June 29, 2003 Cheerful Children on the Way Home from School Rush by Ruins and Rubble Traces of Battle from Nearly a Decade Ago Still Remain in the Capital City of Kabul Lured by the aroma of roasting shish kebabs (Afghan-style skewers), I enter a restaurant favored by locals in the Afghan capital of Kabul. When I look around the 50-square-meter restaurant, the men ― some wearing turbans or felt hats and some with enormous beards ― all turn to stare at me. Unsmiling expressions and piercing gazes. "This way please," the waiter says, as he leads me past a red curtain that resembles a Japanese noren (small curtain used by shops in Japan to identify the type of shop). In the darkly lit, 15-square-meter room, 10 women, with their burkas, or veils, rolled up, are feasting on traditional foods and tea as they laugh and exchange gossip. It is a room for women only. In conservative Islamic countries, it is normal for community and public spaces to be divided by gender, and it was the same here in Afghanistan. As every family appreciates the importance of houseguests, a living room is found in almost every home and this is also divided by gender. At a wedding reception, even if a guest is a married couple, it is normal for each partner to go into different rooms. For a young woman to talk freely with an unknown male guest would be out of the question. Women are constantly protected from "outside enemies." Even as they accept the conservative concept of a male-dominated society, there are women who express their thoughts clearly. Anjellah, 29, a teacher, speaks with much hope in her eyes. "With the end of the Taliban reign, I am so full of joy, I feel as though I can fly into the skies. This is because we have finally gained our freedom. But the freedom I speak of is one that does not exceed the boundaries of our Islamic culture. Personally, I do not want to wear a burka. I think it's OK if we could just wear a long scarf on our heads." When the Taliban was first established, it was hailed by the people of Afghanistan as a band of religious Islamic students who would oust the corrupt Rabbani government and then rule the country. Yet, soon afterward, as the Taliban grew rapidly with the help of official support such as that of the Pakistani military regime, the tyranny and corruption of those who sought to protect their power within the organization surfaced. The righteous became the corrupted. It became mandatory for women to wear burkas, and they were not allowed to work nor receive an education, and those that did not abide by these rules were sometimes brutally punished. A life of living under oppression continued for almost five years. Furthermore, Sherifa, 43, principal of the Malalai Girl's High School, says that even during Rabbani rule, women were threatened with brutality. "One evening, five soldiers forced themselves into a housing complex located in the middle of Kabul. They captured a young girl and tried to touch her body. Her father and brothers couldn't do anything as they were threatened at gunpoint, and so the girl broke through their window and committed suicide from the fifth floor," she says. The Empowerment of Women has Only Just Begun For 20 years, Afghanistan's history has been one of continuous conflict and social disruption. Peace, freedom, liberty ... with the collapse of the Taliban regime, many Afghan women had hopes for their future in these words. Yet, these hopes and wishes are already withering away. Jamila Mujahed, 39, chief editor of the women's magazine Malalai and a television announcer, says, "in Afghanistan there is one TV show for women. Even though there are so many problems about so many issues, such as a woman's independence, health and education, how are we to cover all of this within a 15-minute show that airs only once every 15 days? Female singers are still not allowed to appear on TV, and in western Afghanistan there are places where nothing has changed since Taliban rule, where women still cannot take a walk outside or wear colorful clothes." A year has passed since the Taliban collapsed, and videos of women taking off their burkas and men shaving their beards have been over-reported as symbols of freedom. Yet, there are still many shackles from which women have not been liberated. These include keeping their burkas on for fear of anti-government factions such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, who still lurk within Afghanistan; worries about the unstable public safety situation; and requests for a stable education in the male-dominated society in areas that are isolated from the new democratic society. Furthermore, there is criticism about the interim government's lack of strength in resolving the social status and the human rights of women. Shima Samar, the former minister of Women's Affairs who raised the women's rights issue from the interim government's point of view prior to the convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga (the Afghan Grand Council) for the establishment of the interim government, visited Japan in November to give a lecture. Woman Civil Rights Activist Supports Reconstruction from Behind the Scenes In her lecture, Samar said, "Even now, rockets are fired and people are becoming victims. Two ministers were assassinated and there was an assassination attempt on the president last year. Brutality and rape are committed against activists involved in women's problems to prevent them from carrying out their activities. There are even families who receive threats, telling them to 'stop their daughter from going to school.' Yet, this is a time when the women of Afghanistan must stand up and take on the leadership or else there will never be true freedom for women and young girls. As a democratic country, Afghanistan is still very weak and the improvement of women's social status and rights is what will promote its development. Someone must support that movement and must make a sacrifice." About 200 women, with a focus on women with a career, participated in the Loya Jirga. Those who bravely expressed themselves from a democratic point of view became victims of continual threats and there were cases of unreported punishment. Without a doubt, Samar is a victim herself. Samar, a woman motivated to fight to solve women's problems, cannot easily explain why she was ousted from her position as a minister or why she moved to neighboring Pakistan, but does gives a general observation. "There are many in positions of power who look down on women, continue to backstab, saying it is 'against Islam' and there are even some who have resumed making 'threats of brutality,'" she says. Since March and the war in Iraq, an anti-American sentiment has arisen and anti-government factions are active in Afghanistan. In Kandahar, with a recent al-Qaeda attack on a moving International Red Cross vehicle and the murder of an El Salvadorian of Swiss nationality, there has been a rise in attacks targeting foreigners. Even now in southeastern Afghanistan, anti-government factions who plan to overthrow the government are spread across the region and public safety continues to dwindle. U.S. Army operations to eradicate the Taliban and al-Qaeda are openly conducted. It seems that human emotions are forgotten here. Conflicts will be inherited by the next generation. Even if a rebellious faction is temporarily controlled by force, in the long run is it really a solution to the fundamental problem? Sherifa expressed her fears, saying, "Military regimes and people of power from local areas took up position in the very front of the Loya Jirga conference. They were the very people who destroyed the Afghan past and so why should they talk of peace now? Why could they not wish for peace in the past?" I believe Afghanistan must first learn from its history. It must be careful of taking action that could create more victims in the future. Are we not seeing a repeat of the past? There are many people who are very concerned. In the shadows of the rebuilding of Afghanistan, there are a group of women activists for human rights who, with great courage, risk their lives to improve women's social status and rights. (Published in ASAHI WEEKLY, June 29, 2003 issue)