter, painful irony in leaving women out of reconstruction talks. It follows that they believe that negotiating with the Taliban would force negotiators to consider arguments against women's participation.

Afghan women leaders speaking at the event, with Ms Asraf in front, clarified in response to a question from a woman in the anti-war left that women cannot be protected in Afghanistan, their equal representation promoted, if the Karzai regime, despite its many troubles, falls. Currently, that means the least bad option is to press not for an immediate withdrawal of NATO forces, but an urgent effort to reform and empower the central government in order to facilitate that withdrawal once success is guaranteed.

With troubled Karzai, they argue, they at least have many opportunities for women's leadership -- in parliament, universities, think tanks, NGOs, civil society, businesses, health care fields, and education, women are all there in areas where central power is consolidated -- but if the Taliban regains power all women leaders and their families will be forced to flee the country while other women and girls will be forced out of all workplaces, schools, and social spaces. It is an extremely difficult conundrum, a choice between least bad options.

Photo credit: ISAFMedia (Women attend a teacher's event in Herat, Afghanistan)