emma_goldman
14th October 2006, 14:14
http://www.zmag. org/content/ print_article. cfm?itemID= 11169§ionID= 49
ZNet | Afghanistan
Five Years Later, Afghanistan Still in Flames
by Zoya
October 11, 2006
Transcript of a speech by RAWA member Zoya at a benefit for
RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan) , called "Breaking the Propaganda of Silence,"
organized by the Afghan Women's Mission on October 7, 2006.
October 7th 2001 is a day that many believed to be the
beginning of a "new" Afghanistan as the US and its allies
started their "War on Terror." Terror was unknown to the US
until the 9/11 tragedy, but for RAWA and the vast majority
of our people it was the beginning of another tragedy for
Afghan people. Looking back to the US involvement in
Afghanistan, one could not expect that the US government
would think in the interests of our country. The US policy
in the Cold War period has sponsored one terrorist regime
after another. All kinds of tyrants have been America's
friends including the Afghan Mujahiddin.
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan received a group of bearded
men with turbans -- the Afghan Mujahiddin leaders. After
meeting them in the White House he said "these are the moral
equivalent of America's founding fathers". In August 1998,
President Bill Clinton ordered missile strikes on Osama Bin
Laden and his men in Afghanistan, who only a few years
earlier was the moral equivalent of George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson! These actions speak for themselves: for
the US government the terrorist of yesterday is the hero of
today, and the hero of yesterday becomes the terrorist of
today. For the US, "terrorist" has a different definition
than what people of the world understand.
Now five years have passed since the start of the US "war on
terror" in Afghanistan, which was trumpeted by the US media
to be for "democracy" and the "liberation" of Afghan people.
But today Afghanistan is still chained and burning in the
fires of both the Taliban and the criminal "Northern
Alliance" fundamentalists and the future of Afghanistan is
in serious jeopardy.
Considering the US involvements in other countries and in
the past 2 decades in our own land, most of our people know
very well the hidden nature of this war. It was the US
government who supported Pakistan in creating thousands of
religious schools from which the germ of the Taliban emerged
and supported Jahadi fundamentalist groups with billions of
dollars against the Soviet Union. Our founder, Meena, had
long ago warned that empowering such dirty and ignorant
terrorists will not only pose serious dangers for
Afghanistan but for the people of the whole world, and the
9/11 tragedy confirmed Meena's claims.
Immediately after 9/11 tragedy, the international community
awoke and started to talk about terrorism. The US invaded
Afghanistan but it is crystal clear that US did not enter
Afghanistan to liberate our people, but to punish its former
hirelings and servants and a bleeding, devastated and hungry
Afghanistan was bombed by the most advanced weaponry ever
created in human history. The oppression of Afghan women was
used as a justification to overthrow the Taliban regime.
Innocent lives, many more than those who lost their lives on
9/11, were taken.
No doubt the war on terror toppled the misogynist and
barbaric regime of Taliban. But it did not remove Islamic
fundamentalism, which is the root cause of misery for all
Afghan people; it just replaced one fundamentalist regime
with another.
Five years have passed since the so-called "democratic"
government of Hamid Karzai has been installed but the depth
of tragedy and miseries of Afghan people still remain
intact. Unlike what is being shown in the media, RAWA and
other human rights organizations like Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch paint a very different picture of
Afghanistan.
The large scale of corruption and fraud in the 2005
parliamentary elections by the fundamentalists are clear
indications that democracy cannot be practiced in a country
infected by the germ of fundamentalist terrorists. The votes
have been grabbed by the force of guns, money and
authoritative power.
Karzai turned his back on the hopes and expectations of our
people and failed to fulfill his commitments. He betrayed
the people's trust by relying on warlords. By compromising
with infamous fundamentalist warlords, and appointing them
to high governmental posts Karzai has failed to bring any
radical positive change. Now we have a parliament full of
warlords. The most disgusting faces include Jehadi criminal
leaders, former Taliban commanders and some former puppets
of the USSR. Those who ought to be prosecuted before anyone
else for their crimes against our nation are going to
legislate to the Afghan people! The rule of private armies
of the warlords in different parts of the country and
infighting between different groups of them has resulted in
the loss of innocent lives.
