So many of those now involved in what has come to be called the Northern Alliance have the blood of our beloved people on their hands, as of course do the Taliban. Their sustained atrocities have been well documented by independent international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and others. Those in the Taliban and the Northern Alliance have also proved themselves to be incompetent and corrupt as governing forces. Our people have not forgotten the years after the collapse of the Soviet puppet regime of Najib –– the most horrible years of terrorism and unchastity 1,2 –– and as well we don't forget the time not so long ago when the Jehadis' themselves were the cheap servants of Abdullah Ezam and Osama bin Laden as the Taliban are today.

Currently, RAWA and many other Afghans fear that the "Northern Alliance" groups now lie in ambush, waiting to ride the guns of the US into Kabul and working to gain western backing to establish their second "emirate." They have yet to prove, or even to offer, a single shred of reason or credible evidence suggesting that they would not repeat their prior atrocities.

In its 1995 report on the Mujahadeen wars that followed the Soviet withdrawal, Amnesty International1 documented that "Thousands of unarmed civilian women have been killed by unexpected and deliberate artillery attaches on their homes……They have been blown up or hit by rockets or bullets while walking in the streets, waiting at bus stops, working in their houses, or sheltering in large buildings. Many have died or been injured in attacks aimed at mosques, schools, and hospitals. These attacks were justified on the grounds of fighting rival groups, but the nature of the attacks, especially on residential buildings, revealed a deliberate policy of terror by the Mujahadeen against Afghans."

In addition, Mujahadeen forces, armed and trained by the US government and now part of the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, waged a brutal war against women, using rape, torture, abduction, and forced marriage as their weapons. Many women committed suicide during this period as their only escape. Given their past record, we see no possibility that any of these Jehadis will change their nature.

Therefore, any U.S., "Rome process," or multi-lateral initiatives to establish a broad-based government must exclude all Taliban and other criminal Jehadi factions from political power, unless and until a specific faction or person has been absolved of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Else the people will again be plunged into the living hell that engulfed our country from 1992-1996 under elements now involved in the Northern Alliance and continues to the present under the Taliban and other factions.

RAWA, on behalf of more than half of the population of Afghanistan, also must insist that any Loya Jirga or interim-government development process is not legitimate unless it includes and heeds women's voices from beginning to end in substantial and meaningful ways. We ask the unequivocal support of the US and other democracy- and justice-loving countries for this and our other standpoints.

Afghanistan of course needs substantial help from the international community, but we cannot tolerate external control, and even starving Afghans will resist foreign domination. RAWA as an organization does support the intervention of a multi-national UN or other peacekeeping force to assist in disarming the warring factions, establishing basic securities, and setting the stage for the establishment of an interim government.

We know that such an interim government will likely fall short of democracy, and we strongly insist that the world community assist our people in making certain that such an interim government is only that –– a temporary stepping stone towards full establishment of citizenship rights –– including equal rights for women in all spheres -- and democracy in a new Afghan constitution and governmental structure.

Based on historical evidence, we gravely fear that continuation of the US attacks and the resulting civilian lives lost give excuses to the Taliban and Northern Alliance to wage war, and will also empower and embolden fundamentalist forces in the region and across the world –– endangering not only Afghans, but further American lives, and the citizens of many countries.

After the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept 11th here in the US, Afghans and Americans, like too many other peoples across the globe, share a common experience of living under the rule of fear and death. Let us make the best of this tragic commonality: Join us in advocating for U.S. and international policies and initiatives that will……

- help build a lasting peace in our country,

-re-establish internationally recognized human rights for the women, children and men of Afghanistan,

- pave the way directly to a secular, broad-based, democratic government welcoming to all who are innocent of crimes against our people, and

- Bring all fundamentalist and other terrorists to justice under the rule of international law.

Thank you.



-References:

Women in Afghanistan: a human rights catastrophe, Amnesty International report, London, 1995. AI Index: ASA 11/03/95.

RAWA. Marginalised Women: Documentation on Refugee Women and Women in Situations of Armed Conflict. A publication of the Asian and Pacific Development Center, 2000