January 30, 2002

Dear Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai,

On behalf of Women for Afghan Women we would like to welcome you to New York. We congratulate you on your efforts to spearhead a just reconstruction of Afghanistan. Your role in bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan is recognized and praised.

Women for Afghan Women is a women’s collective based in New York. We are committed to ensuring the rights of women in Afghanistan and have denounced the atrocities committed against them by the Taliban regime. We are proud to say that we held the first Afghan women’s conference in New York in November 2001, where we showcased US-based Afghan women leaders, scholars and activists. We are also proud to say that our keynote speaker, Sima Wali, was asked to participate in the Bonn delegations. Our priority at this critical time is to create numerous forums where Afghan women can speak for themselves about their experiences, hopes and strategies for their country.

It is vital that our perspectives be taken into consideration in the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

1) We ask that women are given full inclusion in every aspect of Afghan life, civil, political and social. We want to see women fully engaged in all forms of public life, as they once were. Beyond that, we want our sisters back home to aspire to and achieve leadership.

2) In turbulent warring times, the first and most brutalized victims are historically the women. The foremost thought on the minds of women in Afghanistan is security. We urge you to give great importance to the safety of women in their homes and in public spaces.

3) Afghanistan has the vast resource of educated and prominent women across the globe who are ready and able to assist their country in this time of need. We urge you to encourage and create programs for not only the education of women and girls in Afghanistan, but the effective use of the exile community. We urge you to strive for equal participation of women and men in your cabinet and in the Loya Jirga.

4) The aid given to Afghanistan by other nations must be used to rehabilitate women’s activities and ensure institutions for women’s higher learning. The new Afghan work force must be equal in inclusion of men and women. Only you and your government can ensure that there will be no corruption at any level.

As a young Afghan woman living in U.S, I would not believe what I learn from the media about the treatment of Afghan women by the Taliban. Their Afghanistan was not the Afghanistan I called home, where women attended universities, and took jobs in public and private offices. All of my teachers were women.

I refused to sit back and allow the world to believe that Afghan women were a silenced and helpless group. My struggle began with the desire to educate my community and the world about Afghan women and Afghan culture. This desire led to my co-founding Women for Afghan Women. I am not alone; my organization consists of women from diverse nationalities and faiths. Afghan women will never be alone because their cause is just - women from all over the world will always be alert and vigilant, making sure that Afghan women gain their equal rights as granted to them in the holy Qu’ran.

My struggles have not ended; rather they have just begun. The dedicated women in my organization will not stop our work of human rights advocacy until the day that Afghan women reclaim their God given-right to dignity, self-determination, a life without violence, and full participation in society.

It is with you and your colleagues that we see hope for our country and our people, particularly the women. We wish you the best of luck in the gargantuan task ahead. May god be on your side. Your task is long and arduous but the faith of a whole nation and the world reside at your hands.

Sincerely,
Fahima Danishgar, Co-Founder, Women for Afghan Women
On behalf of the all the members of Women for Afghan Women