The Bravest Women of Afghanistan

[Call for Change]

The Bravest Women of Afghanista by Noorjahan Akbar

The majority of the people I meet in United States of America are unaware of most of the things going on in Afghanistan, which is why bold statements like that of Malalai Joya’s are taken at a face-value and herself as the representative of Afghan women. After her speeches little thought is put into doing research about how much truth they carry and even less time and patience is put into checking whether she has the credentials or the support of Afghan women to be their representative in the world.

When I first saw Malalai Joya’s speech at the Loya Jirga, I was astounded by her courage, not because she had said anything new, but because of where she said it. In Afghanistan, the majority of my friends and the people I meet openly condemn the warlords that populate most of the seats in the Parliament, the Senate and the Peace Jirga, however due to security threats they would not declare their mistrust towards warlords in the Loya Jirga. This might be because, unlike Ms. Joya, the majority of my friends do not have the backing of several embassies and advocacy organizations waiting for them to finish their speech to provide them with safe transportation back to their homes and outside Afghanistan.

Malalai Joya gained the support of many Afghans after her first speech; however her repetition of the same things in every other speech caused people to lose interest in her stance and question her authenticity. Now, the majority of the people in Afghanistan are not aware of the work Ms. Joya does, let alone supporting it. I believe that the majority of the people of Afghanistan do not back Joya’s claims and hence she cannot be a valid representative for Afghanistan.

A good example of this is the difference between Joya’s views on the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan and that of the majority of Afghan women. While Ms. Joya has turned into a lobbyist in the hands of those who want the troops out of Afghanistan without having any liable alternatives, according to a survey done by BBC, ABC News and Washington Post, in Afghanistan in December of 2010, 63 percent of Afghans back the presence of American forces and 54 percent support both the NATO and ISAF. Whether this statistic is accurate or not is open to debate. The point I want to make is that, unlike Ms. Joya, the majority of Afghan women fear the exit of foreign troops from Afghanistan for valid reasons. The Taliban regime was not only harsh and inhumane towards women, but also men, and also religious monitories or anyone who dared to question their authority. They enforced humiliating and inhumane punishments and took many lives and livelihoods in Afghanistan. Not only the educated elite, as it is sometimes imagined in West, but ordinary Afghans across the country suffered in their hands. I am not claiming Ms. Joya supports Taliban, but her emphasis on troops’ exit makes it seem like she has little care for the consequences of an abrupt exit for millions of Afghans who still have faith in international community’s commitment to Afghanistan.

The fight between the Taliban and the Afghan National Army, ISAF and NATO in Afghanistan has cost the country a lot. The increasing number of civilian causalities due to violence from the sides of the Taliban and the foreign troops is truly devastating and the majority of Afghans, myself included, are tired of wars and foreign occupations and would rather not have to deal with a war right now. However, there is a justified fear that in case the troops exit Afghanistan, the country will fall into chaos, like it did after the Soviet Union’s fall, and a group of religious fundamentalists and warlords will control the country. This is specially a threat to Afghan women, given that they will lose most of what they have gained risking their lives, the moment the Taliban or a coalition with them takes over the country. While having foreign troops in Afghanistan is not the ideal option for most of the nationalistic Afghans who prefer sovereignty to relative stability, security and achievements on the establishment human rights in the country, the truth is that the day they exit, given our government and how compromising it is towards the Taliban and warlords, women will lose everything they have gained so far. Even Ms. Joya will lose her right to free speech that allows her to continue her “activism.” Afghan women, especially the 43% of Afghan girls in schools, the women who make 30% of university students, the women who make 29% of the teachers, the women who represent 27% of the National Assembly, the women who produce 7.5% of contractual services for the Afghan government, and the hundreds of women in shelters and those who work at civil services organizations, are well aware of the horrific impacts of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and would not support Joya’s stand on this subject. Hence, Malalai Joya is not the representative of Afghan women in the world.

Another criticism I have of Ms. Joya and her supporters is their lack of a clear alternative or vision for when the country is empty of foreign troops. Given the weakness of the central government and the Afghan National Army, it is clear that power will lend itself to either the Taliban or the warlords or a coalition of both after the foreign troops exit the country. Ms. Joya has no clear idea of how she and others who advocate for disengagement of foreign troops in Afghanistan will be able to provide any security to the people of Afghanistan or guarantee any rights to Afghan women if the troops should exit. This criticism of the government and the foreign troops without having any alternatives is destructive and dangerous.

During an anti-war press conference in City University of New York on October 6, 2010, Malalai Joya made this statement: "today's situation of women is as catastrophic as it was under the domination of the Taliban ... Rape cases, acid attacks, killing of women is increasing rapidly." As an Afghan woman, who has worked in Afghanistan, with a focus on Afghan children and women’s issues, for seven years, I can testify that the oppression of Afghan women has not ended after the intervention of foreign troops. I have witnessed, written reports about and studied more cases of rape, self-immolation, and physical and sexual abuse of women than I can count. I agree with Ms. Joya’s claim on the existence of horrific discrimination and violence against Afghan women, but I ask whether lobbying against the foreign troops will help the situation. Ms. Joya’s statement is not only inaccurate, given women’s increasing participation in many aspects of public life in Afghanistan, but is also an insult to the struggles and achievements of Afghan women in the past ten years. Afghan women have stood against a misogynistic governmental system, laws, traditions and cultural values and have continued going to schools and jobs despite all the threats against them every day and continue to do so. As an Afghan woman, who has observed hundreds of women, including my mother and four sisters, risking all they have in the past ten years to speak up and stay active, I believe that saying that nothing has changed for Afghan women is saying that these women have done nothing and that is neither accurate nor fair.

While Joya’s called the “bravest women of Afghanistan,” I believe that the real brave women of Afghanistan are those who are working there every day, educating the children, standing in long lines of offices and banks for jobs, walking out of their houses to face insult and assault with every step they take, joining the police force and the army, and going to schools and universities every day. The bravest women of Afghanistan are the 23 women who recently graduated as officers for the army, the 150 women who work 10 hours a day on a saffron field in Herat, the hundreds of women who sing songs of protest everyday in their houses to remind their daughters of how much courage it takes to live as a woman in Afghanistan and the tens of women who are sexually, verbally and physically abused everyday in prisons. The bravest woman of Afghanistan is Sakeena Yaqubi who has built a school and a learning institute, or Pashtun Begum, who was a beggar and now provides small business opportunities for other widows. A woman who has lent her voice to politicians might be brave but is neither my representative nor the bravest woman of Afghanistan.



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