Source 1: Nojumi, Neamotollah. the Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. 2002. Palgrave

SELECTED COUNTRY: AFGHANISTAN BOOKLET ONE: INTRODUCTION

SOURCE 1: NOJUMI, NEAMOTOLLAH. THE RISE OF THE TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN. 2002. PALGRAVE, NEW YORK.

NOJUMI IS A WRITER, MUJAHIDEEN FIGHTER AGAINST THE SOVIETS AND AN INTERNATIONAL AID WORKER FOR THE REFUGEES OF AFGHANISTAN.

SOURCE 2: SHAH, SAIRA. THE STORY TELLER’S DAUGHTER. 2003. PENGUIN, LONDON.

SHAH IS A YOUNG BRITISH JOURNALIST OF AFGHAN DESCENT. SHE IS FAMOUS FOR MAKING THE DOCUMENTARIES BENEATH THE VEIL AND UNHOLY WAR. SHAH WAS ONLY 21 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE MADE THE DOCUMENTARY BENEATH THE VEIL.

SOURCE 3: WWW. RAWA.ORG.

BENEATH THE VEIL, PRODUCER SAIRA SHAR FOUR CORNERS ABC TV 2000 AFGHANISTAN UNVEILED, FOUR CORNERS ABC TV 2007 CROSSING THE KHYBER, AUSTRALIAN STORIES ABC TV 2003 THE BROTHERS OF KABUL, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT ABC TV 2007

1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION: THE SOVIET OCCUPATION In 1979 the USSR invaded Afghanistan. A puppet government was set up called the PDPA, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The Soviet advisors and the new government tried to establish a mass movement towards socialism. This aim clashed with the traditional social and political structure of Afghan society. A mass movement emerged against the Soviet occupation and the PDPA. The uprising had a catastrophic impact on Afghanistan. Firstly it destroyed the economic, political and social fabric of society. Secondly it divided Afghanistan into ethnic, linguistic and religious tribes as each group acted to protect their own territory. The Soviets finally withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988/89.

In the 1980s the mass uprising against the Soviets took the form of guerrilla fighting. Roads and bridges were destroyed to isolate Soviet forces. The Soviets retaliated by destroying farmland and important irrigation systems. Millions of land mines left many villages isolated and further destroyed the village economy. According to the United Nations at the time of the Soviet withdrawal; *agricultural production was 45% of potential production

*the irrigation system operated at 36% of its capacity

*electrical power generation declined by 60%

*only 40% of the highways were functioning

*500,000 homes were severely damaged

*60% of the urban population could not access safe drinking water

*one out of six people suffered from a disability caused by war

*life expectancy was 42 years

*infant mortality rate was 296 in every 1,000 births

*the birth rate had declined by 20%

*25% of the population had access to health services

*there were 12 to 15 million unexploded land mines in Afghanistan.

2 THE TALIBAN REGIME When the Soviets forces finally left Afghanistan a civil war erupted between tribal groups. The Taliban won the civil war. The Taliban are made up of members of the Pashtun ethnic tribe. The Taliban formed government in1996. The government was a theocracy under the leadership of Mullah Omar. The Taliban established a society based on strict fundamentalist beliefs. Under the Taliban changes in Afghanistan were revolutionary. The Taliban wanted to return to the year zero and remove all modern influences. List three examples of modernity banned by the Taliban rule:

* How did the Taliban change the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan?

3 SHARIA LAW The Taliban introduced Sharia Law. Sharia Law is the legal system associated with fundamentalist Islam. Sharia Law does not recognize the separation of Church and State. In Afghanistan under the Taliban regime Sharia Law was enforced by the Ministry for the Protection of Virtue and Prohibition of Vice. Those charged with enforcing the law were referred to as the religious police. They often operated as a secret police force. Taliban interpretation of Sharia Law was one of the most controversial aspects of the regime.

List the controversial aspects of Sharia Law in Afghanistan:

The Taliban had hoped to restore order to a lawless land, rebuild the economy and destroy the opium trade. They failed; the internal problems of Afghanistan were overwhelming. The legacy of the war against the Soviet Union was devastating. In the south west region, tribal militias converted fertile farming land to opium farms to fund the civil war. The Taliban were unable to convert this land back to food production. Millions of people became internal and external refugees. Seven million people fled overseas. According to Afghan writer Neamatollah Nojumi between 1979 and 2000 one third of the Afghan population was displaced several times. One million people were killed.

4 The Taliban not only failed to unite and rebuild the country they caused even more destruction. The Taliban were militia men, mostly from farming backgrounds, mostly illiterate. Some had attended religious schools where they learnt the Koran off by heart in Arabic, but could not read or write their own language. They had no experience in government, and no experience in administration of large institutions. They were tribal men with deeply held traditional values.

