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AFGHANISTAN
We recommend the site of Institute for Afghan Studies
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Declaration of Afghan Women NGOs Source HAWCA Whereas consideration of Islamic Sharia, the protection of basic human dignity, and the Afghan Constitution make the Afghan state responsible to protect the rights, property, and dignity of its citizens; Whereas binding international conventions further oblige the Afghan state to protect the fundamental rights of men and women; Whereas harmful outdated customs and beliefs in Afghanistan have resulted in acts of violence against women throughout the past catastrophic decades in the country; Therefore institutions that work to defend human rights, associations that protect women’s rights, and members of Afghanistan’s civil society present this declaration as a proclamation of our grief and sorrow over of brutal killing of 22-year-old Amina in Badakhshan Province, the rape and killing of three women NGO-workers in Baghlan Province and the murder of a woman in Pulikhumri city. With a deep sense of concern for the threats to women’s dignity, honour, and lives in this difficult period, we call for the punishment of the perpetuators of these crimes against women and humanity, and demands the following actions from the government of Afghanistan : 1. We urge the elected president of Afghanistan to focus his urgent and serious personal attention to the issues mentioned above; 2. We insist that the judicial system of Afghanistan , as the institution responsible for justice in the country: a. Expand and extend the reach and enforcement of the judicial system to the rural areas of the country in order to prevent similar actions from happening in the future; b. Convict the merciless perpetrators of Amina’s murder; c. Investigate the murder and rape of the other women immediately and urgently convict the criminals responsible in a public trial to ensure that the consequences of such actions are clear to others. 3. The government of Afghanistan, as a responsible and accountable institution, has to prohibit propaganda against NGOs so that attacks and assault against the workers of nongovernmental organizations are prevented; 4. Considering the budget that is allocated for national security, the government of Afghanistan must work and attain better prepared and more expert security for its citizens. 5. The clerics and Islamic scholars of the country, in accordance with their role as protectors of Sharia, must thwart the actions and movements that sully the name of Islam and Muslims. As a consortium of concerned Afghan women, we denounce all actions and activities that perpetuate and promote violence against women. From: Afghan Women Lawyer’s Council Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan (HAWCA) Afghanistan Women Education Centre (AWEC) Omid Education Centre Noor Educational Centre Afghan Women’s Political Participation Committee Bakhtar Services Association (11th District) Rights and Democracy Nahid Shahid Collaborating Committee with Afghan Women Women for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan Arya Mehr Reconstruction Association for the Capacity Building of Afghan Women The Association for the Defence of Women’s Rights in Balkh Rowzana The Afghan Women’s Rights Defence Committee Gowharsha Association for Rehabilitation and Skill Development The Association for Handicrafts of Central Afghanistan’s Women The Committee for the Reconstruction of Women’s Rights The Afghan Women’s Network Shafaq Journal The Association of Developing Services for Women and Children All-Afghan Women’s Union Centre for Afghan Women’s Health Development Education Centre for poor women and girls Civil Society and Human rights network The Civil Society Association for Peace
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Source: BBC
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Source: Loya Jirga.com
***** Message received January 1st 2002. Sent by Orzala, Director of HAWCA, Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children of Afghanistan. Dearest supporters, Dearest friends of HAWCA, On behalf of HAWCA wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year! As it seems for now the devastated people of Afghanistan are going towards the roads of peace and hope, however our tired nation have the experience of deceiving by the ruler but this time everyone want to be much more hopeful for their future and their children's future, they even hate to use the terrible word of war when they speak, they say that their future generation should never think of war and everyone have dreams of getting back to their destroyed home and start rebuilding it, however this is very painful when they remember the past, when they remember their loved ones who is not more with them but they are happy and more than hopeful. Dearest friends, Remember that the crisis in Afghanistan from different aspects is still putting the country in top of other societies, children still dying of hunger, women still suffering of the recent past oppression; So let us once again help the Afghan nation and give them opportunities of having a different future, a future with no war, no disaster, no poverty and nothing horrible as the years they passed.
Let us hope to have a peaceful, stable and calm country after all the tragedies of the past in our country and all over the world.
