VZCZCXRO9557
OO RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #3227/01 3531131
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181131Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6458
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 4456
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 SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 003227 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/FO DAS CAMP, SCA/A, DRL, GTIP, PRM, INL, GIWI 
NSC FOR JWOOD 
OSD FOR MCGRAW 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPOL PREL PHUM AF
SUBJECT: COURAGEOUS AFGHAN WOMEN LAWYERS, JUDGES, AND 
PROFESSORS LEAD BY EXAMPLE 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The turnout of approximately 250 female 
lawyers, judges, and law professors from Kabul and from 
several northern provinces to a USAID- and INL-funded women's 
legal leadership workshop in Kabul from December 15-17 
overwhelmed organizers. Over the course of the three days, 
the Afghan women legal professionals participated 
enthusiastically in small group discussions, role playing 
exercises, and group presentations all geared toward 
developing stronger leadership and advocacy skills.  Most 
Kabul participants stated their male peers generally accepted 
them as colleagues, but provincial participants faced gender 
discrimination.  By the end of the conference, participants 
departed with renewed commitment to their work and with 
increased motivation to challenge the obstacles faced by 
women in Afghanistan,s legal field. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Conference: Overwhelming attendance, strengthened motivation 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In an important show of support for the event, the 
Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, and the Attorney 
General's office granted leave to their female employees to 
attend the conference.  Still, organizers were overwhelmed by 
the number of attendees, especially the strong contingent who 
traveled from outside of Kabul.  Planners expected only 100 
women would attend, due to the timing of the event 
immediately after the Eid holiday and the forecast of severe 
winter weather.  Over 250 turned out and participated through 
the entire three-day conference. 
 
¶3. (SBU) About a third of the attendees revealed they had 
studied secretly at home during the Taliban era, with several 
standing up to emphasize their pride in this accomplishment. 
Several of the women told poloff they had returned to college 
as older adults after the Taliban regime ended in order to 
pursue legal studies. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Women from Kabul reported their male peers generally 
accepted them as colleagues while women from the provinces 
described more overt discrimination.  One female Kabul judge, 
however, emphasized even in Kabul women legal professionals 
still face many barriers including unequal treatment by male 
colleagues and lack of access to certain academic programs, 
such as the Sharia law faculty at Kabul University.  Several 
of the women from Samangan province said the rule of law and 
the judicial system in Afghanistan were developing, but 
extremely slowly and unevenly. 
 
¶5. (SBU) It was clear that enthusiasm and a sense of 
empowerment grew among participants as the conference 
proceeded.  As part of the first conference exercise, leaders 
encouraged the women to call back to them "waleikum salaam." 
The women's voices were soft and hesitant, and the leaders 
teased them, saying "who can hear you."  By the end of the 
conference, the participants yelled responses back to the 
facilitators.  As part of the closing ceremony, event 
organizers distributed INL-funded briefcases of office 
supplies and legal texts, a process which caused a 
good-natured mini-riot as participants scrambled over each 
other in their excitement to claim their briefcases. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Leading women's rights advocate questions MOWA's advocacy 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Minister of Women's Affairs Ghazanfar delivered a 
disjointed speech at the workshop's closing ceremony.  She 
repeatedly paused and read from the conference's agenda.  She 
urged the attendees to apply the conference's lessons to 
their family lives as well as their professional lives and 
expressed her intent to support all Afghan women in pursuing 
professional careers. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Herat Chief Prosecutor and prominent Afghan civil 
rights advocate Maria Bashir followed Ghazanfar and 
passionately reported her group's positive reaction to the 
conference, characterizing the connections formed between the 
 
KABUL 00003227  002 OF 002 
 
 
participants and the resulting potential for greatly 
increased cooperation and coordination as the most important 
conference take-away. Most interestingly, while standing six 
inches away from Ghazanfar, Bashir directly criticized the 
Ministry of Women's Affairs' efforts on behalf of Afghan 
women.  MOWA was not doing enough to support women and needed 
to improve its effectiveness, specifically by doing more to 
raise women's awareness of their rights.  The audience gave 
Bashir the largest round of applause by far. 
 
¶8. (SBU) A Kabul judge told poloff she agreed with Bashir's 
assessment of MOWA and was proud to count such a brave and 
outspoken advocate for women as Bashir among her colleagues. 
In a separate conversation with poloff, Bashir also expressed 
great disappointment with President Karzai's policies toward 
women, saying Karzai did not keep any of the promises he made 
to Afghan women or do anything to advance their situation in 
Afghan society. 
 
--------------------------- 
Mixed views on the election 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Of the 10 conference participants surveyed by 
poloff, all had registered and all planned to vote in the 
upcoming election.  Several women said they hoped Afghans 
would elect leaders who would bring peace and stability to 
Afghanistan, expressing concern about a recent perceived 
decrease in security.  On the other hand, Herat prosecutor 
Bashir told poloff she did not think the upcoming election 
would be a meaningful endeavor.  Most people did not have 
enough information about the candidates or issues to make an 
informed decision for whom to vote. 
 
¶10. (SBU) A different Kabul lawyer predicted overall 
participation in the election would be significantly lower 
than during the 2004-2005 elections due to less interest and 
worse security.  She spoke of the election in sharply ethnic 
terms, saying the "minority Tajiks would support the election 
and its results, but we doubt we will be fully represented by 
the winner."  She believed Afghans from other groups, 
including Pashtuns, would vote only for candidates of their 
own ethnicity.  Other attendees, however, expressed more 
positive sentiments, characterizing the election as extremely 
important to Afghanistan's future. 
 
WOOD