VZCZCXRO1441
OO RUEHIK RUEHPW RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #0620/01 0711328
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111328Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3207
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000620 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, SCA/PPD, S/CRS, S/CT, EUR/RPM, INL/CIVPOL, 
INR/R/MR, STATE FOR NSC WOOD, OSD FOR SHIVERS, CENTCOM FOR CSTC-A, 
CG CJTF-82, POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PREL PHUM AF
SUBJECT: AFGHANS, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MARK WOMEN'S DAY 
 
1) SUMMARY: Afghans and the international community marked 
International Women's Day with speeches, demonstrations, and marches 
across Afghanistan.  At a rally in a Kabul high school auditorium 
organized by the Ministry of Women's Affairs, President Hamid Karzai 
called on men and religious leaders to promote education for women 
and to end the practices of child marriage and using women as 
currency.  The U.S. Embassy issued several grants and held a lunch 
attended by more than 60 Afghan female activists and leaders, 
including the Minister of Women's Affairs.  Still, many 
editorialists argued that women continue to face violence and 
discrimination and predicted that to change this would take 
considerable time. END SUMMARY 
 
2) President Karzai took the lead in marking International Women's 
Day at a rally of several hundred women held in a Kabul high school 
gymnasium on March 8.  Karzai, who was joined by Minister of Women's 
Affairs Husn Banu Ghazanfar and other female officials, called on 
men and religious leaders to promote female education.  According to 
press reports, Karzai said that Afghanistan needed more female 
nurses and doctors.  He also urged Afghan families to stop child 
marriages and using females as currency.  "I call on the people," he 
said, according to press reports, "they shouldn't give [girls] to 
old men and they shouldn't give them in forced marriages." 
 
3) Elsewhere in Kabul, Fatana Ishaq Gailani, the chairwoman of the 
Afghanistan Women's Association, hosted a seminar at the Ministry of 
Information and Culture, and the Massoud Foundation held an event 
marking the day.  The United Nations Assistance Mission to 
Afghanistan (UNAMA) hosted a festival at the Kabul Women's Garden 
that included a film on the lives of Afghan women, a mini-circus, 
and a play advocating increased investment in Afghan women. 
 
4) In Kandahar, several hundred women marched to the Kandahar 
Women's Association, according to media reports.  The director of 
the association, Rona Tarin, told the Associated Press, "We want to 
give our message to all the Western women. Afghan women are facing a 
lot of problems.  Women should have a right to education.  We want 
to work shoulder to shoulder with men."  In the north, according to 
UNAMA, women toured provincial capitals holding public meetings on 
"Giving Women Voices," with the participation of provincial 
governors, women's councils, local police, judges and religious 
leaders. 
 
5) In Western Farah Province, the Provincial Reconstruction Team 
(PRT) held a special women's shura, which attracted approximately 30 
participants, including a female police major and many nursing 
students.  Looking ahead to the next five years, the women said they 
dreamed of having a university in Farah, more females in government, 
better educational opportunities for females, factories where women 
could work, and a park for women.  Commenting on the recent spate of 
self-immolation occurring among young women in Farah (64 over the 
past 2 months), they said women in Farah needed better information 
on their rights and a women's shelter where they could also receive 
vocational training. 
 
6) In Eastern Khost Province, approximately 500 women and girls 
attended a ribbon cutting ceremony at a new PRT-funded women's park 
in central Khost.  The event included speeches by local provincial 
leaders and the head of the women's shura.  A prominent Khost mullah 
noted that women's rights are human rights in Islam, and stressed 
the importance of education.  Some women at the event informally 
urged the government to do more to protect girls at schools, and 
noted that while women in central Khost had opportunities, those in 
remote areas still suffered from lack of resources and traditional 
cultural biases. 
 
7) Also in the east, the Kunar Province Department of Women's 
Affairs hosted an event at Fatima Girls' High School in the 
provincial capital Asadabad on March 8.  Approximately 150 women and 
50 men attended.  The Governor, the PRT and UNAMA helped support the 
event, while ISAF donated scarves, bowls, cooking pots, school 
backpacks, and volleyballs to be given to 50 widows identified by 
the Provincial Council, and as awards to high-achieving teachers. 
Men filled the first three rows of the audience and women attendees 
were unable to remove their burkas due to the presence of media and 
cameras.  Messages from the various speakers were relatively vague, 
including a smattering of slogans like "stop violence against 
women," and "recognize the woman's role in your household."  Because 
of the structure of the event and the presence of men and women 
together, senior female leaders--provincial council members, 
headmistresses of schools, etc.--seemed reticent speak or 
 
KABUL 00000620  002 OF 002 
 
 
participate, according to the PRT officer. 
 
8) The U.S. Embassy hosted a lunch for more than 60 prominent female 
educators, civil society activists, and officials from the Ministry 
of Women's Affairs, including the present and former ministers. 
Noted Afghan female singer Baseera Hilay performed for the occasion. 
 The Embassy also gave out several grants totaling nearly $30,000 
USD for the training of female journalists in radio production and 
media management and for remote English language instruction between 
Afghan and American NGOs.  The Embassy also hosted a three-way 
digital video conference between female civil society activists from 
the U.S., Tajikistan, and Afghanistan to discuss women's issues and 
the role of women in their respective societies. 
 
9)  Many Kabul editorialists marked March 8 with newspaper columns. 
Most, however, focused on the daily violence and oppression still 
faced by women and the long road ahead in their struggle for 
equality.  Pro-government Erada daily, in a March 8 editorial, 
opined, "Despite a lot of changes which have occurred in the lives 
of women as a result of efforts made by Afghan women and the 
international community, there are a lot of challenges and obstacles 
which Afghan women are facing now, and government officials have not 
been able to bring a tangible change in these matters.  The majority 
of government officials who possess key positions within the 
government do not believe in women's rights." 
 
10) Hasht-e-Subh, an independent secular daily, wrote, "The woman's 
identity has remained limited to the roles of sisters or, at best, 
mothers, with no right to step out of the house and show their 
capabilities to the patriarchal societies.  The women's identity 
remains limited to being machines for giving birth and raising 
children...  Those women who dared to break the chains and reveal 
their talent and capabilities to the rest of society were forced by 
the men to remain interdicted and silent.  Finally, we can say that 
the proclamation of International Women's Day is marked by women, 
who remain subservient to men, every year as a symbolic event, and 
then the women remain forgotten for the remaining 364 days of the 
year." 
 
WOOD