By: Suraya Raiszada
As the Taliban group intensified offensives in many parts of the country, thousands of Iranian and Indian women activists expressed their concern about the fate and future of women and girls in Afghanistan. They, through gatherings expressed their support for women and girls against the re-emergence of the Taliban extremists and their intensification of attacks and possibly rising to political power.
“We, the Iranian women, are concerned about the re-emergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the implementation of non-religious and inhumane interpretations in the name of Islam, especially on Afghan women and girls,” a statement from the Iranian women activists said.
The women activists during a gathering asked the Iranian politicians and leaders not to let Afghan women alone and support the people of Afghanistan in the prevention of the Taliban reaching power. “We Iranian women will spare no effort to convey the voice of Afghan women to regional and international policymakers who are watching in an alarming silence the decline of a nation’s human values,” the statement noted.
They called on the Iranian government to work with the Afghan people to prevent the re-establishment of the Taliban unilateral power and said the Iranian women expect policymakers and government officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran to use all their effective capacities to prevent the Taliban’s sovereignty and solidarity.
Likewise, dozens of women in the Indian city of Mumbai condemned the targeted killings of women in Afghanistan and during a news conference entitled Indian Women’s Solidarity in condemning the murder of Afghan women and children and the loss of civilians’ lives and calling for an immediate ceasefire and sent a letter to the United Nations to address the situation, reports released to media and went viral on social media said. During a gathering, the Indian women emphasized on preserving the achievements of Afghanistan in the last two decades and stressed that they will always stand by the people of Afghanistan and maintain the republican system, according to the report.
The Indian and Iranian concerns comes after women rights activists, civil society and media activists, university professors at a meeting, collected half a million signature to call for immediate ceasefire and peace restoration in the war-affected nation. By collecting these signatures, they expressed their support for the peace process and the protection of women’s rights, said Sohayla Sabri, communications director for the Herat Provincial Department of Women’s Affairs.
A number of civil society and women’s rights groups in Afghanistan also believe that Afghan women have suffered much during the Taliban regime, so they want to raise all issues relating to women in peace talks with the Taliban.
Homayra Saqib, a women’s rights activist and member of civil society said that it was an obvious fact that women have made significant achievements in all areas in recent years and want all these achievements to be preserved in the peace negotiations.
“We, all Afghan women, are concerned about the future of these talks and we call on the government, the international community and the parties involved in preserving the achievements of women in the peace talks and that these achievements should not be challenged,” the activist stressed.
Now that peace talks have made hot media topic, the Afghan government and a number of countries in the world and the region are working in this area and that women want all peace issues to be shared with them. The assertions come as the government leadership had repeatedly said it has always pursued peace efforts in consultation with various segments of the country and that the role of civil society and women has not been overlooked.