Opium poppy cultivation has expanded and the government has
stopped poor and hungry farmers from growing opium but let
the powerful warlords keep dealing in the dirty drug trade.
It is a shameful fact for Karzai and the US government that
Afghanistan now produces 92 percent of the world's supply of
opium. Even some ministers have acknowledged the fact that
some cabinet ministers are deeply implicated in the drug
trade. Afghanistan has become a Narco-State. It is a
disgusting fact that Gen. Mohammed Daoud, a former warlord
and well-known drug-trafficker, is now Afghanistan' s deputy
interior minister in charge of the anti-drug effort -- under
his command drug-traffickers act with impunity.
Afghanistan has received 12 billion dollars in aid while
another 10 billion more were pledged at the London
conference. But there aren't any signs of serious
reconstruction. Our people have not benefited from the
billions of reconstruction dollars due to theft by the
warlords or misuse by NGOs. Even a fraction of this aid has
not been used for the benefit and welfare of our people.
Government corruption and fraud directs billions of dollars
into the pockets of high-ranking officials. It is such a big
shame that the government still cannot provide electricity,
food and water for its people.
The security situation in Afghanistan is critical. It is
like a ticking bomb, and it is very possible that at any
time a civil war will break out. Women and girls have been
particularly affected by the insecurity. There are hundreds
of attacks on teachers, students and schools across
Afghanistan, with girls' schools being particularly hard
hit. In most remote villages there are not even any signs of
schools for girls. Hundreds of Afghan women have committed
suicide due to these intense pressures and hopelessness.
When the entire nation is living under the shadow of guns
and warlordism, how can its women enjoy their basic freedoms?
A large number of refugees in Pakistan and Iran are still
afraid to return home because of the lack of security, jobs,
shelter and because of the continuation of ethnic and
religious conflicts among warlords. A large number of people
have even returned to Pakistan due to the insecurity.
Armed men from the "Northern Alliance" raped 14 year old
Fatima and her mother, 11 year old Rahima and a 60 year old
grandmother. The 30 year old Amina was stoned to death; the
9 year old Saima was casually tortured and sacrificed for
her father's violence; Gulbar was burnt by her husband for
her refusal to go with her brutal husband; the famous poet
Nadia Anjuman became the victim of her husband's violence
because he and others are assured of the support of warlords
of the "Northern Alliance" misogynists. Anjuman's husband
knows that the law will not be enforced to bring him to justice.
Despite the presence of more than six thousand UN peace
keeping troops in Kabul and other cities, NGOs and UN
foreign workers are kidnapped in broad daylight, and
innocent people are killed in suicide bomb missions.
According to the United Nations, Afghanistan is a land that
is facing health disasters even worse than the lands struck
by the 2004 Tsunami. 700 children and 50-70 women die each
day due to the lack of health services. Afghanistan is a
land where hundreds of people die because of a lack of food
and bitter winters, just few kilometers away from the
presidential palace. These statistics do not even begin to
address the human disaster in the rural areas.
Fed up with the hardships they have been facing over the
years, 65 per cent of the 50,000 widows in Kabul see suicide
the only option to get rid of their miseries and desolation
as revealed in a survey conducted by UNIFEM. The report
revealed that a majority of Afghan women are victims of
mental and sexual violence. Calling it a bitter fact, the
UNIFEM report also revealed that the average life span of
Afghan women was 20 years less than women living in other
parts of the world and child and maternal mortality rates
were still as high as 1,600 to 1,900 women out of every
100,000 who die during childbirth. Afghanistan is ranked
175th out of 177 countries in the UN Human Development Index.
Despite all this suffering, recently Karzai's cabinet
approved a proposal to reestablish the most misogynist
Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of
Vice which was a notorious symbol of arbitrary abuses,
particularly against Afghan women and girls under the
Taliban. President Karzai claims that one of his
government's achievements is establishing freedom of speech
and _expression in Afghanistan. But the facts prove contrary
to this claim: Last year alone, there were more than 40
attacks on journalistic freedom in Afghanistan, including
two murders and several cases of abduction, assault and
imprisonment, according to the Afghan Independent
Journalists Association. Recently the Afghan Journalists
Union also complained of the degree of censorship imposed on
them by the government.