With warmest greetings and SOLIDARITY, Orzala Ashraf / HAWCA Director.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Message received from HAWCA, Peshawar, nov 15th 2001. Dear Friends, supporters and egroup supporters, As the situation is changing very fastly, and here we are having some news about the situation inside the country, we would like to explain you about it. Afghanistan, our war-ravaged country once again has a 'change'. This is impossible to say if this is a positive or negative change, but people around us are much more concerned for the new developments. HAWCA, is also worried while hearing about more insecurity inside Afghanistan. We have been informed that many warehouses of humanitarian organizations were looted. Since the first looted places are the humanitarian sources, this is more serious, because the normal and safe transportation of food and medical items would be difficult for the aid agencies. This can be an alarming point for millions starving people who are in URGENT need of food in remote areas of the country. As a humanitarian NGO, we would like to urge the armed forces in the country that they should prevent from repeating the last historical mistakes and try their best to at least guarantee the humanitarian institutions safety so that they could have better access to provide food as well as medical assistance for the most needy people in the country. It has to be mentioned that HAWCA staff are still based in Pakistan, we will not move untill the situatin gets better, HAWCA's projects inside the country are stopped in some places, and are going on in some other areas; the schools in Pakistan are going quite well, we are arranging the program of food distribution for the families of new arrival refugees in the tow areas we are working as well as the emergency project officers are trying to arrange a big food distribution in the New Jalozai camp. Hopefully, in next week. Also the embriodary project is much more active than before, now we are trying to involve some of the new refugee women to make some embriodaries in order to have a regulare income. HAWCA will try to let you know by the latest developments as soon as we had any news.
Kabul has fallen to the Northern Alliance on the 13th, today we are hearing about Jalalabad city as well. And Maza-e-Sharif was the first key city which was taken by the N.A. forces, The situation in all the north part of the country is not so cleared. However we heard that some 115 Arab and Pakistani troops of Taliban were killed after four days' resistance in a School called, Sultan Razia high school of Mazar-e-Sharif. HAWCA doesn't have any source to confirm any point exactly, but what we are hearing from people arriving from Afghanistan about some of their experiances as follows:
Story of a man arrives from Pole-e-khumree and Kabul:
"My name is Hashim Walee, I'm 35 years old, arrived on the 14th to Peshawar, I come here because ten days ago I accompanied a group of relatives who were carrying a dead body from Pakistan. I live here in Pakistan since five -years. When I left Pole-e-Kumree, the center for Baghlan province, the fighting's were going on there, the Taliban left some parts of the city. I arrived to Kabul on the 11th, during the night of 11th we were hearing lots of heavy expulsions in the city. But the Taliban still were in the city in their check posts. on the 12th at night they begun escaping from the city, it was around 8:00pm that the warehouses of aid organizations were looted, I can't say if it was the armed forces of Northern Alliance, but there were some armed men as well as civilians, also before the Taliban leave the city, they too looted Sara-e-shahzada, the beggiest money exchange market in the capital, many shops have been looted, at 4:00am. in the morning the forces of N.A. started entering Kabul. I was there to see if the people really are welcoming them. I have to say this is true that we all were very much happy, very immotionate but at the same time worried too. In the first morning light, many people were out to welcome them especially the children. It was amazing, for a short while people thought if they really were liberated, including myself! I was was beaten up by the Taliban just a week ago while traveling from Kabul to the north, because my beard "wasn't according to the Taliban law.". But, a significant number of people were just at home, because of the fear they had have from the situation. Children were clapping, shouting and some of the N.A. people chanting slogans..... with the echo of their voices, I just had a time with myself, remembering the past, the day that Mustafa, my young brother 14years old, was killed by the same armed soldiers, he was killed, because he refused to handover his bicycle to an armed man, when he forced him, he start fighting with him and the man shot in his head. Again, I turned my face and decided to not welcome these people. I didn't see any woman outside on the 13th morning at all, because no one was going out, the security was not good, during afternoon, some were out, but with borqas. I think, it is not safe for women to just throw out their borqas immediately, until the situation is in control. Soon in the afternoon some of the military forces entered the city of Kabul with Police uniform and Police cards, they aanounced that any body who is armed, but without police identity, should handover his arms imedieatly, I have seen at least two armed men who were arrested in a square and after handing over thier guns they were realiesed. Another thing I have seen was some arabs who were killed by people. They were killed by stones, sticks not guns at all, they were killled by the anger of people. The N.A. trys its best to control the city, but yet it is not proved, from the frist day I can say that if they continued the same, looking after the security issues, it will be great. I started my travel towards Jalalabad at 7:00 in the morning, while the city was quite calm. During the way, untill Sarobi, there were the people from the N.A. forces, but when we arrived to the city of Jalalabad, we have seen people who were worried alot. In some parts, people were also looting the wearehouses of WFP, as I have seen by my own eyes, everyone has a packet of weat or other things escpaeing in the streets. I heard that the previous Mujahidden were on the way to take over the city. Since the circomstances was'nt look very safe, the driver didn't stop the car. We were some fourteen people in the bugs, and after some researchs we did, found out that we still can't cross the Torkham borders, then we decieded to come through Gandaow, which is an ileagal way. While we were in Pakistan teritory in tribal areas, we heard from the local people that "Kafers took power in Afghanistan, some Tajiks" and many of them stopped the bus asking if there was any Dari speaking man, fortunately we all were speaking fluent pashto and we didn't have any problems with them. But they were saying that if they find any Tajik, they will kill him. I arrived at late night of yesterday the 14th. I'm happy that at least I could come back safe and sound, but what worries me very much is the future of the people inside the country, if they repeat the same stories, then it can be worst again."
