Note from MP: In response to my post about conditions in Afghanistan for women, I received an op-ed piece by Sima Wali, president of Refugee Women in Development and former Afghan Peace Talks delegate. The Boston Globe had originally commissioned the piece, then decided not to run it. Here it is in its entirety
Extremists cross the border: A Major Concern to Rebuilding Afghanistan
I recently returned from Kabul where I went to launch a project on building democracy among women funded by the National Endowment for Democracy. While there, I visited Jalalabad, a provincial town bordering Pakistan where I experienced the frightening ordeal of nearly being taken hostage by an angry mob of fervent Islamists.
In my moment of personal terror, I vowed to tell the story of the Afghan people’s growing pleas to the West. But more desperate pleas are not enough unless a more self-effacing process emerges in the West for confronting the sources of Afghanistan’s growing danger.
Afghanistan still reels from twenty five years of Superpower victimization. Our borders, once conduits for the vast riches and high culture of the silk trade, are today abused by foreign infiltrators bent on subjugating us to their barbaric will. Without a viable international policy which guarantees the disarmament of warlords and their militias in addition to the extension of comprehensive security beyond Kabul, the new government will not succeed in building the institutions necessary for a stable Afghanistan.
We came to Jalalabad at the invitation of the Governor. Housed in a palace built by King Amanullah, we were reminded that nearly a hundred years ago his efforts to introduce female education and abolish the head to toe veil -- which has come to symbolize Afghan women’s oppression -- revolutionized Afghan life. The symbolism of conducting our classes in the former home of this champion for women’s rights, was not lost on us. Neither was the role of the present Governor, whose efforts to help restore Afghan women's basic rights to freedom follows in a long tradition of the bravest of Afghan men.
Soon after our meeting I began to hear what sounded like gunfire, protests, and explosions. The environment grew more tense as we heard protestors’ shouts and the electricity went out. Soon we realized we were alone in the dark, overhearing the demonstrators’ screams. No one outside the palace knew of our plight. Alarmed, I inquired about the disturbance, only to be escorted outside, through the garden to our hiding place. Within minutes the protestors broke through the gates, setting fire to our meeting room and the cars we had traveled in. But the danger was only beginning.
Desperate, I used my mobile phone to call as many contacts as I could reach. One call was to a tribal leader in Kabul. One of only a handful of Pashtuns still allowed to carry arms, he came to our aid, echoing the sentiment of many Afghans. "It is the duty of all Afghans to ensure your safety since you come from a long way off to help rebuild Afghanistan," he insisted. When our armed tribal protectors arrived at the compound gates, they were reluctant to approach for fear they would attract protestors. We were then forced to take refuge away from the palace by scaling down walls and across the fields to the gardener’s home. The gardener’s wife greeted us warmly with nan, water and fruit. While fanning flies away from us, she kept ensuring us of our safety. I was too shaken and sick from dysentery to partake of the fruit and politely ate the nan. I had concealed my passport in my bra and was willing to leave everything else behind. It was hot and I was sweating profusely. In addition to our traditional clothes given to me the day before, I was sporting a bed sheet worn in a desperate attempt to render myself invisible. A burqa would greatly help in such a moment, I thought.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the Governor, at my request, intervened with the American security firm, DynCorps, who had arrived to airlift its own people. This seemed our only salvation, since no one, including the US Embassy, had an evacuation plan. Sitting in the convoy, I was fearful all over again as we stopped in the middle of a crossroads. Fully armed men piled out of the vehicles. Luckily the road cleared and we climbed into the plane.
Back in Kabul, I learned from credible sources that the armed insurgents were Al-Qaeda, Pakistani, and Taliban protestors who had crossed the border from Pakistan. A large amount of cash had been disbursed among the insurgents the day before. Afghans widely commented that these protests were externally organized. In the days that followed there were counter-protests by Afghans decrying the vast destruction of their cities by infiltrators, such as a suicide bomber who had attacked an internet café frequented by foreign aid workers just days before. Suicide bombings are an un-Afghan trait, notwithstanding two decades of conflict in Afghanistan.
Although it was a harrowing experience, it also renewed my appreciation of the Afghan people’s continuing commitment to rebuilding despite the danger. Many Afghans came to our aid unconditionally even though it put them at great risk. But as the world has come to see in vivid terms, Afghan bravery cannot alone stop the tide of barbaric extremism. Without a meaningful and realistic policy for protecting Afghanistan and its borders, the crossroads that has enriched the world from ancient times will convey only untold sadness and pain.
Sima Wali, President and founder of Refugee Women in Development (RefWID) Inc., is an Afghan living in exile in the United States. Wali has worked for over 20 years to empower uprooted women to assert their human rights and to participate in economic and social development. She is a pioneer in providing culturally specific institutional development programs and domestic violence prevention and intervention mechanisms for women around the world.
Wali is the recipient of numerous awards for her pioneering work in developing program models aimed at the empowerment of women caught conflict, democratic civil society building of war torn societies, gender, forced migration, and human rights. She has been honored by the Women Donors Network, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, the National Conference for College Women Graduate Leaders. She was the recipient of the Gloria Steinem: Women of Vision Award for her pioneering work in addressing violence against refugee women in the United States. Wali was the recipient of Amnesty International's 1999 Ginetta Sagan human rights award for her work with Afghan women. Her website is at www.refwid.org