Instead of relying on those people who may have brought the
criminal warlords to trial, Karzai appoints these criminals
to higher posts. For instance, this year he appointed 13
former commanders with links to drugs smuggling, organized
crime and illegal militias to senior positions in the police
force.
Apart from the meddling of neighboring countries like
Pakistan and Iran, the anarchic situation in Afghanistan and
the people's disappointment with the current set-up has led
directly to the rise of the Taliban and the failure of the
NATO mission. There are many reports which say that the
"Northern Alliance" commanders are selling weapons and
ammunitions to Taliban fighters.
The "Northern Alliance" and central government try to point
to secondary issues such as the meddling of neighboring
countries as a prime reason for instability in the country.
But today even Human Rights Watch and other human rights
groups reaffirm RAWA's point of view. HRW announced on
September 27th 2006, "The Taliban and other anti-government
groups in Afghanistan have gained public support due to the
Afghan government's failure to provide essential security
and development, and have used the presence of warlords in
the government to discredit President Karzai's
administration and its international backers."
Afghans, all justice-loving people, and international human
rights organizations are demanding the trial of warlords and
former pro-Moscow puppets. But rather than being brought to
justice, they were shamelessly offered higher positions and
were given opportunities to find a way to parliament with
the support of the US and its allies.
The US government has put Gulbuddin Hekmatyar on its list of
most wanted terrorists, but his party has 34 members in the
Afghan parliament who were elected in an election which was
mockery of democracy. The US works with pro-American
fundamentalists, but opposes anti-American fundamentalists.
Barbara Ehrenreich in her address to Barnard College in May
18, 2004 said, "I opposed the first Gulf War in 1991, but at
the same time I was proud of our servicewomen and delighted
that their presence irked their Saudi hosts. Secretly, I
hoped that the presence of women would eventually change the
military, making it more respectful of other people and
their cultures, more capable of genuine peace keeping.
That's what I thought, but I don't think that any more. A
lot of things died with photos of Abu Ghraib. The last moral
justification for the war with Iraq died with those photos."
By witnessing the crimes and brutalities of the Northern
Alliance terrorists, the foot soldiers of the US in
Afghanistan in the so-called war against Taliban, even
humanity should die for Barbara and all Americans, when they
see their government support such misogynist and dark-minded
killers and impose them on the Afghan people.
Today the friends of the US government in Afghanistan are
dark-minded oppressors such as Rasoul Sayyaf, Burhanuddin
Rabbani, Mohaqiq, Younis Qanoni, Karim Khalili, Qasim Fahim,
Dr. Abdullah, Ismail Khan, Hazrat Ali, Abdul Rashid Dostum,
Sibghatullah Mojaddidi and others -- those who should be
prosecuted for their crimes against Afghan people. The US is
relying on the above-mentioned "Northern Alliance" leaders
and commanders who turned Afghanistan into a hell from
1992-1996 and still are a threat to the stability and peace.
They are a threat not only to our country but their cancer
will spread out to other countries and all over the world.
The US still ignores the important words of Martin Luther
King: "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Kathy Gannon, an expert in Afghanistan issues, justly states
that "the US is not interested in peace in Afghanistan. The
people who killed thousands, who patronized the drug
business are in charge of the country."
Dear friends, in this short time it is not possible to cover
all the details of the plight of my crying nation but I hope
you have realized that my devastated country is not free at
all. We strongly believe that conditions will not change
positively and Afghanistan will not be liberated from the
dirt of terrorism and fundamentalism as long as the warlords
are not disarmed and removed from the political scene and
brought to trial for their war crimes.
US bombs, B52s and the presence of thousands US troops is
not to meant to bring about liberation or establish
democracy in our country. The people of the US should know
that their troops only serve the strategic interests of the
US government and make things worse in Afghanistan.
Liberation should be achieved by the people of a country and
they must fight for their own liberation. The ongoing
developments in Afghanistan and Iraq prove this claim.
