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Afghanistan

Afghanistan: The Ten-Dollar Talib and Women's Rights

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Afghan Women and the Risks of Reintegration and Reconciliation

Summary

We are still under the Taliban and our lives are limited to our house walls... We cannot work. We cannot go out to visit our relatives without our husbands. My daughters cannot go to school... because we were threatened, they left school. What hopes and wishes of leading a normal and peaceful life can I have?

-Fatima N., central province, February 18, 2010

I call upon you again that is my brother, my dear, Talib jan [dear], this is your land. Come back! I will blame you if it is my mistake in some way, but if it is your mistake, I will not blame you.

-President Hamid Karzai, June 2, 2010[1]

Who suffers first from the war? It is the Afghan women. It is the Afghan women who lose their houses, who lose their husbands who bring the food home. That's why women don't oppose reintegration and reconciliation, because if that will bring peace then why not? But if the government is going to do reintegration and reconciliation overnight... then of course things will get worse for Afghan women.

-Samira Hamidi, executive director, Afghan Women's Network, Kabul, February 14, 2010

For Afghan women these are anxious times, caught between war and the prospect of a foreboding peace. Women and girls are paying a heavy price in the conflict areas of Afghanistan: killed and wounded by insurgents and airstrikes; local codes of honor violated by intrusive "night raids" by international soldiers; their movement sharply hindered by insecurity; and for many the loss of their families' breadwinners. Insurgents regularly deny Afghan girls the right to education via attacks on schools and threats against teachers or students. They deny women the right to pursue their own livelihoods, attacking or threatening women working outside of the home.

Afghan women want an end to the conflict. But as the prospect of negotiations with the Taliban draws closer, many women fear that they may also pay a heavy price for peace. Reconciliation with the Taliban, a group synonymous with misogynous policies and the violent repression of women, raises serious concerns about the possible erosion of recently gained rights and freedoms. The prospect of deals with Hezb-i-Islami (Gulbuddin), which is also known for its repressive attitudes towards women, involves similar concerns. Attempts by some promoting negotiations to redefine the insurgency as primarily "non-ideological," which ignores the experiences of women living in Taliban-controlled areas, have exacerbated these anxieties.

Nine years after the military overthrow of the Taliban government, the government of Afghanistan under President Hamid Karzai is promoting negotiations with the Taliban leaders and other insurgent factions. Facing a conflict with no end in sight, an Afghan public increasingly disaffected by thousands of civilian casualties, and pressure for an exit strategy from troop-contributing countries, the government and its international allies increasingly agree on the need for a negotiated settlement. The Afghan government won support at the international conference on Afghanistan in London (the "London Conference") in January 2010 for the reintegration into society of opposition fighters through internationally funded programs. In June 2010 the Afghan government staged a Consultative Peace Jirga (assembly), which gave it a modest mandate to begin reconciliation efforts (the jirga was boycotted by some opposition politicians and by the Taliban). In July 2010 the Kabul Conference will continue the themes of the London Conference, including more detailed commitments by donors to support programs to reintegrate combatants.

This report describes continuing abuses of women's rights by the Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami (Gulbuddin) in areas under their control over the past several years. It also highlights the concerns of Afghan women about possible deals with the Taliban and other insurgent groups under the rubric of "reintegration" (programs to encourage lower-level fighters to stop fighting) and "reconciliation" (peace negotiations with insurgent commanders) and offers recommendations on what such initiatives should include to protect women's rights.

For this report, Human Rights Watch interviewed a selection of working women and women in public life living in areas that the insurgents effectively controlled or where they have a significant presence to illustrate the current nature of the insurgency. Women and girls in many of these areas have found that some of the oppression of Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001 has returned. While these tend to be areas already socially and religiously conservative, the narratives of the women interviewed show how severely insurgent factions impact their lives. After the fall of the Taliban, many found that basic rights long repressed had been restored. They resumed their jobs, sent their daughters to school, voted, and some even went into local politics. Since the resurgence of Taliban and other militant groups took root, from 2005-2006 onwards, women's rights came quickly under attack again.

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