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WAW Launches New Program with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women

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In 2020, WAW is proud to have launched the Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence in Internally-Displaced Persons and Returnees’ Communities Project in partnership with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. Despite the ongoing conflict and instability in Afghanistan, and the overwhelming challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Women for Afghan Women (WAW) has successfully expanded its programmatic reach in 2020 to serve yet another group of vulnerable and at-risk Afghan women and girls. In partnership with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, WAW launched a project entitled Prevention and Response to Gender-Based Violence in Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Returnees’ Communities (PARGIRC) specifically aimed at improving overall access to essential, safe, and adequate multi-sectoral services and to address gender-based violence (GBV) in the context of the forced displacement and refugee returnee crisis in Afghanistan. WAW has set-up mobile …

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How Lal Bibi Walked Again

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Lal Bibi is only 17 years old. She was forced into marriage with someone from her village in an exchange arranged by her parents. After she was married, her husband and in-laws banned her from visiting or communicating with her parents. Soon thereafter, they began to inflict the most horrific abuse on the child. At one point, Lal Bibi was in such a terrible state that her in-laws contacted her father and told him that she had been diagnosed with cancer. They asked him to come to their house to take her back. When her father arrived, they handed Lal Bibi to him at their doorstep without letting him into the house. Once they got home, Lal Bibi’s father realized that she had suffered the most severe physical abuse, amounting to torture. Muscles in her leg had been severed, her nails were extracted, and she had very bad burns all over her body. She told her parents that in addition to the torture she suffered, her in-laws had locked her up in a well in their yard for an extended period …

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WAW Convenes Women and Peace Forums Celebrating International Day of Peace in Afghanistan

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On September 21, 2020, WAW celebrated this year's International Day of Peace in 10 provinces across Afghanistan. Several forums were organized and convened in Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, Balkh, Faryab, Kapisa, Saripul, Kunar, Nangarhar, and Kabul, to promote our flourishing Women and Peacebuilding program to the public and to diverse, wider audiences. More than 500 individuals, the vast majority of whom were women, attended these forums including a diverse and strategic representation of various stakeholders from government ministries, provincial councils, partner civil society organizations, local and international NGOs, and ulamas (Islamic scholars). Many human rights defenders, elders, youths, and community leaders also actively participated in the events. All the participants enthusiastically joined and contributed to this year's celebration of the International Day of Peace under the broad consensus that peace is the current and ultimate priority for Afghanistan. The various …

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Women for Afghan Women and the American University of Beirut Launch Undergraduate Scholarship Program for Afghan Women

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As many of our students head back to school this month, Women for Afghan Women (WAW) is reminded of the transformative power of education and its potential to change the trajectory of one’s life. As they enter into their new school year and classes, our students enter into learning spaces that will inspire, challenge, and help them discover their agency and full potential. This particular story is that of our first cohort of 16 young Afghan women scholars, who just started their first year at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon under the Education for Leadership in Crisis (ELC) Scholarship Program. The ELC Scholarship Program is a joint partnership program of WAW and the AUB, funded by the United States Department of State. The 16 young Afghan women scholars were selected after a rigorous application process that assessed their academic standing as well as their compelling reasons for studying abroad. All 16 young scholars applied to the program from challenging, …

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Don’t Sacrifice Afghan Women’s Freedoms for a Flawed Peace Deal

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Published by The Hill on February 16, 2019 By WAW's Executive Director, Najia Nasim, and WAW Advocacy Director, Megan Corrado For the first time in years, a peace process in Afghanistan is underway in earnest. A framework emerged from recent talks between the United States and the Taliban for further negotiation, including: a phased U.S. withdrawal, preventing Afghanistan’s return to an extremist safe haven, a ceasefire and the Afghan government’s inclusion in future negotiations. Alarmingly, women’s rights are being sidelined, heightening concerns that a potential power-sharing arrangement or constitutional reform will facilitate a reversion to brutal Taliban rule and the reinstitution of its contorted interpretation of Sharia. The talks’ lack of priority on human rights and women’s rights specifically, is reinforcing women’s fears that their lives, freedom and agency will be negotiated away in service of a temporary, flawed and ultimately, unsustainable peace. The Afghan …

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Announced Withdrawal from Afghanistan Repeats Mistakes of the Past

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Retreat from Afghanistan would restore the abhorrent conditions that led the U.S. to intervene in the first place and represent a devastating foreign policy blunder. Since 2001, the U.S. has endured massive losses in blood and treasure — over 2,400 soldiers died, 20,400-plus wounded and nearly a trillion dollars spent. Afghans have suffered enormously — at least 38,000 civilians and nearly 60,000 Afghan security forces have died. Numerous justifications for the American intervention in Afghanistan were articulated in 2001: Punishing al Qaeda for perpetrating the 9/11 attacks; eliminating the Taliban, which gave al Qaeda sanctuary; releasing the Afghan people from decades of repression; creating a democratic government; and empowering Afghan women and girls to exercise their fundamental rights. Considering those objectives have not been achieved, a quixotic reduction of U.S. forces, even by half of current levels, would endanger the government’s stability; heighten extremists’ …

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