RAWA has been advocating for a democratic and secular
government as the only cure to the wounds of Afghan people
and particularly women. As women living in this very
un-liberated country, it is clear that outspoken RAWA
members who advocate against warlords and fundamentalism
remain at high risk in a country still controlled by armed
warlords and fundamentalists. After 27 years of underground
resistance, RAWA continues its struggle to provide for the
needs of the Afghan people, to empower women, and to work
for democracy, peace, freedom and human rights for all.
Clearly the main obstacle to the establishment of women's
rights in Afghanistan is the presence of fundamentalism as a
political and military force. When there are
fundamentalists, there will be hostility against women and
their struggle for equal rights. Only in a society based
democracy and secularism can the rights of women be
guaranteed. The fundamentalists who misuse religion and
ancient tradition to oppress women are still prevalent. As a
result RAWA's mission for women's rights is far from over
and our work continues.
RAWA has concentrated on raising awareness and organizing
masses of women in legal and social sectors, and increasing
education and literacy among them. We strongly believe that
education is power and Afghan women cannot fight for their
rights as long as they are not equipped with this sharpest
weapon against ignorance and fundamentalism. With the
weapons of education, Afghan women's rights could not be
ignored by any government in the country.
RAWA has asked time and again that those who are the real
friends of our people should support democratic forces and
not our bloody enemies. They should put pressure to remove
fundamentalists from power and disarm criminal commanders
and bring the criminals to justice through an international
court.
RAWA assures all its friends and supporters around the world
that we will not for a moment give up our struggle for
freedom, democracy and women's rights in our
fundamentalism- blighted Afghanistan. We will continue our
committed pledge to tell the truth, even if the pledge
requires us to pay a high price. Telling the truth is always
revolutionary so we will remain revolutionary forever. But
it is impossible for us to continue this hard struggle
without your practical support.
If the enemies of democracy and peace unite why shouldn't
the ant-fundamentalist and freedom-loving people all over
the world get united? Please raise your loud and firm voice
with us together against injustice and to defend democracy
and freedom. To quote a well known saying, "the silence of
good people is worse than the action of bad people."
Zoya is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of RAWA.
More information at
http://www.rawa. org
http://www.afghanwo mensmission. org
ZNet | Afghanistan
Five Years Later, Afghanistan Still in Flames
by Zoya
October 11, 2006
Transcript of a speech by RAWA member Zoya at a benefit for
RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan) , called "Breaking the Propaganda of Silence,"
organized by the Afghan Women's Mission on October 7, 2006.
October 7th 2001 is a day that many believed to be the
beginning of a "new" Afghanistan as the US and its allies
started their "War on Terror." Terror was unknown to the US
until the 9/11 tragedy, but for RAWA and the vast majority
of our people it was the beginning of another tragedy for
Afghan people. Looking back to the US involvement in
Afghanistan, one could not expect that the US government
would think in the interests of our country. The US policy
in the Cold War period has sponsored one terrorist regime
after another. All kinds of tyrants have been America's
friends including the Afghan Mujahiddin.
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan received a group of bearded
men with turbans -- the Afghan Mujahiddin leaders. After
meeting them in the White House he said "these are the moral
equivalent of America's founding fathers". In August 1998,
President Bill Clinton ordered missile strikes on Osama Bin
Laden and his men in Afghanistan, who only a few years
earlier was the moral equivalent of George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson! These actions speak for themselves: for
the US government the terrorist of yesterday is the hero of
today, and the hero of yesterday becomes the terrorist of
today. For the US, "terrorist" has a different definition
than what people of the world understand.
Now five years have passed since the start of the US "war on
terror" in Afghanistan, which was trumpeted by the US media
to be for "democracy" and the "liberation" of Afghan people.
But today Afghanistan is still chained and burning in the
fires of both the Taliban and the criminal "Northern
Alliance" fundamentalists and the future of Afghanistan is
in serious jeopardy.
Considering the US involvements in other countries and in
the past 2 decades in our own land, most of our people know
very well the hidden nature of this war. It was the US
government who supported Pakistan in creating thousands of
religious schools from which the germ of the Taliban emerged
and supported Jahadi fundamentalist groups with billions of
dollars against the Soviet Union. Our founder, Meena, had
long ago warned that empowering such dirty and ignorant
terrorists will not only pose serious dangers for
Afghanistan but for the people of the whole world, and the
9/11 tragedy confirmed Meena's claims.
