Rosemarie Skaine - The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban

Also by ROSEMARIE SKAINE

Women Political Leaders in Africa (2008)

Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today (2008)

Female Suicide Bombers (2006)

Female Genital Mutilation: Legal, Cultural and Medical Issues (2005)

The Cuban Family: Custom and Change in an Era of Hardship (2004)

Paternity and American Law (2003)

Women College Basketball Coaches (2001)

Women at War: Gender Issues of Americans in Combat (1999)

Power and Gender: Issues in Sexual Dominance and Harassment (1996)

To our Afghan sisters

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

e-ISBN: 978-0-7864-8174-3

2002 Rosemarie Skaine. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover photograph2000 Luke Powell/globalphoto.com

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com

I thank the people I interviewed. Through them I gained perspective and focus. Haron Amin, Afghan diplomat (first secretary), Islamic State of Afghanistan, United Nations, provided the critical first interview. His insightful, inspirational and informative remarks gave me a sense of direction for this very complex topic.

The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) provided interviews with Afghan women and with Shabana, an activist and member of the Cultural Committee. I am grateful to Salma, coordinator of the Foreign Relations Committee; Farid, translator; and Huma and Selay for their assistance. To the women who bared their souls in interviews so that I could record their stories, I am deeply grateful. For the risks they take each day I thank all of these women.

Nasarine Abou-Bakre Gross gave a most helpful interview and has written insightfully on Afghan women. Mora Hashimi and Rahman Hashimi of Springfield, Virginia, provided personal accounts of their lives in Afghanistan.

Peter Tomsen, ambassador-in-residence, University of Nebraska at Omaha and former special envoy to the Afghan Resistance, 19891992, enabled me to understand better the role of the United States in Afghanistans wars. Abdul Raheem Yaseer, coordinator of International Exchange Programs and deputy director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, shared his heritage and understanding and his ongoing work for Afghanistan. Catherine Daly of the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design and the Research Association for the Center of Afghanistan Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha, shared with me her expertise on Afghan women and their dress. Mavis Leno, chair of the Feminist Majority Foundations Campaign on Gender Apartheid, and the members of the Feminist Majority have worked tirelessly on behalf of Afghan women.

I am grateful to Susie Gilligan, Feminist Majority, for her facilitation of the interview with Mavis Leno, and to Midhat Abraham, Ph.D., Middle East librarian, University of Arizona Library, Tucson, Arizona, for assistance with transliteration.

Many organizations added to the knowledge base of this book. Angela E.V. King, special adviser to the secretary-general on gender issues and advancement of women, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, provided a most helpful official report. Dr. Amir S. Hassanyar, director, Cooperation Centre for Afghanistan, sent informative reports and newsletters. Sima Wali, president, Refugee Women in Development, Inc., Washington, D.C., made published works available. Daoud Yaqub, Afghanistan Foundation, Washington, D.C., emailed current accounts of events as they occurred. In the critical early stages of the book, Janice Eisenhauer, Women for Women in Afghanistan, Calgary, Canada, provided information and a sense of direction.

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Fred Schuster, Northeast Iowa Regional Director, I thank for their ongoing willingness to make my government a meaningful and participatory democracy for me, their constituent. I appreciate their helping me wend my way through the maze of governmental departments.

RADM D.M. Mac Williams, Jr., U.S. Navy (ret.), former Naval Investigative Service Commander, provided much appreciated support and assistance.

James C. Skaine edited and assisted in the research. My late, beloved father, Warren V. Keller, gave a lasting gift of love. Other family members provided encouragement: Richard L. and Nancy L. Craft Kuehner, William V. and Carolyn E. Guenther Kuehner, and Paulette, George and Sarah Mouchet.

My friend Robert Kramer, professor emeritus, Center for Social and Behavioral Research and Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, University of Northern Iowa, provided invaluable expertise in cyber technology.

My friend of yesteryear, Cass Paley, I thank for his gift of truth that can set anyone free into an invincible summer.

In the interests of clarity and consistency, I have used the abbreviations and spellings indicated below, unless a direct citation spells something otherwise.

AI Amnesty International

AWN Afghan Womens Network

AWC Afghan Womens Council

CCA Co-operation Centre for Afghanistan

DRA Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

ICHRDD International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development

ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross

ISI Inter-Services Intelligence Agency of Pakistan

KOAW Khalq Organization of Afghan Women

NEGAR Defense of Afghan Womens Rights

NGO non-governmental organization

NIFA National Islamic Front of Afghanistan

PDPA Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan

PHR Physicians for Human Rights

RAWA Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan

RefWID Refugee Women in Development

UFA United Front for Afghanistan (Northern Alliance)

UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNICEF United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund

UNOCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance in Afghanistan

UNSMA United Nations Special Mission for Peace in Afghanistan

WAPHA Womens Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan

WDOA Womens Democratic Organization of Afghanistan

WLUML The Women Living Under Muslim Laws

WORFA Women on the Road for Afghanistan

Im the woman who has awoken

Ive arisen and become a tempest through the ashes of my burnt children

Ive arisen from the rivulets of my brothers blood

My nations wrath has empowered me

My ruined and burnt villages fill me with hatred against the enemy

Oh compatriot, oh brother, no longer regard me weak and incapable

With all my strength Im with you on the path of my lands liberation.

My voice has mingled with thousands of arisen women

My fists are clenched with the fists of thousands of compatriots

Along with you Ive stepped up to the path of my nation,