June 29, 2011

Dear WAW Supporters:

As I write this letter bringing you up to date on WAW events, the Taliban have just attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul.  This on the heels of the recent story of the eight-year-old girl who was killed after insurgents used her in a bomb attack on police in southern Afghanistan: the interior ministry said insurgents gave the child a package to carry to a police car and detonated it as she approached.  And the day before that, an attack on a hospital in the east of the country killed at least 38, including elderly people, pregnant women and children.  Examples of Taliban honor.

This is the context in which President Obama decided, against the advice of his generals, to withdraw ten thousand troops from Afghanistan, and to attempt to negotiate a peace settlement with the Taliban. But the Afghan government is unable to protect the capital city, let alone the country, from a brutal enemy who wants nothing less than control of Afghanistan, a country rich in opium, minerals, and political chaos, whose exhausted people are practiced in submission. This enemy will never honor any negotiated settlement.

In the past few days WAW has held internal meetings, in Afghanistan and New York, to make sure our official response represents the opinions of WAW staff and board members, who now number over 250 local Afghans. We believe that Obama’s timeline for troop withdrawal is rapid and premature. Of course foreign troops cannot remain in Afghanistan forever, but almost every expert on the subject agrees that the Afghan government and army are not yet able to safeguard the country from civil war or Taliban invaders. No one is hungrier for peace in Afghanistan than we are.  But we believe that far from being a pathway to peace, negotiations with the Taliban will lead backwards, to the not-so-distant days when Afghan men and women lived under Taliban brutality, their very humanity denied—and to the time when terrorists used Afghanistan as a launch-pad for attacks on the U.S. and the rest of the free world.

The news makes it all the more amazing and important to note that in the past few months WAW has actually been expanding its work in Afghanistan: We’ve been proud to open three new Family Guidance Centers and Women’s Shelters, in Badakhshan, Faryab, and Sari-Pul; two halfway houses, in Mazar and Kabul, for women transitioning from prison or shelter, and two new Children’s Support Centers, in Mazar and Kunduz, where children whose mothers are in prison can live and attend school.

This expansion, achieved while the Taliban gain strength and security decreases, is more proof of the point we’ve been making for years: that the majority of people in Afghanistan yearn for progress. Our experience contradicts the general assumption that Afghan communities oppose progress on women’s rights and other modern developments.  Not a single community has ever opposed our presence or resisted our centers and shelters. In fact, officials in Badakhshan pleaded with us for three years to launch our programs there.

Women for Afghan Women and other women’s rights organizations are working in a war zone. No matter how courageous and dedicated we are, our work will not be possible in a Taliban Afghanistan. The Afghan government knows what the Taliban want, and is ready to give it to them. The government’s attempt to take over the women’s shelters and impose draconian regulations on them and the women living in them tells us exactly that.  More than ever, we need our community of supporters to stay the course with us and not give up hope for Afghanistan.

I also want to emphasize that any differences between our position and that of individuals and organizations working for women’s rights over how peace can be achieved in Afghanistan in no way detracts from our respect for them or interferes with our intention to work with them to achieve the goals we share. Those common goals, which we hold on to despite enormous obstacles, must keep us solidly united and determined to win. 

Tenth Anniversary
The event that will commemorate WAW’s 10 years on the front lines of women’s human rights comes at a critical time.  What could be more fitting than having as co-chairs Gloria Steinem and Eleanor Smeal, inspirational leaders in the women’s movement.  I hope to bring a senior staff member and a client from Afghanistan, whose stories manifest the transformational power of our work.  The evening will be unforgettable.

Please do your part to help:

·         spread the word
·         support us by attending (It isn’t too early to purchase your tickets!)
·         introduce us to institutions and individuals who might sponsor us at higher levels.

If you can’t attend the event, please make a donation anyway—our work is made possible by your generosity.

With thanks from the entire WAW team – staff, board and advisors,

 

Manizha Naderi
Executive Director, WAW

Come to our Gala Event