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WOMEN'S RIGHTS. Locals distrust the Taliban, but they also remember the early days of their rule, when merchants could sell freely, and the streets were safe to walk. This new government has shown them no improvement. Children can't go to school because there's no security. Women still can't walk without the burqa, and schooling for girls is disapproved. Some people actually wouldn't mind if the Taliban returns, longing simply for safety.
Safety is one of the big concerns of the women at the conference that I'm attending, too. They also want Afghanistan's new constitution to ensure mandatory schooling for girls and equal rights of divorce, inheritance, and voting. And they want to get rid of the strict Islamic sharia law that says the evidence of one man is equal to the evidence of two women.
Most important, they want blasphemy laws that threaten a death sentence for women who won't wear the burqa to be abolished. This law is often twisted by extremist religious leaders to eliminate opposition. They also call for better security in advance of Afghan elections set for June, 2004. "If there's no security in our country, how can people participate in elections?" frets Afifa Azim, the director of Afghan Women's Network, a nongovernment organization in Kabul with 25,000 members.
LOCAL POLITICS. At the end of the three-day conference, the women -– some quite educated and some illiterate –- came out with their own Bill of Rights, which they will soon present to their President. Perhaps they will get those rights. The Afghans know how to fight with weapons, and maybe now they're learning how to fight with the vote.
Kandahar's former Police Chief Akrem, for one, intends to run for local elections. He comes from the Alokozai tribe, which has been loyal to Afghan President Hamied Karzai for years. His tribe is proud of Akrem, and he is reputed to be a courageous and popular patriot.
Yet, with no explanation, the former governor recently removed him from his post, installing his own man. So, Akrem is now looking forward to the election. He says he'll campaign to bring Kandahar back to its days of glory, when it was home to great estates, trees and rose bushes, and grass abundant, not this dusty, desolate place.
NATTY AND BORED. For that to happen, Kabul needs to engage the provinces. Kabul, I discovered later on this trip, is another world –- a functioning city virtually separated from its own country. The ministries have been rebuilt, the place is buzzing, women don't always have to wear burqas, shops sell wedding gowns, and there are parties and celebrations.
I stayed in Kabul for a few days after Kandahar, and my hotel, the Gandamack Lodge, was a beautifully restored colonial building that used to be the favorite abode of Osama bin Laden when he stayed in the city. He often visited with his fourth and youngest wife, said to be his favorite.
The international forces drive around the city in heavy armored trucks, the soldiers looking natty and slightly bored. U.N. troops are everywhere. They control the city and block off roads when important visitors like U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld come through. I remember Allen's remark about Afghanistan's new colonial mandarins. It certainly seemed true in Kabul.
"THE BACK OF BEYOND." The disconnect between Kabul and the rest of the country is dismaying, however. I asked a woman official of the U.N. why no one had showed up in Kandahar for the conference. She knew about it, and a delegation of senior U.N. women officers and the two women ministers in Karzai's Cabinet were supposed to attend. But people from Kabul are afraid to leave their safety zone. The Taliban target international aid workers especially, so that help doesn't get to the villages and districts in the country side.
But if ordinary Afghan women can brave the wrath of their husbands to make the long journey to Kandahar, surely the women in power in Kabul can? "Kandahar?" the U.N. official responded languidly, "Kandahar is the back of beyond. You should have gone to Herat, it's so much nicer." I have never been to Herat. Perhaps some day, I will.
There's plenty to see in Afghanistan. Kabul itself is an exciting city, and the Kabulis are friendly and relatively cosmopolitan. One day, let's hope, the Kabul River will flow freely again through the city, and gracious old European-style houses that flank it on either side will be restored, the pretty blue and yellow ancient mosques will welcome visitors, the poets will reappear. And Kabul will be the center of Central Asia again.Given what I've seen, however, it's going to be a long wait.
Copyright 2003, Bloomberg L.P.
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