Afghanistan

Please provide us with your views on the state of peace in the country you will represent at the One Young World Summit.

Forty days after I was born in 1991, my country, Afghanistan, fell into a civil war that lasted for five years. The civil war was followed by an oppressive regime that took away the most basic freedoms from its citizens, especially women and girls. After the Taliban, with relative security, Afghans were finally able to envision a peaceful future for themselves, but in the following years, attacks by Taliban and other terrorist groups have targeted the most vulnerable civilian populations in the country. In fact, the first six months of 2017 were the deadliest yet for Afghan civilians who lost their lives not only to attacks by the Taliban but also to airstrikes carried out by the United States. While we are no longer living in daily war with marked battlefields, we are far from having a peaceful country. People refuse to say Afghanistan is a warzone, but it is because our definition of a warzone is outdated. Warzones no longer come with battlefronts. Terrorist groups have turned every street corner, bazaar, and neighborhood into a battlefield. For many Afghans like me who were born, have grown up and live in war, a peaceful Afghanistan seems like a distant dream.

How do you think your work and/or activism contribute to a sustainable peace?

Around the world, sustainable peace is impossible without women’s meaningful participation. Research shows that when women are involved, peace agreements are 30% more likely to last. Experiences from Ireland, Liberia and Guatemala have shown that women peacemakers are more likely to work for peace across racial, ethnic, and political party lines. One of the obstacles to peace in Afghanistan is that the voices of women are sidelined and silenced and our needs are not taken into account in negotiations and policies. As the Founder and Director of Free Women Writers, my work is focused on highlighting and amplifying the voices of women to promote peace in every aspect of society - from the home to the nation-state. I believe the nation-state will not achieve peace unless the home is at peace. In Afghanistan, gender-based discrimination, radicalism, and terrorism are incredibly intertwined and for as long as 87% of Afghan women face violence at home, peace in the nation-state is but a slogan. By advocating against gender-based violence, radicalism and discrimination against women and by using women’s stories as a tool for advocacy for peace and progress in Afghanistan, I hope to bridge the gap between governmental authorities and international influencers and the authentic voices of Afghan women.