Welcome back to Cheddar news everyone. Well, tomorrow
the U. N. Security Council will hold its
annual open debate on Security Council resolution 13 25 on
women, peace and security with the Taliban now in
control of Afghanistan? The country's female leaders will share
their personal experiences, offer their insights and recommend actions
for a more cooperative, effective and inclusive response to
the situation in Afghanistan for women and girls. Well
, joining me now is Fawzia Koofi, the first
woman deputy Speaker of the parliament in Afghanistan. Fawzia
. Such an honor to have you on the show
. What are you hoping to accomplish at tomorrow's event
? Thank you. I think the issue of women
, peace and security is more relevant to the situation
of women in Afghanistan Now more than any other times
because with the take over of Taliban militarily on 15
August, we know that women actually reverse 20 years
back in many, many areas, including girls not
being allowed to go to school, women not being
allowed to work. Basic rights are being basically taken
away from women. Despite the fact that people of
Afghanistan, especially women or such a transformed empowered nation
that they have protested. They want their basic rights
to be given to them and this is something we
wanted the world to know. They need to work
with the nation that is in power. They need
to work with people, especially with women that are
so aware of their rights and they are the response
to military extremism in the region, Not only in
Afghanistan empowering then means tackling military extremists uh nausea.
When do you leave Afghanistan? And what was the
situation like on the ground when you left? I
lived all my life in Afghanistan including the time the
Taliban were first time in power, but of course
when the Taliban second time took over. Although I
was in the negotiation, I was negotiating on behalf
of people of Afghanistan and especially women of Afghanistan.
I was trying to tell the Taliban that um if
they really want to be part of a political future
settlement, they need to recognize the fact that Afghanistan
today cannot survive without its woman without its younger generation
. They are part of the reality of Afghanistan and
they're unavoidable part of the society. This was the
message I wanted to give to the Taliban unit negotiation
. However, we know that they took over militarily
because you know, the situation was managing away that
american forces left. We had a weaker government in
place. And so I was under house arrest basically
for more than two weeks. My intention was not
to leave Afghanistan because I was in Afghanistan with in
good times and people gave me so much love and
respect and voted for me. I wanted to be
with people and their difficult times. However, when
I was in their house arrest and when I,
you know, the women were not allowed to go
to school or go to work with thousands of people
you saw were queuing at the airport and this is
only couple in the provinces where women were forced to
wear burqa again. Uh there were you know,
uh searching of houses of people, especially the female
activists, politicians, journalists, judges, prosecutors,
female police officers, everybody that was actually active and
working their houses were searched, their families were forcibly
disappeared. Um so then I felt like basically dysfunctional
, I I decided to leave with a hope that
I will return back and fight with my people on
the streets. You see today, thousands of Afghanistan
. Can I just um can I ask, are
you in current negotiations with the Taliban? And what
are your specific requests from the Taliban? The request
is that like many other muslim countries in the world
, they need to respect the basic rights of women
. They need to let women go to school,
They need to let women go to work. Thousands
and millions of women were the breadwinners of the family
. They are left with no job, no income
. The situation is dire. They need to,
if they really want to live with the world,
they need to let people of Afghanistan live in peace
and harmony. Because it's not only about women's rights
, women's rights is a matter of security, not
only for Afghanistan, but for the world, if
Taliban once again change the country as a, you
know heaven for military extremist groups and as a health
for its woman, the world security will be threatened
. So we want them to let women go to
school. We want them to be inclusive. We
want them to live with the current Afghanistan are changed
. Fawzia. Are you hopeful that the event tomorrow
with the U. N. Can lead to progress
? We're trying to do our best to raise awareness
uh to let the people um especially the Member States
know about the situation. We want them not to
do double standard. If women in their own countries
deserve to enjoy basic rights in Afghanistan, they should
actually stand for the same principles. I don't know
how much impact this will have, but we are
doing our part and in terms of how the event
will unfold tomorrow, what should we expect and what
might be some takeaways from it? I think the
discussion will be around the humanitarian aid to the people
and making sure that it actually does not empower the
Taliban because millions of people are not faith and the
poverty is another challenge. But we need to make
sure that it actually reaches to the people and not
to the taliban. So and also with the gender
lens, it's important that women are part of the
decisions, part of every decision and it's important for
international community to showcase when they go to talk and
negotiate with Taliban, they need to make sure that
women are part of the delegation. Women are leading
the delegation because especially the Islamic countries. So I
my hope is that from tomorrow we will come with
a concrete kind of uh roadmap in terms of humanitarian
aid. But moving forward, Taliban need to establish
an inclusive government. Religious minorities, women ethnic book
should be part of it. I know that they
have inspired a lot of military extremist groups. We
need to make sure that Afghanistan is not used by
other military extremist groups. How do we do that
empowered the nation, empowered the people, empowered the
woman Fawzia. Have you found that the international community
is committed to listening and helping when it comes to
