Afghanistan Today

Malalai Joya was elected to the 249-seat National Assembly, or Wolesi Jirga, in September 2005, as a representative of Farah Province. Shei won the second highest number of votes in the province and  rose to fame in December 2003 when, as an elected delegate to the Constitutional Loya Jirga, she spoke out publicly against the domination of warlords. Malalai Joya heads the non-governmental group, “Organisation of Promoting Afghan Women’s Capabilities” (OPAWC). On Wednesday 17 November 2010, Malalai Joya addressed The Sydney Institute while visiting Sydney.

AFGHANISTAN TODAY

MALALAI JOYA

First of all, I would like to thank Anne and Gerard Henderson, who invited me here and gave me the opportunity to talk about the ongoing tragedy in Afghanistan, the realities of the US/NATO occupation and the brutalities of the Islamic fundamentalists.

I was in Australia around one year ago, when I shared the miseries and sorrows of the Afghan people with peace-loving people like yourselves. I apologise that, this time, I do not have anything positive and hopeful about my country to present to you. Unfortunately the situation has gone from bad to worse.

As a woman, I would like to talk firstly about the condition of my country’s women.

The US/NATO invaded Afghanistan under the banner of bringing women’s rights, among other things, but today the situation of women is as catastrophic as it was under the domination of the Taliban. Rapes, kidnappings, killings, acid attacks and domestic violence are increasing rapidly.

The rate of suicide, especially self-immolation of women aged between I4 and 40, is sky-rocketing. According to the BBC Persian Service, 2300 suicide cases have been recorded so far this year. Rapes of girls as young as five are widespread in many provinces of Afghanistan.Domestic violence is mounting every day. Women’s hands, noses and ears are cut off; they are slaughtered and beaten to death. Such brutal crimes against women have actually escalated during these nine years of US and NATO occupation.

Recently, a woman in Badghis province was lashed in public then shot in head for having an illicit affair while she was pregnant. Also, in Ghazni province, a man and woman were stoned to death over a love affair. This shows that there is jungle law in many provinces, just like in time of the Taliban.

The Time Magazine cover story of Bibi Aisha is a clear example of using the plight of women as war propaganda. The cover photo shows a beautiful young woman whose nose has been cut off, and the headline says “What happens if we leave Afghanistan?”.  In fact, the headline should say “What happens despite our presence in Afghanistan”. The 67 women parliamentarians in Afghanistan are just for decoration and to deceive the world. They have turned a blind eye to the crimes committed against our long-suffering women and girls.

Many people ask me how they should support the women of Afghanistan. I answer that first of all, war will never help women. If we have the opportunity, Afghan women can liberate themselves and progressive Afghan men will help us. We must unite and fight for our own liberation.

The story of my young bodyguard is an example of how Afghans themselves would like to make the changes happen. His name is Faramarz and he is 20 years old. He married Samia, a young Afghan rape victim. She was gang-raped by warlords in Sar-e-Pul province. Women like Samia are brutalised twice, once by the rapist and then again by the society as a whole, because of the taboo on marrying women who have been raped. Faramarz was brave enough to break the taboo and marry to a rape victim. He is a hero for me because he is a positive example of change.

These nine years of occupation have brought about countless civilian casualties. More than 8,000 civilians have been killed and most of them are innocent children, women and men, killed in air strikes and other attacks during the occupation.

When President Obama took office in 2008, many people were hoping for a real change. To be honest, as I followed his foreign policies regarding Afghanistan, I understood that in this respect he was just like his predecessor, George W Bush.

When I was in the US during the presidential elections, sometimes my strong opinion about Obama shocked even those who supported my message against the war. Some of them told me that because they are disappointed in Bush, they were campaigning for Obama. But I told them that he is only one player in the whole system that rules the US and safeguards the corporate interests.

Unfortunately, Obama has proved himself unwilling or unable to take a stand against the war. During Obama’s term of office, the civilian death toll in Afghanistan increased by 24 per cent and the drone attacks on Pakistan have also increased. The outcome of the surge in troop numbers has been more innocent civilians massacred, violence, destruction, pain and tragedy.

The documents released by WikiLeaks exposed the treachery of the US government and proved what I have been saying about the war in Afghanistan. The US/NATO forces have committed many more massacres than we know about, and they shamelessly understate the number of civilian deaths and call them “insurgents”. That’s why more and more people protest against the US/NATO occupation, and this increases with the passage of time. Now the world should know that this war is a disaster.

In these nine years, the Australian government has followed the wrong policy of the US, which has now decided to send more troops – a decision that will just bring more war and conflict. As you may have heard, the Australian forces have directly trained and supported infamous and corrupt warlords such as Matiullah Khan and his commanders, who have committed human rights crimes.

The US and its allies occupied Afghanistan under the name of the war on terror, but today they are actually terrorising the Afghan people and have hidden deals with terrorist groups. The war on terror is just a show while in fact they have pushed Afghanistan and the whole region into a safe haven for terrorists. The Taliban and other fundamentalist groups were not that powerful in 2001. The puppet regime of Karzai is full of the worst enemies of the Afghan people. They are involved in war crimes, lootings, drug-dealing and corruption.

The US government has spent about $55bn on rebuilding Afghanistan, according to a government watchdog. According to a report published by the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), about one third of the $15bn donated by the international community went in corruption, and 40 per cent of it, which is $6 billion, went back to the donor countries. The corruption is so deep-rooted in Afghanistan that even the auditors are shocked by the financial system of USAID in Afghanistan. Even the internal income of the country is being looted by a handful of warlords, which is why the gap between rich and poor is getting wider every day.

Afghanistan is ranked number 181 out of 182 countries in the Human Development Index. According to the mines minister, Afghanistan is sitting on around $3 trillion worth of mineral deposits, but because it is the second most corrupt country in the world, the income from these mines would fill the pockets of the government officials, warlords and their foreign masters.

In these nine years, they have changed Afghanistan into a centre of drug mafia. Those who have high posts in Karzai’s regime are famous drug-traffickers, for example, even president Karzai’s brother is a famous drug-lord who was exposed by the New York Times. Afghanistan is the top producer of opium in the world and since 2001, the production of opium increased over 4400 per cent, with 93 per cent of the world’s opium being produced under the very nose of tens of the thousands of US/NATO troops.

The US and its allies are after their own strategic, economic and geo-political interests in Afghanistan. They want to change Afghanistan into their military base in Asia, for which they are playing with the destiny of the suffering Afghan people. They put the people into more danger, but they hide their evil plans under the nice slogans of “democracy”, “human rights”, etc to deceive the world.

Fascism and dictatorship is sold under the name of democracy to our people. The presidential and parliamentary elections held by the puppet regimes are examples of this so-called democracy and a very bad joke with my people. It was all fraud and it was just a show of democracy to bring the sworn enemies of the Afghan people to power and give legitimacy to the puppet regime. Widespread vote rigging, intimidation, threats and the use of guns and money decided the “winners”.

A large number of brutal men who should be behind bars for their crimes will fill the Afghan future parliament. The most priceless thing in these elections was people’s votes and decisions were made behind the scene by powerful men. According to media reports, in one district of Paktika province, the voter turnout was 626 per cent! There was a great deal of buying and selling of votes.

It has been five years since I was elected in the Afghan Parliament. I faced many obstacles just to get elected. They cut off my microphone. They threatened me with death and illegally removed me from my seat. We had a new election in September but I chose not to participate. Amidst the chaos of occupation and this puppet regime, the rule of drug-mafia and warlords, any hope I once had for using the ballot box to achieve change in Afghanistan is now gone.

It was a difficult decision not to fight for my rightful place in the parliament, I had invitations to run from many other provinces and it was hard to say no to these friends and supporters. My personal experience, as well as advice from those close to me, convinced me not to run for the election.

As the whole world saw, the 2009 presidential election in Afghanistan was a total fraud. Both candidates, Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, were enemies of the people. The only option for change with the vote in Afghanistan was a new saddle for the same donkey. But the same donkey with the same saddle remained in power.

Over the past five years, the US and their allies made the warlords so powerful that they can now even more easily highjack the election results. It was a selection, not an election. Most members of parliament are law breakers and not law makers. This time many refused to vote. Afghans don’t want so-called democracy and so-called elections where guns and money have the first and last word.

I never really want to be a politician anyway. I was a social activist who used politics to continue my social activism on behalf of the poor of Afghanistan. When no justice can be achieved through the ballot box, the people must find alternatives ways to fight for their rights and we will never rest for a minute.

I think justice-loving people of Australia agree with me that democracy never comes by the barrel of a gun, by war, cluster bombs or white phosphorus. The Australian people should know that the people of Afghanistan want peace, liberation and democracy, but the current occupation is exactly against these values and it has worsened our plight.

Western governments not only betrayed the Afghan people but their own people too. They are wasting taxpayers’ money and their soldiers’ blood for a war which only safeguards the interests of the big corporations. Not only did it not defeat terrorists, it made them more powerful and today the world is more dangerous than it was in 2001.

No one can believe that a superpower with a massive military machine and the most advanced weaponry is really unable to defeat a small, medieval and ignorant band such as the Taliban. But, in fact, the Taliban are even being indirectly supported by the US government through Pakistan. Now, these terrorists like the Taliban and people such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are formally invited to be part of this mafia government.

For the US, the only important thing is its political and economic interests in Afghanistan, so that it’s not replaced by Iran or China. It’s not of any importance for the US if an even more corrupt, mafia-ridden and dirtier government than the current one, with the participation of terrorist bands such as the Taliban and Gulbuddin, comes to power, and Afghanistan remains backward.

Right now, there are two kind of resistance going on in my country. One is the reactionary resistance of the Taliban, which the US has made worse. Another is the resistance of ordinary Afghan people, both young and old, which is increasing day by day; I think it is a big hope for the future of our country.

Though Western governments bomb us, I am happy that the great and peace-loving people of Western countries stand in solidarity with us and raise their voice against the wrongdoings of their governments. Your solidarity gives us encouragement and determination to fight for justice and true democracy in our country.

The only solution to Afghanistan is that the troops should withdraw, because their presence is making our fight for justice much harder by empowering reactionary, brutal and dark-minded forces that are great obstacles for the true democratic elements. All of them, including the Australian forces, directly support Afghan warlords who have a history full of treason and crimes against the people. But the more they push their brutalities and aggressive policies, the more the people will join the ranks of the pro-democracy movement of Afghanistan.

The Afghan people are squeezed between three enemies: the Taliban, fundamentalist warlords and foreign troops. If the foreign troops leave Afghanistan, the people would face only two internal enemies instead of three, so it would be easier to fight against them. Some say that the Taliban may get back to power and a civil war will break out, but the Afghan people, despite being wounded, tired and devastated by the war, will fight steadfastly till the end because of the hatred they have for the Taliban. History bears witness that liberation has to come from within – nations can only liberate themselves.

I would like to ask all peace-loving, justice-seeking and democratic organisations, groups, parties and individuals to support progressive and democratic-minded forces that need your support and helping hand and are a real alternative for a positive change in my country. Therefore, my message to you is to empower my people through education, because education is the key to emancipation.