Afghan Women Caught at the Country’s Crossroads

Today is International Women’s Day — an annual celebration meant to inspire women and celebrate their achievements.  Some countries mark it as a national holiday.  Here in Afghanistan, government institutions, civil societies, embassies and international organizations honor this event anywhere between March 1-10.

While women have made a modest comeback in Afghanistan regarding education and political participation, the country’s acting Public Health Minister Suraya Dalil told me Afghan women still are lagging in one key area: medical care.

In keeping with the spirit of International Women’s Day, I made a point to talk to as many different Afghan women as I could about their thoughts on women’s rights in Afghanistan.  Granted, it’s not easy for an American man to just go up to an Afghan woman on the streets of Kabul and strike up a conversation, and it definitely isn’t easier if you have a microphone.  But, I spoke with a few female colleagues and some human rights activists.  They all made an interesting point: Why should they support the Afghan government’s policy of seeking reconciliation with the Taliban?

Sima Samar is the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission chairwoman.  She says she is concerned because the Taliban violated women’s rights during the years they were in power.  She says, “[They] even banned women from access to education, to health care, to work, to movement.  [The Taliban] will come back in power and we don’t have any right to say: What?!”

Samar also says it is critical Afghan President Hamid Karzai includes women in a meaningful way during the peace jirga.  She says, “What is important is that we have to be [at] the table on the decision-making policy [and] not only in the peace jirga as a piece of decoration.”

What do you think?  Will Afghan women play a meaningful role at the peace jirga?  And ultimately, will women’s rights be sacrificed if there is reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban?