Open letter to the Taliban

Date:13.August.2020

Kabul, Afghanistan

For the past two years, Afghan women have been observing the negotiation process carefully

and, like millions of our fellow citizens, we deeply hope that the process can bring the nearly 40

years of conflict in our beloved Afghanistan to an end. We, women, have borne the brunt of the

four decades of conflict. As wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters we have suffered terribly,

being subject to the brutality and violence of war and bearing witness to the endless suffering of

our families and our people. We perhaps more than anyone seek an end to this senseless

violence and war. Yet, we, like the vast majority of Afghan women and men, worry that the price

of peace may be too heavy if we lose the vitality of more than half of our population and the

essential gains achieved during the last two decades.

Your willingness to enter peace talks has given us hope but your public statements and

behavior on the ground have continued to trouble us. We heard from some of your leadership

that you have changed and recognize that Afghanistan is not the same country that you reigned

over in 1996-2001, and recognize women’s rights to education and work according to “Sharia

and Afghan traditions''. At the same time, you have resisted explaining your interpretations of

Shari’a and the Afghan traditions. Respectfully, your interpretation is one of many. There are

also many customary practices that are in clear contradictions to Islamic values. Some of these

are prohibiting and limiting girls’ education, women’s economic freedom, right to inheritance, the

treatment of women and girls as commodities, resolving disputes by giving little girls and women

as Baad, preventing and limiting women’s employment and their participation in public life.

In Afghanistan, we continue to be the largest illiterate population in which 80% of our girls are

forced into marriage at a very young age. While in other Muslim nations, women are thriving as

successful leaders and politicians and work on policies that are improving the lives of their

fellow citizens, in Afghanistan we are still fighting to be recongized and respected as equal and

capable citizens. Muslim women across the Muslim world, especially in Tunisia, Morocco,

Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Jordan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Senegal, Mauritius, even

Pakistan and many more are enjoying freedom of movement, access to education, employment

and access to services, but we are still fighting for our survival.

Despite the challenges and threat to our lives, we will continue our yearning/desire to serve our

country. Afghanistan belongs to all of us, women and men. We do not view the roles differently

when it comes to the protection and development of our beloved Afghanistan. In doing so, you

have often addressed our push to serve our country and our fellow citizens as merely western

influence.

You have also dismissed those of us who have been on the frontlines of working on women’s

rights and human rights and have accused us of bringing in western values 1. We, as women

represent every part of Afghanistan, rural and urban. We represent the full diversity of

Afghanistan including geographical sectarian and ethnic representation.

The rights that we espouse and work towards are fundamental human rights enshrined in he

holy religion of Islam and other faiths practiced in Afghanistan. As more than half of the

population, we have put our lives and those of our families on the line to defend and protect the

most vulnerable and those abused. It is the obligation of every citizen regardless of their gender

or ethnicity to engage in improving their lives and the lives of their families and fellow citizens.

You have often projected this as a western influence and propaganda but there is nothing

western in Afghan women demanding respect for their dignity and protection of their equal

rights. As proud and responsible citizens, we do not view putting our skills to work to improve

our country’s future towards prosperity as western. In the last two decades, we have played a

vital role in rebuilding our destroyed country. We have done so as scientists, doctors,

technologists, entrepreneurs, judges, religious scholars, engineers, lawyers, teachers, university

professors, security officials, journalists, artists, and human rights/womens’ rights activists

across the country.

We will not allow our roles and contribution to rebuilding our country be reversed. More than

ever, we recognize our capacity to contribute to the wellbeing of our society. We will not allow

the potential and talent, and the rights and dignity of our daughters and sons be stripped once

again for political gains and posturing.

As we have repeatedly offered, we are prepared to sit down with the Taliban and have a

genuine discussion to discuss the needs and challenges of our population and our country. We

have done so with members of the Afghan government and believe it is equally important to

engage with the Taliban. We believe this is important because you are a party to the conflict and

to the negotiations. For the last two decades, your leadership and command have been living

outside of Afghanistan and you have not been exposed to the dramatic progress in our country.

1 This letter is written by a group of women with incredibly diverse backgrounds. We are a group

of nearly 400 women from across the country working for and demanding peace. Among us, we

have the current generation of Afghanistan, those in their early 20s who do not remember what

it was like to live under your regime and older women who remember very well what it was like

to live under your rules. The views expressed in this letter voice aspirations and fears shared by

millions from across the country.

We believe that by sitting together we may overcome the polarized views that you, the Taliban,

have expressed about Afghan women and the future of our country.

It is the dream of every Afghan, including your children who live outside Afghanistan, to live in a

country in which the role of every Afghan will be vital to rebuilding our country and ensuring that

we become a sovereign, independent, sustainable and peaceful me, mber of the region and

international community.

For peace and justice,