Afghan Women: Active Roles in Peace, Awareness, and Mediation

Speech at the 3rd Day of the Afghan Women’s Symposium

Keypoints: 

• Peace: Women actively contribute to sustainable peace.
• Awareness: Women promote a culture of peace at all levels.
• Mediation: Women facilitate solutions in family, community, and nation.
• Networks: Women coordinate efforts locally, regionally, and nationally.
• Heritage: Women’s historical and cultural roles are recognized.
• Institutions: Women establish clear and sustainable frameworks.
• Support: Women’s active role is strengthened with resources.
• Cohesion: Women integrate ideas and implement them nationally.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. With the permission of the First Lady and all the sisters! Thank you for this opportunity to listen to you. I found eight different points in your remarks, but let us begin with congratulations and thanks.

Congratulations on an extremely successful symposium, and thank you for the active participation of all of you. When Mr. Dalili says you took an active part, it means you truly took an active part; because Mr. Dalili does not know the culture of lying. I express my gratitude to him for providing these facilities.

Thirdly, you presented very practical proposals. These proposals will not be limited to this symposium; rather, they will turn into a national discourse and program. You have requested follow-up and support; the President of Afghanistan has a commitment both to follow up and to support.

The Social Dimension of the Forty-Year Crisis

Another subject of yours is classification and focus. Peace is multi-dimensional, but I thank you for focusing on the most important dimension of peace, which is social peace.

We have seen forty years of war. Blood has become natural to us. Tears have become ordinary. The grave has become common. Life has become meaningless to us, and this is not acceptable! We want peace! We want tranquility! We want the right to breathe! From this perspective, the goal of this symposium and the goal of the state and the nation are one: to end and put a point of conclusion to the forty-year crisis.

For forty years, we have been in a crisis and we think that crisis is natural. Because we are in crisis, we always think of the immediate and the short-term. Now there is a need to think for the medium and long term and to integrate short-term actions with medium and long-term measures. Stability cannot come to Afghanistan if we only look at today's pain. The pain must end, and for this, the role of women and sisters is extremely important.

The Active Role of Women: From Neutrality to Peace Advocacy

My fourth point is on the "role." Women have not been the cause of war. Your message today is that women are no longer neutral in the matter of war; they are a party—the party of peace! The Afghan woman no longer remains neutral regarding violence; she clearly tells the nation and the world with a resonant voice: "Enough."

From the family to the son, father, brother, and the entire society, she no longer allows the man to consider death natural and to blow himself up. Therefore, your role is a sustainable role. It is a role where from every stone, mountain, and point in Afghanistan—from Pamir to Nimroz, from Herat to Khost, and from Bamiyan to Paktika—there is the same voice. People, understand this: this nation has a consensus on the role of women in creating peace. You were the agents of this consensus in this symposium. I thank you for creating this consensus.

Three Pillars of Female Action: Awareness, Mentality, and Mediation

You mentioned three specific roles: awareness-raising, mentality-building, and mediation. My request is that in your summary and subsequent actions, all proposals in each of these three sections be classified.

• Awareness-Raising: You illustrated and provided a picture of awareness-raising from the family and individual relations to the national level. This must all come within one framework. You have a message for the media of Afghanistan: the media should no longer be populist. Turn heated debates into cool-headed discussions; listen to the voice of women. Their voice is the voice of logic and prudence. Listen to it. Their voice is the voice of Nazo Ana, Zarghuna Ana, and Malalai.

• Mentality-Building: You raised the issue of mentality-building very clearly; because the culture of women, fortunately, is still a culture of peace. The culture of men, unfortunately, has turned into a culture of violence in these forty years. Women must become the means to constantly remind men that violent behavior is not natural and, secondly, is a denial of the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH) and the commands of God (SWT). Here, awareness must be joined with our pure Islamic and national rights.

  Awareness-raising does not mean only referring to schooling and academic capacity. The greatest means is our daily thought. Between different types of awareness and knowledge, we must distinguish. Our culture was not only a written court culture; the oral culture was very rich. If you look at all the Landays or Chahar-Baitis, it is a culture of peace, love, and affection. This must be revived. Mentality-building should not mean only that educated sisters provide mindset to uneducated sisters; sisters who do not have formal education can give the mindset of peace to everyone.

The Excellence of Afghan Women Scholars

I express my gratitude to my sister Palwasha Kakar. Yesterday when I had a meeting with her, she gave me extremely good news. The women religious scholars in Afghanistan have surprised Saudi Arabia and Al-Azhar (Egypt) with the extent of their mastery over the Holy Quran and Hadith. Thank you! May your homes be prosperous. When we have women scholars at this level, their voice must become common in society. When we say "Ulama," we do not mean only male scholars. What sister Palwasha told me was that she feared our women scholars would face criticism after speaking, but on the contrary, [the foreign scholars] came and asked: "Where did they learn Arabic? Where did they learn logic?" From our home! From our nation!