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October 17th Nejat Khalili sent this message: Dear Ana, I just returned from Afghanistan. It was a dreadfull trip. I was there , in Pangesher , when the bomb that cowardly Osama planted killed the Afghan heroe Ahamad shah Masood. I was only a block away when the explosion accured. My youger brother Masood Khalili was with commander in the same room.My brother was seriosly wounded and he is in a hospital in Germany recieving medical care.His wounds are grave but he will live.By dead of commander Masood , I lost a best friend and Afghanistan lost one of the greatest heroes.Taliban and their cowardly Arab suporters could not defeat him in the batlefields but so cowardly killed him.But let me tellyou that Afghans will avenge his blood.Osama is a terrorist and he must be eleminated from the face of this earth. Iam working on a book about Ahamad shah Masood and that is why I was in Pangesher. What you doing and what you think? please write back. Nejat ********** Message received from Orzala Ashraf of HAWCA in Peshawar, sunday 14th October.
It has been a week that Afghanistan is target by the military strike. HAWCA's main concern is the human casualties, while it's connection with HAWCA employees is not so regular. We only have some news from Kabul and Jalalabad and our contacts tell us that though there are only few deaths and injuries, the people are frightened and especially during the night time no one can sleep and all people are waiting to hear very heavy explosions which also affects psycoligicaly the people, in particulare the young children. After the military strikes, the number of displaced people inside Afghanistan increased highly, according to an eyewitness, everyday there are some 400 people coming by several illegal ways to Pakistan. Since, officially the authorities here didn't opned the border, so these refugees are trying to be mixed up with the older refugees. The people who are arriving here, they must spend some seven hours walking in the high mountains to reach Pakistan, they must pay some money as well, the transportation of the way is expensive than before. It means that the poor people of the country can't manage to leave and come here. The situation in the bordering areas of Pakistan was also not so good, there were several demos opposing the strike and thats why all the educational institutions remained close for one week. On Monday, hopefuly we will reopen the schools. Reconstruction of the Mahjoba-e-Herawee school is going on and tommorow will be the last day and we will have two more classrooms which we needed in the school. You will soon find out some pics of the school. During the last week there were several jurnalists who had visited HAWCA's work and besides that also there was a group of Accio Solidario (a spanish NGO) representatives who caming to organize some food distribution for the new and poor refugees as well as the school children. during last week, HAWCA organized a programe of food distribution for the new refugees as well as for the students of the two schools and some workers of the brickyard. the program was for three days and we gave the people some 20KG of flour and 2.5KG of cooking oil per family. You will soon find out some photos and report on them in HAWCA website. On Friday 12 Oct. HAWCA organized a food distribution for some 400 people in a refguee area near Peshawar city. Majority of the refugees were women and children. There were also some 14 forignors from Spain, among them there also was the national SPain's tve correspondent and from some radios as well. HAWCA supporters in Spain and Italy are working hard to orgnaize some ways to stop the war and also to collect some funds. This sitation is very hard, there are no medicine, no food, no shelter and the expected new refugees will need them all. So, once again we would like to urge the intrenational community that they must prove their respect for human dignity and human life by not targetting the civilians. HAWCA is in conctact with UNHCR, though they are now intrested on very huge projects, but we will see if we can cllaborate with them in future. I hope this helps you to know a bit on HAWCA's works. Much love to U ALL. ORzala Ashraf. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ******* Tamim Ansary is an Afghani-American writer. Here is his take on Afghanistan and the whole mess we are in:
I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to > > ***** Afghan Contemporary History source: www.britannica.com