the future of Afghanistan and women and girls in particular
in the country. I mean, listening is one
aspect, but really are they committed to to do
what they hear? Um This is a major issue
because we are in the midst of you know,
uh not in a good neighborhood, There is a
lot of geopolitics involved in this. A lot of
countries are actually engaging. They're interested in the situation
of women in Afghanistan and everybody's talking but less action
. We want actually action and we want the world
and especially the neighbors of Afghanistan to see our situation
as their own security. So do not play politics
with the situation of women in Afghanistan, that is
my message to the region and to the neighboring countries
. What is the solution? I mean, how
do you negotiate with the Taliban? If you've got
humanitarian aid from international supporters of Afghanistan and the future
of women and girls there, what is the best
way to go about creating positive change there? Well
, I think the world still has a lot of
leverage that they could use. One of the leverage
is that the people, 35 million population or hungry
, they need to be supported and Taliban need to
deliver to the people. So this is the leverage
for change by international community. The other leverages the
Taliban are now able to travel right and left today
. They were in Moscow the other day, they
were in the region, et cetera. Women of
Afghanistan are under sanctions because thousands of these women rights
activists are now in different camps. We think for
their documents to the process cannot travel to talk about
even about the problems of their people, but Taliban
can So sanctions should be used actually as a leverage
the cash that is close an international recognition. All
of that should actually come with clear, clear benchmarks
when it comes to humanitarian aid. The thing is
that I think we have a leverage that it could
go, but women should be part of the decision
, not only a recipient, but the decision makers
that that it should reach to everyone impartially without politicizing
the that it should go to the individuals, to
the people, not to the defect to power structure
. We have all these liberate that we could use
Fawzia. My last question for you here is are
you in contact with women and girls still in Afghanistan
? And what are their biggest concerns? Do they
think that there is still opportunity to leave in the
event? That they do want to leave On daily
base? Actually, 30-40% of my time is still
with people of Afghanistan. With women with men with
young girls and boys with journalists, with activists,
with members of parliament, with people on the ground
who you know, are living under extremely difficult times
because they keep changing their location, my own families
in Afghanistan with the hope that I will also return
. Although I know security might be extremely challenging for
me, but you know, one has to take
the risk. I am in contact with them,
some of them still under very difficult situation living in
Afghanistan, no option for evacuation. So I hope
that, you know, the neighboring countries will open
their borders so that these people at least could go
to a safer place before they go to their final
destination. In the meantime, I think this is
one of delivery that the international community should use a
Taliban need help in terms of a they have to
let people get out and go to that country.
It's not only getting out, but let people also
go to that country free. Uh but also girls
education. I mean, I know that we have
to finish, but I think the public in the
United States need to know that there are girls in
Afghanistan that start their day by only looking at the
walls of their homes because they don't go out of
their homes and punish their day that way. It's
heartbreaking. So we need to really step up and
take action uh nausea. We've been granted more time
from our producers because your voice so matters to our
viewers and to us here at cheddar news. The
Taliban has said that this time it's different. It's
a different organization, It's more open uh than it
was in decades past. Do you believe that?
That's what we had hoped and that's why I personally
got engaged despite the fact that I was twice attacked
and last time in august my right hand was shot
. Uh you know, unknown kind of nobody's responsibility
game and I was attacked and like the thousands of
other people lost their lives, I'm black, I
survived but other people lost their lives. I got
engaged still with the hope that we are able to
you know make Taliban hold them accountable for their promises
for their generous statement that they were saying women could
practice their rights within Islamic principles. Now, on
the contrary what they do actually by stopping women from
school stopping women from work. You know basically oppressing
people is on the contrary to the Islamic principles and
what they say. So I think we need to
really hold them accountable now they are not anymore.
A small group fighting in a corner of Afghanistan.
They are the fact of power they need to uh
deliver based on what other muslim countries actually delivered what
people of Afghanistan want. What woman wants Islamic right
? Taliban are denying our basic Islamic rights. Unfortunately
Uh Nausea. We saw more than 100,000 people leave
on those flights from Afghanistan. Once the us started
those evacuations toward the end of August. Have they
found have you found that the us has been a
welcoming place for those who have left? Well,
I have just been visiting us since two days.
I'm here uh for for the visit. Um I
know that a lot of people very very accomplished people
had to leave because they had no option. I
only wish that the capacity we use for improvement of
my country for improvement of their country for progress of
Afghanistan. But unfortunately they have no option but to
leave. I think the US now to uh the
U. S. But the rest of the world
must make sure that especially the woman get the safe
protection and get out of those camps so that they're
able to work as diaspora outside the country. But
still for their own country. Their capacity must be
used for Afghanistan, for the future of Afghanistan.
Fawzia Koofi first woman Deputy Speaker of the Parliament in
Afghanistan. We so appreciate your time and wish you
well in your meeting with the U. N.
Tomorrow. Thank you again