AFGHAN WOMEN VIEW THE FUTURE
Nancy Hatch Dupree
(Peshawar, February 1993)
As Afghan women ponder the future from the vantage point of February 1993, they express feelings of profound disillusionment. They have been chary ever since April 1992 when an Islamic state was installed in Kabul. After all, the would-be leaders of the new state are one and the same as those who had imposed unaccustomed restrictive codes on women during 14 long years of exile in Pakistan. But the present abuses in Kabul evidence a total breakdown of Afghanistan’s social fabric.
‘We knew there would have to be a period of adjustment, but we believed firmly that our leaders would remain true to those Islamic principles which accord respect for women and demand a purposeful role for them in society. We expected to be regarded as partners in the rebuilding of Afghanistan. We have prepared for this and acquired skills in health, education and administration, despite the social pressures and periodic violent threats we received from the ultra-conservatives.’
Even the initial pronouncements of the new Islamic state dismissing women from government offices and requiring the wearing of the hijab (veil) were received with understanding. ‘The new government has to establish its Islamic credentials,’ women then said, ‘and dignified female behaviour is important symbolically. So even though overly restrictive measures against women are mistaken and patently un-Islamic, this type of rhetoric appeals to many who have been conditioned by 14 years of jihad. Therefore, the new government naturally makes a big noise about confining women while it attempts to establish its credibility.’
Women were very pragmatic in their outlook at this time. Indeed, as time moved on, they returned to their jobs in the ministries, banks, department stores and restaurants. In the Ministry of Education, for example, women account for 70 per cent of the staff, for they are the only ones with any experience in the day-to-day running of offices; most men were too involved in the war. And, significantly, although government directives specified that women should cover their heads, they did not force them to wear the hijab, which is anathema to those who see it as an un-Afghan, foreign imposition.
In the wake of the takeover in Kabul many atrocities were reported, including the molestation of women. Young Mujahedeen, who had been taught that respectable women remained at home, simply assumed that any women showing their faces on TV or appearing in public places were fair game. The leadership made no effort to correct them. Many factors contributed to the new flow of refugees to Pakistan which began at this time, but the preservation of women’s honour loomed large in the minds of the early arrivals.
This was particularly disturbing because all through the refugee experience one element remained unique. Unlike other refugee situations, where a reported 70 per cent of women arriving at receiving centres had been raped, incidents among Afghan refugee women were almost nil. Respect for women, an abiding hallmark of Afghan society, was still honoured in practice as well as in principle.
Now, in February 1993, the disregard of this respectfulness has added a disastrous dimension to the effects of war in Afghanistan. Afghan history is full of tales of fierce conflicts rising from many different causes, but never have women been so brutally targeted in revengeful retaliation as they are today.
Afghan women in Peshawar listen with horror to reports of rape, forced prostitution, suicides to avoid dishonour, and of naked decapitated female bodies found by the wayside. ‘We feel utterly betrayed. We have sacrificed so much for the jihad during our time in exile. We rejoiced in the establishment of an Islamic regime. We sincerely wish to order our lives according to Islamic teaching. Now these “Islamic” leaders have destroyed the meaning of all our sacrifices. They use Islam for their own power-seeking purposes. They make no attempt to apply the positive dictates of Islam. As long as these leaders remain in control, how can you ask us to consider a return?’
So for the moment most women sit benumbed. It is probably the most difficult time in their long period of trauma, especially for those (men as well as women) with education and aspirations to contribute to the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Yet these women have learned fortitude during their years in exile. Outwardly they continue the routines of daily life with grace and often with humour, despite steadily disheartening news from Afghanistan, scurrilous articles in the Mujahedeen press, shrinking assistance facilities, cutbacks in employment opportunities and closed doors to resettlement.
Four attitudes prevail. Very few can articulate their views. Most say simply: ‘We shall wait and see, having faith that God will provide.’ Others, strongly conditioned by past needs to conform, are convinced that ‘In order to render any assistance, we must comport ourselves according to the will of these leaders, no matter how restrictive their ideas may be. Otherwise we shall be ostracized entirely.’
Still others see absolutely no future as long as the current mentality persists in Kabul: ‘For as long as these people survive, I will beg in the streets rather than return to Afghanistan.’ This reaction takes on added meaning in light of the despair felt by many families in which every member has lost a job. Furthermore, the spectre of ‘joblessness’ is exacerbated by Pakistan’s recent actions threatening to close down numbers of NGO offices in Peshawar and Quetta. The issue, as they see it, is nothing less than raw survival in Pakistan, with return to Kabul an option too frighteningly distasteful to contemplate.
A few bravely dismiss both the submissive and the defeatist attitudes. They call upon women to remain steadfast in promoting the spirit of Islam which guarantees women an active role in fulfilling community obligations. ‘I am physically sick when I hear of what is being done to women. A madness infects Kabul today. This is not the Afghan way. Because I love my country, I must fight to bring our society back to its senses. I must remain true to my conviction that this will soon be realized; that people will see that Afghanistan cannot be rebuilt without the help of Afghan women. We cannot do this by meekly submitting to mere ritual and outmoded practices. The time must come when this will be acknowledged and I must continue to work to lay the foundations for the acceptance of women as honourable partners in this effort. We must all work ceaselessly to demonstrate – to prove – that women can work meaningfully towards reconstruction, to the honour of Afghanistan and of Islam.’
So speak the educated, mostly urban, women in Peshawar in reaction to the political and social chaos in Kabul. One must not forget, however, that over 1.5 million refugees have repatriated, mostly to towns and villages where reconstruction programmes move ahead positively. Women are working, along with men, in a number of health and education facilities and requests for additional female health and education programmes come in daily from the countryside.
As clouded as the horizons may be, and as disquieting as the immediate future seems, most Afghan women wait with their characteristic strength and courage.