VZCZCXRO4778
OO RUEHIK RUEHPW RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #4152 3521238
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181238Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1993
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 4321
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS KABUL 004152 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA.FO DAS CAMP, SCA/A, G/IWI 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE 
NSC FOR JWOOD 
OSD FOR KIMMETT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM MOPS AF
SUBJECT: WOMEN GATHER PUBLICLY TO PRAY FOR PEACE 
 
 
¶1. (U) On December 12, mostly unidentified organizers 
coordinated separate public gatherings of Afghan women in six 
cities across the provinces of Balkh, Ghazni, Helmand, Herat, 
Kabul and Kandahar to pray for "an end to war and 
destruction."  According to media and eyewitness reports, the 
women gathered at mosques and shrines to pray and recite 
verses of the Koran.  The gatherings numbered in the hundreds 
at each site.  Media reports estimated total participants 
across the country at about 1,000.  Between sessions of 
formal prayer, individual women shared publicly stories about 
family members they had lost to the conflict and described 
how violence had changed their lives. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The prayer gatherings, organizers have declined to 
be named for fear of retaliation.  The provincial director of 
the Women's Affairs Ministry in Balkh province told us 
Saifura Niyazi, a member of parliament from Balkh, had helped 
organize the gathering in that province.  Reportedly, the 
prayer gatherings in insurgent-plagued Kandahar and Helmand 
were particularly well attended.  The gatherings coincided 
with the multi-day Afghan-ISAF drive to recapture Musa Qala 
district in northern Helmand province from the Taliban; 
however, the women did not seem to be protesting or reacting 
to that military operation. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Mass public gatherings of women are unusual in 
Afghanistan.  Women maintain very low profiles, especially in 
the Pashtun-dominated southern provinces.  Nevertheless, on 
June 14, in what appears to have been the first event of this 
type, several hundred Afghan women and girls, accompanied by 
male relative chaperones, gathered at the Shrine of the 
Prophet in Kandahar, a conservative mosque that is normally 
closed to women.  The shrine,s mullah allowed the women to 
pray collectively for peace through the mosque,s public 
address system and individually recite verses from the Koran. 
 Neither the June 14 event nor the much larger December 12 
gatherings were publicized in advance, possibly because of 
security concerns. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment:  The December 12 prayer gatherings seemed 
to be apolitical pleas for peace.  The women, apparently, did 
not take the opportunity to blame either ISAF or the 
insurgents for the war.  The media relayed no complaints 
about collateral civilian casualties due to ISAF military 
operations.  If the prayer gatherings, participants escape 
retaliation, we would not be surprised to see a repetition of 
the event on a larger scale. 
WOOD