Heather Barr

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Executive Director for Afghan women’s Network (AWN), Hasina Safi, center, raises her hand to ask a question during a press conference by Amnesty International. (Massoud Hossaini/AP)

MundoOriente Próximo,

As rumors swirl about a new round of peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, the first under Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, women are fighting for a place at the table. The view from the front lines of that fight is maddening.

Ghani has made negotiating peace with the Taliban a top priority — understandably, given that Afghan security forces, already stretched, depend on foreign donors heading for the exits. Less understandable is that Ghani has offered no indication that there will be a role for women in the talks.

For years, Afghan women have advocated for their rightful place in talks about the future of Afghanistan.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

When, in late November, I read a draft law prepared by Afghan government officials that reintroduced execution by stoning as the punishment for the “crime” of adultery, I was horrified but not that surprised. The draft, leaked to me by someone desperate to prevent reinstatement of this Taliban-era punishment, is just the latest in a pattern of increasingly determined attacks on women’s rights in Afghanistan.

The last 12 years have been a time of significant achievements here, hard-fought by Afghan activists. Millions of girls have gone to school, women have joined the police and the army and the civil service. Twenty-eight percent of the members of Afghanistan’s Parliament are women, and a 2009 law made violence against women a crime.…  Seguir leyendo »