July 30, 2002
By JENNIFER SEYMOUR WHITAKER
AS AFGHANS STRUGGLE to shape their country's future, US foot-dragging on peacekeeping
there threatens to preclude democracy and close off opportunities for women.
Unless the United States shifts its security policy in Afghanistan, American
commitments to the human rights of Afghan women will amount to little more than
rhetoric.
Since Sept. 11, the US administration has repeatedly pledged its commitment
to Afghan women. President Bush made the case strongly in his June commencement
speech at West Point: ''A thriving nation will respect the rights of women,
because no society can prosper while denying opportunity to half its citizens.''
However, America's Afghan policy is, in effect, selling women out. The United
States has fostered the increasing power of the Afghan warlords and provided
only minimal support to the fledgling Afghan government. Moreover, it has opposed
the expansion of the International Security Force, which could neutralize the
power of those with guns and allow other voices to be heard.
A US- and UN-guided process helped ensure women a place at the table as ministers
in the temporary Afghan administration and participants in the emergency grand
council, or loya jirga, which met in Kabul in June. During that assembly, women
demonstrated why Afghanistan needs them to create democracy. Though a scant
10 percent of those assembled, with no troops or guns at their disposal, female
delegates challenged with unparalleled candor the misogynist warrior ethos of
both the Taliban and the warlords now in power and said they were looking for
a leader who would make human rights a priority.
The female presidential candidate, Massouda Jalal, injected a modicum of democracy
into the process, lining up the necessary signatures to run as male candidates
fell by the wayside. The women's urgent need for accountable government drew
them together in a unity that bridged tribal and ethnic differences.
However, at the end of the day the men with guns had, with apparent US acquiescence,
greatly increased their power within the Afghan administration and were escalating
the intimidation of ''dissenters.'' During the loya jirga, the Afghan defense
minister, Field Marshal Mohammed Fahim, assailed the husband of Massouda Jalal
for his wife's temerity in running for president. Accusations of blasphemy pursued
Former Vice President Sima Samar, who was driven from her post as women's affairs
minister. Interim government ministers with civilian rather than military credentials
were dismissed, Chief Justice Shinwari, who publicly upbraided Samar and has
called for full support of Sharia, or Islamic law, was reappointed; and the
majority of the Judicial Commission, responsible for reconciling Islamic principles
with other legal traditions, are graduates of religious schools, called madrassas,
with no further education.
Returning home from the loya jirga, many women faced the threat of violent backlash.
Their joy at the promise of freedom and pride in finding a public voice conflicts
with the fear of pervasive lawlessness. Taliban-style sexual policing still
thrives in a number of places under the aegis of the US Northern Alliance partners
as well as in former Taliban strongholds. Taliban pamphlets warn of reprisals
for ''spreading indecency and vulgarity'' by ''sending women to offices and
daughters to schools.'' In much of the country outside of Kabul, the crossfire
of rival factions has left women immensely vulnerable and victimized anew by
a wave of rapes and other forms of sexual violence.
The US failure to support the Afghan administration materially or militarily
has blighted early opportunities for women and the rule of law. While spending
more than $2 billion a month on its pursuit of Al Qaeda and the Taliban and
channeling money and technical assistance to local military leaders, the United
States pledged only $2 million this year to help the Afghan administration build
a national army. Most important, while anarchy grows, the United States has
opposed the expansion of the international security force, essential for establishing
national order outside of Kabul.
Rooting out Al Qaeda is an unquestioned American priority, but it falls far
short of what we need to achieve in Afghanistan. To lay the groundwork for peace
and reconstruction in the aftermath of the loya jirga, the United States must
signal its commitment to the rule of law by pushing for the immediate deployment
of international security force throughout Afghanistan. We will not measurably
increase our security from terrorism unless we keep our promises to help win
the peace - and to the participation of women of rebuilding their country.
Jennifer Seymour Whitaker i s senior fellow and director of the Project on Women's
Human Rights and US Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
This story ran on page A15 of the Boston Globe on 7/30/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.