Immediately after 9/11 tragedy, the international community
awoke and started to talk about terrorism. The US invaded
Afghanistan but it is crystal clear that US did not enter
Afghanistan to liberate our people, but to punish its former
hirelings and servants and a bleeding, devastated and hungry
Afghanistan was bombed by the most advanced weaponry ever
created in human history. The oppression of Afghan women was
used as a justification to overthrow the Taliban regime.
Innocent lives, many more than those who lost their lives on
9/11, were taken.
No doubt the war on terror toppled the misogynist and
barbaric regime of Taliban. But it did not remove Islamic
fundamentalism, which is the root cause of misery for all
Afghan people; it just replaced one fundamentalist regime
with another.
Five years have passed since the so-called "democratic"
government of Hamid Karzai has been installed but the depth
of tragedy and miseries of Afghan people still remain
intact. Unlike what is being shown in the media, RAWA and
other human rights organizations like Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch paint a very different picture of
Afghanistan.
The large scale of corruption and fraud in the 2005
parliamentary elections by the fundamentalists are clear
indications that democracy cannot be practiced in a country
infected by the germ of fundamentalist terrorists. The votes
have been grabbed by the force of guns, money and
authoritative power.
Karzai turned his back on the hopes and expectations of our
people and failed to fulfill his commitments. He betrayed
the people's trust by relying on warlords. By compromising
with infamous fundamentalist warlords, and appointing them
to high governmental posts Karzai has failed to bring any
radical positive change. Now we have a parliament full of
warlords. The most disgusting faces include Jehadi criminal
leaders, former Taliban commanders and some former puppets
of the USSR. Those who ought to be prosecuted before anyone
else for their crimes against our nation are going to
legislate to the Afghan people! The rule of private armies
of the warlords in different parts of the country and
infighting between different groups of them has resulted in
the loss of innocent lives.
Opium poppy cultivation has expanded and the government has
stopped poor and hungry farmers from growing opium but let
the powerful warlords keep dealing in the dirty drug trade.
It is a shameful fact for Karzai and the US government that
Afghanistan now produces 92 percent of the world's supply of
opium. Even some ministers have acknowledged the fact that
some cabinet ministers are deeply implicated in the drug
trade. Afghanistan has become a Narco-State. It is a
disgusting fact that Gen. Mohammed Daoud, a former warlord
and well-known drug-trafficker, is now Afghanistan' s deputy
interior minister in charge of the anti-drug effort -- under
his command drug-traffickers act with impunity.
Afghanistan has received 12 billion dollars in aid while
another 10 billion more were pledged at the London
conference. But there aren't any signs of serious
reconstruction. Our people have not benefited from the
billions of reconstruction dollars due to theft by the
warlords or misuse by NGOs. Even a fraction of this aid has
not been used for the benefit and welfare of our people.
Government corruption and fraud directs billions of dollars
into the pockets of high-ranking officials. It is such a big
shame that the government still cannot provide electricity,
food and water for its people.
The security situation in Afghanistan is critical. It is
like a ticking bomb, and it is very possible that at any
time a civil war will break out. Women and girls have been
particularly affected by the insecurity. There are hundreds
of attacks on teachers, students and schools across
Afghanistan, with girls' schools being particularly hard
hit. In most remote villages there are not even any signs of
schools for girls. Hundreds of Afghan women have committed
suicide due to these intense pressures and hopelessness.
When the entire nation is living under the shadow of guns
and warlordism, how can its women enjoy their basic freedoms?
A large number of refugees in Pakistan and Iran are still
afraid to return home because of the lack of security, jobs,
shelter and because of the continuation of ethnic and
religious conflicts among warlords. A large number of people
have even returned to Pakistan due to the insecurity.