REFUGEES Population movement involved internal and external refugees. According to United Nations’ report when the Soviet occupation ended there were 500,000 widows relying on their own employment for their survival and their children’s survival. When the Taliban banned women from employment these women became beggars or joined the millions in refugee camps. There were two million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and almost as many in Iran; many were the widowed women of Afghanistan. Many thousands of children in refugee camps lost their parents and as Nojumi describes “they grew up under the dark influence of war culture, with no parental role model and no emotional support.”(Nojumi N. 2002.p207)

The refugees in camps in Pakistan and Iran underwent fundamental changes. Refugees were reliant on international aid and international aid was distributed by local Taliban Commanders. Refugees were forced to accept the Taliban’s military and political agenda in order to receive food. The reliance on the Taliban caused fear and uncertainty amongst the refugees. These changes continue today. Refugee camps in Pakistan are still dominated by the Taliban. Boys are still forced into the militias or joined willingly only knowing the culture of war all of their lives. In her book The Story Teller’s Daughter (Penguin 2003) Saira Shah noted that these boys are unlikely to return to farming because they have been socialised in the adrenalin rush of war and the camaraderie of the militia.

5 GENOCIDE The Taliban belong to the Pashtun ethnic group. Under Taliban rule genocide was practiced by the Taliban against other ethnic groups, particularly the Hazara ethnic group. The Hazara ethnic tribe practice a more liberal form of Islam. Hazaras have fled Afghanistan in fear of the Taliban.

THE FALL OF THE TALIBAN On the 11th September 2001 terrorists flew two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Another plane hit the Pentagon in Washington. A fourth plane was headed for the White House in Washington but the passengers decided to crash the plane into a field. The attack was carried out by Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden and based in Afghanistan. The USA demanded the Taliban hand over the Al Qaeda leaders to the Americans and close down the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. The Taliban refused and the USA invaded Afghanistan in 2002. President George W Bush gathered what he referred to as the ‘coalition of the willing’ to destroy the Taliban regime and the terrorist camps. The coalition of the willing included the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland.

6 BOOKLET TWO :THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF AFGHANISTAN THE TALIBAN WERE OVERTHROWN IN THE CITY OF KANDAHAR AND THE CAPITAL CITY, KABUL. A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT WAS ESTABLISHED, THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF AFGHANISTAN. THIS ELECTED GOVERNMENT HAS POWER IN THE TWO BIGGEST CITIES BUT IN RURAL REGIONS THE TALIBAN REMAIN POWERFUL. IN AREAS WHERE THE TALIBAN HAVE NO POWER OTHER ETHNIC WAR LORDS CONTROL THE POPULATION AND OPIUM FARMS IN THOSE AREAS.

In 2001 the Taliban were overthrown by the Afghan Northern Alliance and the Coalition of the Willing dominated by NATO forces. A new government was established. The National Assembly of Afghanistan is a democratic government based on Western principles and democratically elected by the people of Afghanistan. The National Assembly replaced the Taliban regime and Sharia Law. Equality for women is written into the constitution and there a female representatives in the Assembly. The new constitution protects the rights of women to an education, employment and a role in the public life of Afghanistan, there a 68 female politicians in Afghanistan’s National Assembly. However in reality the women in the Assembly are silenced. Their microphones are turned off when they speak. If they disagree with male politicians their lives are threatened. The most outspoken female politician Malalai Joya, never sleeps in the same house twice to keep one step ahead of her assassins.

Malalai Joya speaks out in the international media because conditions for women have not improved under the National Assembly.

According to Malalai Taliban leaders and drug warlords dominate the Assembly. President Hamid Kazai maintains an uneasy peace with the National Assembly by ignoring the past of many of the representatives, none have been charged with crimes against humanity or illegal drug dealing.

7 Compare the role of women under the Taliban regime to the role of women in Afghanistan today.

Since the fall of the Taliban population changes continue. Millions of land mines continue to make villages dangerous although UN land mine clearing teams work continuously. As well as a state of war between US led troops and Afghan insurgents, drought has ravaged the country in recent years.

AFGHANS AND ACCESS TO SOCIALLY VALUABLE RESOURCES Socially valued resources include: Education Employment Housing Health care And access to justice A significant problem for Afghan people is access to health care. A UNICEF report published in April 2005 stated that Afghanistan has the fourth highest under five mortality rate in the world. Around 700 children under five die in Afghanistan every day. One woman dies every 20 minutes due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth.

8 Read TWO articles from the RAWA ( the Revolutionary Women of Afghanistan ) internet site and list other relevant information regarding women and girls in Afghanistan

From your research write about ONE socially valued resources lacking in Afghanistan today:

Describe a future scenario for Afghanistan. Describe the social model that forms the

9 basis of this future scenario.