Months after Taliban grab chronic in Afghanistan, former chief to discuss with UN as girl in exile
Two months after the Taliban seized chronic in Afghanistan, some of the nation’s once-prominent feminine leaders — a former parliament member, candidate for president and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize — is visiting the United International locations, no longer as a consultant of her executive however as a girl in exile.
In an interview with The Related Press, Fawzia Koofi referred to as for humanitarian help despatched to Afghanistan to be contingent at the participation of girls in its distribution, in addition to unfastened and secure commute for Afghans into and in another country.
Assist “will have to no longer be politicized. … Girls will have to be thinking about each degree of it and so they will have to be listened to. Girls will have to no longer be handiest the recipients,” stated Koofi, a part of a delegation of Afghan ladies visiting the U.N. to induce member states to not compromise on inclusion and equivalent rights in Afghanistan.
Since fleeing Kabul in August, Koofi has been dwelling in resort rooms in Europe. She described the ache of separation from her nation, of twenty years of hopes dashed and of attempting to find everlasting place of abode for herself and her two daughters.
“This isn’t an Afghanistan I fought for,” she informed the AP. “The Afghanistan that I used to be hoping for used to be (that) ladies will have to no longer endure up to I suffered all the way through my youth, all the way through the time that I used to be a youngster, when (the) Taliban took over.”
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“I sought after different women to revel in a minimum of the liberty of opting for which college they will have to pass. However now, their selection is restricted to which room of their homes they will have to spend all the way through the day. That is heartbreaking.”
Koofi, a former deputy speaker of parliament, used to be considered one of handiest 4 ladies in talks to achieve a power-sharing maintain the Taliban, which in the end failed. She described looking at the Taliban’s dedication to negotiations alternate when they signed a peace settlement with the USA in February 2020.
“Once they signed the settlement, they have been extra excessive and so they have been extra into purchasing time, who prefer an army technique,” she stated.
Taliban warring parties pursued that technique in the summertime, seizing province after province till they reached Kabul in August. When then-President Ashraf Ghani fled, the Taliban entered the capital, sparking panic amongst many that had adversarial their rule and feared for his or her lives and futures.
That used to be the deadly blow to achieving a political agreement many had was hoping would cement the beneficial properties ladies had accomplished in get right of entry to to training, paintings and the felony machine, Koofi stated.
She additionally blamed “global leaders,” seeming to indicate a finger at U.S. President Joe Biden. “As a superpower, the USA has a big duty and will have to be held responsible,” she stated.
When he introduced withdrawal plans, Biden stated he used to be sure by way of the timetable set by way of the Trump management and that the U.S. may just no longer proceed to increase the army presence in Afghanistan and be expecting a unique consequence.
Nonetheless, Koofi stated she thinks the breakdown of peace talks and the Taliban takeover can have been have shyed away from. Pausing as tears ran down her face, she stated: “I imply, on a daily basis we’re in fact coping with this trauma.”
Her former feminine colleagues in parliament, feminine judges who used to condemn folks affiliated with the Taliban and a few newshounds who spoke out towards the gang at the moment are anxious, she stated.
The Taliban should even be held responsible, she added, for his or her pledges that ladies would be capable to pass to college and paintings “inside the ideas of Islam.”
Every day, Koofi stated she will get masses of textual content and voice messages in large part from ladies nonetheless in Afghanistan, hoping she will be able to assist them.
“They’re very indignant … that I’m really not with them at those tricky instances,” she stated. “The ladies, particularly, they retain sending me messages expressing their anger that, you realize, ‘We’d like you to be right here with us within the streets of Kabul,’ and they’re proper.”
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Girls she used to paintings with and who have been the breadwinners of their households ship her footage of themselves as reminders.
“Psychologically, to procedure this and so to alter and settle for, it’s no longer been simple,” she stated. “Now not just for me, for each girl and guy that I’ve met within the closing two months once I left Kabul.”
For now, Koofi is fascinated with resolving residency standing for herself and her daughters, ages 22 and 23. For safety causes, she declined to mention the place.
Some 100,000 Afghans have fled the rustic for the reason that Taliban took chronic, despite the fact that many have been not able to go away within the ultimate chaotic airlifts. The 38 million Afghans who stay are going through “ common poverty ” inside of a 12 months, the U.N. building company stated in September.
Koofi additionally warned of the danger from the Islamic State team in Afghanistan — identified by way of its Arabic acronym Daesh — and referred to as for renewed political negotiations as a result of, she stated, steadiness does no longer simply come from the cessation of violence, however robust and inclusive establishments.
“If we predict that one army extremist team, which is Taliban, goes to defeat Daesh — it’s no longer going to paintings that manner,” she stated.
“You want to proceed to empower the country, empower the folk, train them, reinforce the political procedure.”
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