Afghanistan

Recent History

Transcript

• Friba Charkhi says she fears for her life every day. The only woman to host a political TV show in Afghanistan, Friba regularly receives death threats, anonymous phone calls, letters at night; even her parents have been threatened. Six years since the fall of the Taliban, the mother of three says women are still fighting for a voice in society.
• It’s clear that I have been repeatedly threatened, but I haven’t been scared off. That doesn’t mean that I’m not scared at all. I am afraid; I get very frightened. But I have a dream to serve my community through my work.
• This year alone, two high-profile female journalists like Friba have been shot dead in their own homes. No one has been convicted of the crimes. Journalists fear conservative warlords with links to the government may be involved.
• Journalists without arms, without any other thing, only with pen – how they can secure themselves? President is giving us guarantees all the time, ‘Oh, we will do everything, I am with you’, but no one is with us.
• Despite appeals to President Karzai, no security measures have been taken to protect women journalists. Even female politicians say they can do nothing. They themselves are receiving threats. Concerned parliamentarians are now calling on foreign donors to take a tougher stance against the Afghan government to protect women’s rights.
• The international community is not monitoring the government of Afghanistan. They have to keep pushing and political pressure on the government of Afghanistan in this case.
• Afghanistan’s democracy is still in its infancy, and many women here hope the situation will improve with time. They say they will continue to work for the sake of their daughters.

For the past three decades, Afghanistan has been ravaged by conflict and war. A 1978 military coup by a communist group known as the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan was followed in 1979 by Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. Various opposition groups, known as mujahideens, combined forces to combat Soviet troops. After the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan, in 1989, the mujahideen groups fought one another in a period of anarchy and civil war that lasted from 1989 to 1996. The most infamous mujahideen group, known as the Taliban (from the Pashto word for “student”), a devout group consisting of Sunni Pashtuns, emerged in 1994. By 1996, the Taliban took control of the country and instituted various restrictions that reflected a strict interpretation of Sharià, (Islamic law). Although such restrictions affected all Afghanis, the Taliban was particularly harsh in its treatment of women. In 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the United States launched a military campaign in Afghanistan, helping to oust the Taliban from power. In 2004, Afghanistan held its first national democratic election and adopted a new constitution. Since then, the Taliban has regained control of many rural areas.

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