GEOGRAPHY Officially REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN, Dari Persian JOMHURI-YE AFGHANESTAN, Pashto DA AFGHANESTAN JAMHAWRIYAT, country located in the heart of south-central Asia. It has an area of some 251,825 square miles (652,225 square kilometres) and is completely landlocked, the nearest coast lying along the Arabian Sea, about 300 miles to the south. Its longest border, of 1,125 miles (1,810 kilometres), is with Pakistan, to the east and south. The 510-mile border in the west separates Afghanistan from Iran, and there is a 200-mile border with the part of Jammu and Kashmir claimed by Pakistan. The combined length of Afghanistan's northern borders with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan is 1,050 miles. The shortest border--of 50 miles--is with the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang of the People's Republic of China, at the end of the long, narrow Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor), in the extreme northeast. The capital of Afghanistan is its largest city, Kabul, which is located in the east-central part of the country at an altitude of about 5,900 feet (l,800 metres). The city is connected by road to most Afghan provinces and neighbouring countries to the north and east. The boundaries of Afghanistan were established in the late 19th century in the context of rivalry between Britain and Russia. Modern Afghanistan became a pawn in struggles over political ideology and commercial influence. In the late 20th century Afghanistan suffered ruinous effects of prolonged civil war, invasion by the Soviet Union (1979), and Soviet military presence (1979-89). Releaf Afghanistan's shape has been compared to a leaf, of which the Vakhan strip forms the stem. The outstanding geographic feature of Afghanistan is its mountain range, the Hindu Kush (in Afghanistan, Hendu Kosh). This formidable range is a barrier between the comparatively fertile northern provinces and the rest of the country, and it creates the major pitch of Afghanistan from northeast to southwest. The Hindu Kush, when it reaches a point some 100 miles north of Kabul, spreads out and continues westward under the names of Baba, Bayan, Safid Kuh (Paropamisus), and others, each section in turn sending spurs in different directions. One of these spurs is the Torkestan Mountains, which extend northwestward. Other important ranges include the Kasa Murgh, south of the Hari River; the Hhsar Mountains, which extend northward; and two formidable ranges, the Mazar and the Khurd, extending in a southwestern direction. On the eastern frontier with Pakistan, several mountain ranges effectively isolate the interior of the country from the rain-laden winds that blow from the Indian Ocean, accounting for the dryness of the climate. The Hindu Kush and subsidiary ranges divide Afghanistan into three distinct geographic regions, which roughly can be designated as the Central Highlands, the Northern Plains, and the Southwestern Plateau. The Central Highlands, actually a part of the Himalayan chain, include the main Hindu Kush range. Its area of about 160,000 square miles is a region of deep, narrow valleys and lofty mountains, some peaks of which rise above 21,000 feet. High mountain passes, generally situated between 12,000 and 15,000 feet above sea level, are of great strategic importance and include the Shebar Pass, located northwest of Kabul where the Baba Mountains meet the Hindu Kush, and the Khyber Pass, which leads to the Indian subcontinent, on the Pakistan border southeast of Kabul. The Badakhshan area in the northeastern part of the Central Highlands is the location of the epicentres for many of the 50 or so earthquakes that occur in the country each year. The Northern Plains region, north of the Central Highlands, extends eastward from the Iranian border to the foothills of the Pamirs, near the border with Tajikistan. It comprises 40,000 square miles of plains and fertile foothills sloping gently toward the Amu River (the ancient Oxus River). This area is a part of the much larger Central Asian steppe, from which it is separated by the Amu River. The average elevation is about 2,000 feet. The Northern Plains region is intensively cultivated and densely populated. In addition to fertile soils, the region possesses rich mineral resources, particularly deposits of natural gas. The Southwestern Plateau, south of the Central Highlands, is a region of high plateaus, sandy deserts, and semideserts. The average altitude is about 3,000 feet. The Southwestern Plateau covers about 50,000 square miles, one-fourth of which forms the sandy Rigestan Desert. The smaller Margow Desert of salt flats and desolate steppe lies west of the Rigestan Desert. Several large rivers cross the Southwestern Plateau; among them are the Helmand River and its major tributary, the Arghandab. Most of Afghanistan lies between 2,000 and 10,000 feet in elevation. Along the Amu River in