Armed men from the "Northern Alliance" raped 14 year old
Fatima and her mother, 11 year old Rahima and a 60 year old
grandmother. The 30 year old Amina was stoned to death; the
9 year old Saima was casually tortured and sacrificed for
her father's violence; Gulbar was burnt by her husband for
her refusal to go with her brutal husband; the famous poet
Nadia Anjuman became the victim of her husband's violence
because he and others are assured of the support of warlords
of the "Northern Alliance" misogynists. Anjuman's husband
knows that the law will not be enforced to bring him to justice.
Despite the presence of more than six thousand UN peace
keeping troops in Kabul and other cities, NGOs and UN
foreign workers are kidnapped in broad daylight, and
innocent people are killed in suicide bomb missions.
According to the United Nations, Afghanistan is a land that
is facing health disasters even worse than the lands struck
by the 2004 Tsunami. 700 children and 50-70 women die each
day due to the lack of health services. Afghanistan is a
land where hundreds of people die because of a lack of food
and bitter winters, just few kilometers away from the
presidential palace. These statistics do not even begin to
address the human disaster in the rural areas.
Fed up with the hardships they have been facing over the
years, 65 per cent of the 50,000 widows in Kabul see suicide
the only option to get rid of their miseries and desolation
as revealed in a survey conducted by UNIFEM. The report
revealed that a majority of Afghan women are victims of
mental and sexual violence. Calling it a bitter fact, the
UNIFEM report also revealed that the average life span of
Afghan women was 20 years less than women living in other
parts of the world and child and maternal mortality rates
were still as high as 1,600 to 1,900 women out of every
100,000 who die during childbirth. Afghanistan is ranked
175th out of 177 countries in the UN Human Development Index.
Despite all this suffering, recently Karzai's cabinet
approved a proposal to reestablish the most misogynist
Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of
Vice which was a notorious symbol of arbitrary abuses,
particularly against Afghan women and girls under the
Taliban. President Karzai claims that one of his
government's achievements is establishing freedom of speech
and _expression in Afghanistan. But the facts prove contrary
to this claim: Last year alone, there were more than 40
attacks on journalistic freedom in Afghanistan, including
two murders and several cases of abduction, assault and
imprisonment, according to the Afghan Independent
Journalists Association. Recently the Afghan Journalists
Union also complained of the degree of censorship imposed on
them by the government.
Instead of relying on those people who may have brought the
criminal warlords to trial, Karzai appoints these criminals
to higher posts. For instance, this year he appointed 13
former commanders with links to drugs smuggling, organized
crime and illegal militias to senior positions in the police
force.
Apart from the meddling of neighboring countries like
Pakistan and Iran, the anarchic situation in Afghanistan and
the people's disappointment with the current set-up has led
directly to the rise of the Taliban and the failure of the
NATO mission. There are many reports which say that the
"Northern Alliance" commanders are selling weapons and
ammunitions to Taliban fighters.
The "Northern Alliance" and central government try to point
to secondary issues such as the meddling of neighboring
countries as a prime reason for instability in the country.
But today even Human Rights Watch and other human rights
groups reaffirm RAWA's point of view. HRW announced on
September 27th 2006, "The Taliban and other anti-government
groups in Afghanistan have gained public support due to the
Afghan government's failure to provide essential security
and development, and have used the presence of warlords in
the government to discredit President Karzai's
administration and its international backers."
Afghans, all justice-loving people, and international human
rights organizations are demanding the trial of warlords and
former pro-Moscow puppets. But rather than being brought to
justice, they were shamelessly offered higher positions and
were given opportunities to find a way to parliament with
the support of the US and its allies.
The US government has put Gulbuddin Hekmatyar on its list of
most wanted terrorists, but his party has 34 members in the
Afghan parliament who were elected in an election which was
mockery of democracy. The US works with pro-American
fundamentalists, but opposes anti-American fundamentalists.
Barbara Ehrenreich in her address to Barnard College in May
18, 2004 said, "I opposed the first Gulf War in 1991, but at
the same time I was proud of our servicewomen and delighted
that their presence irked their Saudi hosts. Secretly, I
hoped that the presence of women would eventually change the
military, making it more respectful of other people and
their cultures, more capable of genuine peace keeping.
That's what I thought, but I don't think that any more. A
lot of things died with photos of Abu Ghraib. The last moral
justification for the war with Iraq died with those photos."
