Women’s stories from Afghanistan #10yearson

Outrageous to say probably but what a beautiful video from ActionAid UK. I was hoping this video wouldn’t be necessary.
It’s latest campaign from ActionAid to highlight the 10th anniversary of US and British forces’ intervention in Afghanistan.
The presence of the troops is questionable but without it would a devastating situation for women.

ActionAid is raising awareness of this landmark anniversary and what this means for Afghan women.

Running literacy workshops for women or teaching 5-year-old girls the alphabet may not sound like much. But in a country where 84% of women never learn to read, they are the most important steps towards stopping the violence. For good.

ActionAid recently carried out an extraordinary survey where 1,000 women from Afghanistan were polled to gain a rare insight into their opinions about living through the last ten years of war and the current reconciliation process with the Taliban.
Read it after the break.

Survey results & further campaign details

Here are some key findings from the survey and further detail about the campaign. Importantly, no men were present during the interview process so that women could feel safe.

• Nine out of ten women in Afghanistan are worried about the Taliban returning to government believing it would risk the gains made for women in the past ten years
• 72 per cent of Afghan women believe their lives are better now than they were 10 years ago, while 37 per cent think Afghanistan will become a worse place if international troops leave.
• Women in Afghanistan who have stood up for women’s rights in the past ten years, including teachers, female politicians and activists are now afraid for their own safety if the Taliban return to power, with some saying they will be forced to leave the country.
• As part of the campaign, ActionAid is calling on the UK government and the international community to protect women who have defended women’s human rights in Afghanistan in the last ten years, to support women’s organisations with direct, long-term funding and to ensure that women’s voices and views are heard at the Bonn conference in December, where the international community will discuss Afghanistan’s future.
• Fawzia Koofi, an Afghan MP who has said she will stand in the 2014 presidential election, will be in the UK from October 3 to 7 and will be speaking at an ActionAid event on women in Afghanistan at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.
• “Leaders in the UK must not abandon the women of Afghanistan at this crucial time,” she said. “I urge Prime Minister David Cameron to show leadership on this issue and use his influence to make sure that women’s rights in Afghanistan remain at the top of the agenda and are not sacrificed for peace.”

Abuse in Afghanistan: one woman’s story.
Shogofa, 18, from a village in the western province of Herat, suffered 65% burns after setting herself on fire.

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