On February 9th, I participated in a Department of Defense Bloggers Roundtable with Dr. Jack Kem, who is the Deputy to the Commander, NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan (NTM-A) and Commander, Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan. As was the case with my blog last week I had intended to put this out during Women’s History Month but got sidetracked. At the start of the Roundtable, Dr. Kem stated it would cover three areas:
– Answer our questions on Gender Initiatives within the Afghan National Security Force
– How NTM-A is working with the Afghan Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense on these initiatives
– Progress Afghanistan has made towards these initiatives
Dr. Kem began by pointing out their efforts “to support gender and human rights in Afghanistan is consistent with a number of international and Afghan documents.” He reminded us that Article 22 of the Afghan constitution states: ‘The citizens of Afghanistan –whether man or woman – have equal rights and duties before the law’.” He also emphasized: “The Afghan National Development Strategy details the Afghan government’s gender-equity strategy to address and reverse women’s historical disadvantages. The National Action Plan for Women of Afghanistan, or NAPWA, is the Afghan government’s main vehicle to pursue these goals, and emphasizes the importance of gender mainstreaming, with specific objectives to increase the number of women in the Afghan National Police and in post-secondary education, among others…There is admittedly much work that remains…But NTM-A is committed to assist the government of Afghanistan in achieving the results. Our focus is on the Afghan security forces, but our impact is potentially far reaching for the Afghan society.”
My sense was Dr. Kem wanted to make sure it was understood this wasn’t a case of the NATO countries imposing their own social standards; but one in which they were working with the Afghans helping them reach goals they themselves had set. He indicated, “…admittedly, there are some issues that exist in this society. There are some attitudes that do need to change, but you will find that most people acknowledge and accept the fact that women need to have equal rights…there’s been a number of surveys, one by the United Nations Development Program, UNDP. There was one by ABC,BBC and ARD, and there was another by the Asia Foundation. Each of those polls consistently showed their support…for girls and women going to school and being able to work. There are some differences in the south where there’s a more conservative attitude, but across the board, the majority of the Afghan populations support girls and women being able to work and to go to school…I think that’s very significant.”
When you take a closer look at Afghan history this acceptance of the population for a larger role for women is not so surprising. According to a report the State Department put out:
“Prior to the rise of the Taliban, women in Afghanistan were protected under law and increasingly afforded rights in Afghan society. Women received the right to vote in the 1920s; and as early as the 1960s, the Afghan constitution provided for equality for women. There was a mood of tolerance and openness as the country began moving toward democracy. Women were making important contributions to national development. In 1977, women comprised over 15% of Afghanistan’s highest legislative body. It is estimated that by the early 1990s, 70% of schoolteachers, 50% of government workers and university students, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women. Afghan women had been active in humanitarian relief organizations until the Taliban imposed severe restrictions on their ability to work. … The assault on the status of women began immediately after the Taliban took power in Kabul. The Taliban closed the women’s university and forced nearly all women to quit their jobs…Forced to quit their jobs as teachers, doctors, nurses, and clerical workers when the Taliban took over, women could work only in very limited circumstances…The Taliban ended, for all practical purposes, education for girls. Since 1998, girls over the age of eight have been prohibited from attending school.”
I asked Dr. Kem how the women they had trained for the police force and army were faring and what issues where they facing. He said the Afghans had set a goal of having 5,000 women in the police force by 2014. They currently have 1,000 to 1,200 and they have been well received. He said, “…it makes a lot of sense culturally if you’re going to be at a border crossing site or an airport that if women are going to be searched, they should be searched by other women and those women who do the searching should be the ones that are well trained and…know what they’re doing.” I think the favorite story I’ve heard that has shown the advantage of having women police concerns a Taliban fighter who had put on a Burqa and kept complaining about being pregnant. When a woman police officer searched him he was toast. It there had been only male police officers around he would not have been searched.
The numbers may be small but they are increasing. The first class of women to graduate from the Afghan Army’s Officer Candidate School in October 2010 has four of the graduates going to pilot school. The second class of women was scheduled to graduate last month. They are taking in more recruits in both the Army and the Police force. There are some exceptional Afghan women working very hard to make this program a success. One of whom is Brigadier General Shafiqa Quarashi who has served in the Afghan Police Force for 28 years and was a recipient of the U.S. State Department 2010 Women of Courage Award. She was given the award for the exceptional job she did as Director of Gender, Human, and Child Rights. Then Colonel Shafiqa was praised for creating and leading “a working group on Afghan National Gender Recruitment Strategy, with the goal of increasing the number of women working in the Ministry of the Interior to 5,000 and of improving the quality of the Ministry’s service to the women and of Afghanistan. Beyond recruiting women, she’s worked toward securing benefits and incentives to increase the number of women in the workforce, including childcare, healthcare, maternity care, security, and skills training.”
Last Year during a talk given at the Afghan Ministry of Interior’s International Women’s Day ceremony, the General stated: “No one will give you your rights to you as a gift, you have to take them. Who is saying women can’t do anything. We can do everything, anything you want…We have to fight against corruption and those who are against women working.” I don’t think those working these issues are blind to the challenges. What you have are a large number of people both Afghan and NATO countries working to make sure that the changes they institute are “irreversible”. I find it interesting that Afghan women received the vote in the 1920’s, the same time as women in the U.S. We didn’t face a group like the Taliban come in and take away are rights yet there are still challenges such as the equal pay issue that need to be solved. Of course it would be ideal to make major changes right away but considering the challenges I think they’re working as fast as they can.
Lots of questions remain such as what happens if the Taliban and the Afghanistan government come to some sort of agreement that ends the conflict? Will the Taliban insist women be placed back in the home and out of sight? Time will tell. I’m reminded of a time in my life when I was traveling in Europe. I spent my junior year of college over there and was on Spring break. I and another student had decided to go to Spain for the opening of the Bull Fight season. On the train we were sharing a compartment with a white South African. This was before the policy of Apartheid ended. It was also a time when their where race riots and demonstrations in the U.S. He looked me over and casually asked: “What is it you people want?” I decided to take the high road and said the same thing you do; consideration for jobs that I was qualified for and to be able to buy a home in any neighborhood I could afford. I also wanted to be able to go into any restaurant to eat and stay in hotels and motels when I traveled in the U.S. Those were things that were at the time denied to African Americans traveling through the southern part of the U.S. He told me he didn’t think I was entitled to those things and we should stop the demonstrations. I somehow restrained from hitting him over the head with my pocket book. I wonder what song would the Taliban sing if they suddenly woke up one day and were magically turned into women. Well think I’ll end here. As always my views are my own.