By witnessing the crimes and brutalities of the Northern
Alliance terrorists, the foot soldiers of the US in
Afghanistan in the so-called war against Taliban, even
humanity should die for Barbara and all Americans, when they
see their government support such misogynist and dark-minded
killers and impose them on the Afghan people.
Today the friends of the US government in Afghanistan are
dark-minded oppressors such as Rasoul Sayyaf, Burhanuddin
Rabbani, Mohaqiq, Younis Qanoni, Karim Khalili, Qasim Fahim,
Dr. Abdullah, Ismail Khan, Hazrat Ali, Abdul Rashid Dostum,
Sibghatullah Mojaddidi and others -- those who should be
prosecuted for their crimes against Afghan people. The US is
relying on the above-mentioned "Northern Alliance" leaders
and commanders who turned Afghanistan into a hell from
1992-1996 and still are a threat to the stability and peace.
They are a threat not only to our country but their cancer
will spread out to other countries and all over the world.
The US still ignores the important words of Martin Luther
King: "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Kathy Gannon, an expert in Afghanistan issues, justly states
that "the US is not interested in peace in Afghanistan. The
people who killed thousands, who patronized the drug
business are in charge of the country."
Dear friends, in this short time it is not possible to cover
all the details of the plight of my crying nation but I hope
you have realized that my devastated country is not free at
all. We strongly believe that conditions will not change
positively and Afghanistan will not be liberated from the
dirt of terrorism and fundamentalism as long as the warlords
are not disarmed and removed from the political scene and
brought to trial for their war crimes.
US bombs, B52s and the presence of thousands US troops is
not to meant to bring about liberation or establish
democracy in our country. The people of the US should know
that their troops only serve the strategic interests of the
US government and make things worse in Afghanistan.
Liberation should be achieved by the people of a country and
they must fight for their own liberation. The ongoing
developments in Afghanistan and Iraq prove this claim.
RAWA has been advocating for a democratic and secular
government as the only cure to the wounds of Afghan people
and particularly women. As women living in this very
un-liberated country, it is clear that outspoken RAWA
members who advocate against warlords and fundamentalism
remain at high risk in a country still controlled by armed
warlords and fundamentalists. After 27 years of underground
resistance, RAWA continues its struggle to provide for the
needs of the Afghan people, to empower women, and to work
for democracy, peace, freedom and human rights for all.
Clearly the main obstacle to the establishment of women's
rights in Afghanistan is the presence of fundamentalism as a
political and military force. When there are
fundamentalists, there will be hostility against women and
their struggle for equal rights. Only in a society based
democracy and secularism can the rights of women be
guaranteed. The fundamentalists who misuse religion and
ancient tradition to oppress women are still prevalent. As a
result RAWA's mission for women's rights is far from over
and our work continues.
RAWA has concentrated on raising awareness and organizing
masses of women in legal and social sectors, and increasing
education and literacy among them. We strongly believe that
education is power and Afghan women cannot fight for their
rights as long as they are not equipped with this sharpest
weapon against ignorance and fundamentalism. With the
weapons of education, Afghan women's rights could not be
ignored by any government in the country.
RAWA has asked time and again that those who are the real
friends of our people should support democratic forces and
not our bloody enemies. They should put pressure to remove
fundamentalists from power and disarm criminal commanders
and bring the criminals to justice through an international
court.
RAWA assures all its friends and supporters around the world
that we will not for a moment give up our struggle for
freedom, democracy and women's rights in our
fundamentalism- blighted Afghanistan. We will continue our
committed pledge to tell the truth, even if the pledge
requires us to pay a high price. Telling the truth is always
revolutionary so we will remain revolutionary forever. But
it is impossible for us to continue this hard struggle
without your practical support.
If the enemies of democracy and peace unite why shouldn't
the ant-fundamentalist and freedom-loving people all over
the world get united? Please raise your loud and firm voice
with us together against injustice and to defend democracy
and freedom. To quote a well known saying, "the silence of
good people is worse than the action of bad people."
Zoya is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of RAWA.
More information at
http://www.rawa. org
http://www.afghanwo mensmission. org