the north and the delta of the Helmand River in the southwest, the altitude is about 2,000 feet. The Sistan depression of the Southwestern Plateau, 1,500 to 1,700 feet in elevation, was the seat of a flourishing ancient civilization that was ended in the 14th century by Timur (Tamerlane). The people Ethnolinguistic groups The people of Afghanistan form a mosaic of ethnic and linguistic groups. Pashto (Pushtu) and Dari, a dialect of Persian (Farsi), are Indo-European languages; they are the official languages of the country. More than one-third of the population speaks Pashto, the language of the Pashtuns, while about half of the population speaks Dari, the language of the Tajik, Hazara, Chahar Aimak, and Kizilbash peoples. Other Indo-European languages, spoken by smaller groups, include Western Dardic (Nuristani or Kafiri), Baluchi, and a number of Indic and Pamiri languages spoken principally in isolated valleys in the northeast. Turkic languages, a subfamily of the Altaic languages, are spoken by the Uzbek and Turkmen peoples, the most recent settlers, who are related to peoples from the steppes of Central Asia. The Turkic languages are closely related; within Afghanistan they include Uzbek, Turkmen, and Kyrgyz, the last spoken by a small group in the extreme northeast. The present population of Afghanistan contains a number of elements, which, in the course of history and as a result of large-scale migration and conquests, have been superimposed upon one another. Dravidians, Indo-Aryans, Greeks, Scythians, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols have at different times inhabited the country and influenced its culture and ethnography. Intermixture of the two principal linguistic groups is evident in such peoples as the Hazaras and Chahar Aimaks, who speak Indo-European languages but have pronounced Mongoloid physical characteristics and cultural traits usually associated with Central Asia. The Pashtuns of Afghanistan principally inhabit the southern and eastern parts of the country but are also well represented in the west and north. They are divided into a number of tribes, some sedentary and others nomadic. The traditional homeland of the Pashtuns lies in an area east, south, and southwest of Kabul; many live in contiguous territory of Pakistan. The two most important groups of the Pashtun tribal confederation are the Durranis, who live in the area around the city of Qandahar, and the Ghilzays, who inhabit the region between Kabul and Qandahar. The Durranis formed the traditional nucleus of Afghanistan's social and political elite. The Tajiks, mostly farmers and artisans, live in the Kabol and Badakhshan provinces of the northeast and the Herat region in the west; there are also pockets of Tajiks in other areas. They are sedentary in the plains and semisedentary in the higher valleys. The Tajiks are not divided into clear-cut tribal groups. The Nuristanis, who speak Western Dardic, inhabit an area of some 5,000 square miles in Laghman, Nangarhar, and Konarha provinces, north and east of Kabul. The Hazaras traditionally occupy the central mountainous region of Hazarajat. Because of the scarcity of land, however, many have migrated to other parts of the country. The Hazaras speak a Dari dialect that contains a number of Turkish and Mongolian words. The Chahar Aimaks are probably of Turkic or Turco-Mongolian origin, judging by their Mongoloid physical appearance and their housing of Mongolian-style yurts. They are located mostly in the western part of the central mountain region. The Uzbeks and Turkmens inhabit a region north of the Hindu Kush, and there are small numbers of Kyrgyz in the Vakhan in the extreme northeast. The Uzbeks are usually farmers, while the Turkmens and Kyrgyz are mainly seminomadic herdsmen. The Uzbeks are the largest Turkic-speaking group in Afghanistan. There are also other smaller Turco-Mongolian groups. Afghanistan has very small ethnic groups of Dravidian and Semitic speakers. Dravidian languages are spoken by the Brahuis, residing in the extreme south. There are also a small number of Jews, most of whom speak Dari in their daily lives but use Hebrew for religious ceremonies. Religion About 99 percent of the people of Afghanistan are Muslims, of whom some three-fourths are members of the Sunnite sect (Hanafi branch). The others, particularly the Hazaras, Kizilbash, and a few Isma'ilis, follow Shi'ite Islam. The Nuristanis are descendants of a large ethnic group, the Kafirs, who were forcibly converted to Islam in 1895; the name of their region was then changed from Kafiristan ("Land of the Infidels") to Nuristan ("Land of Light"). There are also a few thousand Hindus and Sikhs.
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