The Historical and Natural Role of Mediation

The third subject is mediation. At all levels, the Afghan woman has the role of a mediator. Daily, the work the Afghan woman does is something neither a judge nor a mufti does; leave the President aside for now [laughter]. Your work as a mother and wife is a hundred times more difficult than my daily work. For this reason, mediation is naturally and historically part of your attributes and capacities. Do not overlook this mediation role.

While symposiums are necessary, the role of mediation is rooted in our culture. There is a national culture of mediation in Afghanistan; identifying its roots and emphasizing the woman's role in it is very important. People understand the history; but do not forget that the final negotiations for Shah Hussain Hotaki were conducted by his sister, Zainab; Amir Abdur Rahman Khan reached the throne through the negotiations of his mother; and the revenge of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan was taken by his sister. The Afghan woman has always had a role in mediation and leadership. The history of the Afghan woman must be rewritten so we can clearly understand her mediation role. But now, we do not only rely on history; you are the future-makers.

Proposed Mechanisms for Implementation

My fifth point is your emphasis on mechanisms. Your points were many, but I heard at least five:

1. Network Creation: Creating networks and institutional cooperation at the village, district, municipal, provincial, and national levels. I have good news: the "Citizens' Charter" (Misāq-i-Sharwandī) is the mechanism you want. In the Citizens' Charter, the share of women must be 50%, and this provides you with a clear tool.

2. National Solidarity: The chapter of the National Solidarity Program has ended. Today, the urban and rural Afghan woman must find one voice. This should be your second mechanism.

3. Peace Ambassadors: Creating peace ambassadors and advisory groups for the High Peace Council, as suggested by our youth. Dr. Sarabi and colleagues should think on this.

4. Sports as a Tool: Utilizing sports, as suggested by the Indonesian Minister of Women's Affairs. We must prepare national institutions like cricket and football to carry peace messages.

5. Educational and Administrative Reform: The role of schools, universities, and government offices. Government culture must change from violence and power-centricity to a culture of peace. This is one of our greatest duties. We must popularize the culture of peace in government departments. I offer you a video conference with all provinces so your messages reach all Governors. I will direct all Governors to hold similar meetings at the provincial level.

The Defining Support of the Family

Your sixth subject is support. It is the first time I see a group that does not throw the burden of support solely onto the state or the shoulders of this servant of yours; thank you!

• Support for the Family: The discussion of the Afghan family must become a fundamental discussion of this society. We must define the family culture fundamentally. People ask me where I learned to respect women. They think it was because I was in the West for thirty years. I always answer: From my mother and grandmother, and from the universal respect my grandfather had for my grandmother.

This culture must be revived. The fundamental point, sisters, is not that the Afghan man has always behaved with violence toward the Afghan woman; this culture of violence has emerged in the last forty years. This is not our culture. It was a culture of exile and migration. This society wants its end.

The "Khāk-i-Afghān" Model of Local Peace

I want to mention the role of the Khāk-i-Afghān district in Zabul with pride. For more than ten years, it was a center for international terrorists. Just the other day, the elders of this district came; they have done what power and money could not. They expelled all international terrorists from Khāk-i-Afghān and today they have brought a framework of peace at the district level. We must welcome such actions. Political peace is not only in a large framework of negotiations; political peace is daily and in every village, district, and precinct of Afghanistan.

I give you an example: the sisters and brothers of Nangarhar will remember when some Taliban came to a village where there was a National Solidarity office. They said, "We are burning the school." These women looked at them and said: "You are the son of so-and-so, you are the nephew of so-and-so." They took up brooms and said: "Leave quickly." [Laughter]. What you can do with a broom cannot be done with a gun! Preserve the honor of your broom, your veil, and your turban! You can preserve it.

Consensus, Integration, and Directives

My seventh, eighth, and ninth subjects concern coordination and the strategy of the High Peace Council. Your proposals for women's gardens or meeting places are reasonable. My directive to government institutions is this: take women seriously. This is not just ethics; it is the law, and above all, it is the Constitution. Do not forget that the first duty of the President of Afghanistan is not as Commander-in-Chief, but the implementation of the Constitution. Because today and on the Day of Judgment, I am responsible to answer for the Constitution.

My directive is that all institutions must take this program seriously. Once these thoughts are integrated, a decree will be issued that all government institutions take this program seriously and implement specific proposals.

I express my gratitude to all groups. You had names for your nine groups, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.