Armstrong - Bitter roots, tender shoots: the uncertain fate of Afghanistans women

Praise for Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan by Sally Armstrong

This powerful book reminds us that ordinary people, given the chance, can understand complex international situations allegedly reserved for expertsand perhaps influence them if we choose.

Winnipeg Free Press

Emotionally demanding reading a passionate portrayal of recent events in Afghanistan from the perspective of a committed, feminist outsider.

The Hamilton Spectator

A powerful book that shows how women can change the world.

Toronto Sun

Veiled Threat is to be applauded for its emotionally gripping disclosure of the suffering and injustices faced by a people who have endured centuries of serial invasions.

The Globe and Mail

Sally Armstrong views Afghanistan through the eyes of its women. Her story [of Dr. Sima Samar] is one of hope and triumph, as are most of the tales in this straightforward, uplifting volume.

The Washington Post

Armstrongs taken on a righteous cause and does it justice.

Publishers Weekly

Both a cautionary tale and a celebration of women carrying on under the most trying of circumstances.

Amazon.ca

A compelling read.

Edmonton Journal

Veiled Threat is a well-researched work, rich in cultural and political context.

The Kingston Whig-Standard

PENGUIN CANADA

BITTER ROOTS, TENDER SHOOTS

SALLY ARMSTRONG is an Amnesty International award-winner, a member of the Order of Canada, and a contributing editor at Macleans. She has covered conflicts from Bosnia and Somalia to Rwanda and Afghanistan. Armstrongs bestselling book Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan was published in 2002.

ALSO BY SALLY ARMSTRONG

VEILED THREAT: THE HIDDEN POWER
OF THE WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN

PENGUIN CANADA

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published in a Viking Canada hardcover by Penguin Group (Canada),
a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 2008
Published in this edition, 2009

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (WEB)

Copyright Sally Armstrong, 2008

Quotation from Dale Spenders For the Record: The Making and Meaning of Feminist Knowledge

(London: Womens Press, 1985) used with permission.
Manouchehr Sadat Noury translation of Rabbia Balkhis poem Love used with permission.
Quotation from Safia Siddiqis poetry used with permission.
Permission given by Jill Frayne to quote her mother, June Callwoods admonition, If you see
an injustice being committed, youre not an observer, youre a participant.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in
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the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Manufactured in Canada.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Armstrong, Sally, 1943
Bitter roots, tender shoots : the uncertain fate of Afghanistans women / Sally
Armstrong.

Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-14-316998-7

1. WomenAfghanistanSocial conditions21st century. 2. Women
Afghanistan. 3. WomenLegal status, laws, etc.Afghanistan. I. Title.

HQ1735.6.A744 2009 305.4209581090511 C2009-904641-5

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall
not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the
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FOR THE TOMORROW GIRLS

JULIA RISHOR, AGE THIRTEEN MONTHS; ALAINA
PODMOROW, ELEVEN YEARS; TAMANNA NAVEED,
SEVENTEEN YEARS

TO YOU WE THROW THE TORCH

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WHO KNEW?

IT WAS 7 A.M. ON A MARCH MORNING in 2003 when my cellphone rang in the Red Roof Inn in Manhattan. I was in New York for the American launch of my book Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan. The skyscraper next door was blocking the early morning light, so it was still dark in my hotel room when I fumbled around to find the phone and answered in a rather groggy, post-launch-party voice. The caller, from Radio Canada, asked if I would do an interview. Probably, I replied. But whats it about? The military has massed forces on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, she told me. Theyre going after Osama bin Laden. They say hes in a cave near Kandahar. And some people here say you know exactly where he is.

I sat on the edge of the bed, listening with incredulity, and then remembered a speech I had delivered in Montreal a few months earlier. I had told the audience about a visit I made to Kandahar in January 2001 to interview a group of courageous women who shared the ghastly details of their lives under Taliban rule. They wanted their story to reach women outside Afghanistan who might help them with the human rights catastrophe they were living with.

In the course of our conversation, they told me about Osama bin Laden, a man who was hardly a household name at the time. They told me he was ruining their country, hijacking their religion, and feeding the Taliban a steady diet of medieval, theocratic dogma. They took meall of us wearing all-enveloping burkasto see his home in Kandahar. It was a palatial estate, with marble pillars, a grand tiled entrance, and lush gardensa shocking contrast to the dirt-poor, drought-ravaged city around it. The women told me that bin Laden had four other homes such as this one in other Afghan cities. Then they said, But he doesnt work in any of these houses. He works in a cave thirty kilometres north of Kandahar City.

When 9/11 forced the world to pay attention to Afghanistan, a country that had been abandoned by the international community at the end of the Cold War, I thought the invading armies would go directly to the cave north of Kandahar and capture the worlds most wanted man. After all, if I knew where he was, everyone else must know, too. But the soldiers didnt go there. They went north, to Mazar-e Sharif and Kunduz, and to Gardez in the east. They tracked along the fractious border with Pakistans North-West Frontier province. Not surprisingly, they didnt find the mastermind of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

I shared that story with the reporter on the telephone. Oh, she said. I wonder why no one ever looked in that cave. Why, indeed. Evidently even the CIA wasnt smart enough to ask the women where Osama bin Laden was.