KABUL, Afghanistan — More than 300 civic and military leaders from across the country came together via shura, Monday, April 23, in a hangar at Kabul International Airport to discuss present and future partnership and progress.
Arabic for “consultation,” shuras permeate every level of governance in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, and finding leaders from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force attending to work toward brokering peace and stability has been commonplace for more than a decade.
Far, far from common, however, was that almost all participating leaders in Monday’s shura were women.
Held less than two months after the Ulema Council, Afghanistan’s leading religious oversight group, issued a highly contentious statement saying, “men are fundamental and women are secondary,” the first ISAF Joint Command Women’s Shura featured several speakers whose accomplishments and words directly refuted that statement.
Until basic human rights improve, “It will be difficult [for women] to be seen as a fundamental element of society,” said Brig. Gen. Khatool Mohammadzai, the Afghan National Army’s first female general officer and hero to both women and men across the country.
During her forceful speech, Mohammadzai was optimistic, saying, “It’s clear that women are being given distinct roles [in the Afghan Ministry of Defense]. Day by day, quantity and quality are on the rise … deploying women only strengthens the foundations of the Afghan army.”
Mohammadzai, mother to one son, was also emphatic in saying that women in other societies are not used solely to bring children into the world, and only by communicating with women throughout the world can the rights and prospects of Afghan women improve.
Though long subjugated and marginalized in Afghanistan, particularly during the brief and tumultuous 1996 – 2001 Taliban Regime, women are slowly gaining rights and recognition. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Bamyan province, just west of Kabul.
Bamyan’s governor, Dr. Habiba Sarabi, is Afghanistan’s first female governor. “I’m here among my sisters and great ladies of Afghanistan,” she said during her address Monday. “I feel strong. I feel strong because [our] voices are being heard.”
Yes, Sarabi said, she is the first female governor, but she’s also a mother and a sister, and extremely grateful to be serving her country and people.
Twelve years ago, said a representative from the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs, not a single girl in the country was going to school.
Since 2005, when Sarabi took office, 398 women in Bamyan have not only become students, but teachers as well. Forty four percent of students in Sarabi’s province are female.
In addition, she said, many Bamyan women play an active role in business and commerce, owning and managing their own shops.
Progress reaching Bamyan’s level faces a difficult road ahead in large portions of the country, specifically in the hyper-conservative eastern and southern portions near the Pakistan border. Still, Sarabi ended by encouraging the assembled and brightly-colored women to believe in themselves and Afghanistan.
Following the remarks from keynote speakers, the attending women, some traveling at high risk to personal safety, were escorted to various breakout sessions by IJC Female Engagement Team service members from their corresponding regional commands. Breakout topics included governance, security and business development/education.
After lauding all the women for their bravery and sacrifice, Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, IJC commander, mentioned that in a few short years, Afghanistan will be fully responsible for its own security; that the future is in the hands of the women and men of Afghanistan; and an opportunity to make things better is happening now. And while both women and men will have to work together to build prosperity and peace, Scaparrotti said:
“The spirit, strength and moral compass of a community is held by its women.”
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