VZCZCXYZ0012
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBUL #3849/01 3360909
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY ADE4A1FD MSI9922-695)
P 020909Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3680
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS KABUL 003849 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM AF
SUBJECT: INVERTING THE INTERNATIONAL INTERFERENCE PARADIGM: 
AFGHAN WOMEN SEEK SUPPORT 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: According to a series of meetings Embassy 
officials have held with Afghan women in Kabul, they are 
generally in favor of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and 
cited many positive changes that have occurred in their lives 
since the fall of the Taliban.  Many women's rights activists 
believe the international forces have provided them the space 
they need to promote development, improve access to 
education, and advance women's rights.  While many women are 
skeptical that a troop increase alone would have a positive 
impact, they support increased international assistance in 
development and social areas.  Female interlocuters have 
praised the effectiveness of international aid put directly 
into the hands of local communities, both through microloans 
to women and via the National Solidarity Program.  They also 
pointed to increased awareness of and access to shelters for 
domestic violence victims as signs of positive changes for 
Afghan women.  However, some Kabul women have become 
increasingly concerned by the deteriorating security 
situation in the city; they look to both the international 
community and their own security forces for help.  End 
Summary. 
 
------------------------------------- 
On Troops: Women Want More Soft Power 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) While former MP Malalai Joya is touring the United 
States and Canada promoting her new biography and calling for 
the removal of all U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan, 
women in Kabul are sending a different message.  Most women 
with whom Embassy officers have spoken over the past two 
months - from NGO directors to the residents of shelters for 
victims of domestic violence - support the U.S. military and 
civilian presence in Afghanistan. 
 
¶3.  (U) While female Afghan interlocutors in Kabul are not in 
favor of a never-ending military presence and are uncertain 
about a troop increase, they have spoken extensively of their 
continued need for U.S. security and particularly economic 
assistance during meetings with U.S. officials.  Kabul women 
have told Embassy officials repeatedly that the U.S. and 
international community presence in Afghanistan gives women 
opportunities that they would never have been granted under 
the Taliban.  According to these women, the protection the 
international forces provide allows women and girls to attend 
school; to work outside the home; to serve in the government; 
to be protected from domestic violence; and generally to 
participate more fully in their society beyond the confines 
of a compound.  Indeed, some women fear that a rapid 
withdrawal of international forces would force women back 
indoors, out of public life. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Orzala Ashraf Nemat, an independent human rights 
activist, told PolOff: "If the international community left 
Afghanistan now, everything would collapse.  Things might be 
moving slowly, but I really do believe we have gained 
something."  However, she was unsure of the impact of sending 
additional troops.  "If there were one soldier for every 
Afghan in the country, that is still not what would win the 
war.  What is really needed is a legitimate government." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Leeda Yaqoubi, Deputy Director of Afghan Women's 
Network, said she would prefer to see international 
assistance invested in development rather than more troops. 
Specifically, she listed schools, factories, job creation, 
and women's empowerment as areas where the international 
community should increase its support.  She also recommended 
the international community create a better mechanism to 
support the Afghan National Security Forces, rather than 
spending money to increase the number of foreign troops in 
the country.  Yaqoubi suggested cities remain under the 
control of the ANSF, while international troops deploy to 
secure Afghanistan's borders.  This comment echoes many 
Afghans concern that the real danger to security in 
Afghanistan stems from Pakistan, not Afghanistan. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
On Development: Give the Money to the People 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Female parliamentarians and underserved urban women 
alike are supportive of "international interference" in the 
form of development aid that skips over corrupt Afghan 
government mechanisms and is given to the Afghan people at 
the community level.  Fatana Gailani, director of Afghanistan 
Women Council (AWC) and a staunch Karzai critic passionately 
described how all foreign aid should completely bypass the 
"corrupt government."  In an October gathering of 
approximately twenty women who had received small loans or 
training from AWC, the women demonstrated the long-term 
effect a small amount of funding can have on an uneducated 
Afghan woman's life. 
 
 
¶7.  (U) With 28 percent of Afghans naming "lack of job 
opportunities for women" as the biggest problem facing Afghan 
women, the AWC program alumnae's gratitude for the training 
that allowed them to support their families was not a 
surprise.  (Comment: According to a recent Asia Foundation 
survey of Afghan people, the percentage of Afghans who name 
lack of employment opportunities as the number one problem 
facing women has increased from 1 percent to 28 percent since 
¶2006.  This may signify an increased desire for women to work 
outside of the home.  While this is likely due to economic 
circumstances and the need for women to work, it could lead 
to a broader cultural shift. End comment.) 
 
¶8.  (SBU) At the meeting with AWC program graduates, a Kabul 
widow and recipient of an AWC loan described how she had 
spent the grant money: she started a business with her son to 
buy, repair, and resell damaged cars.  She had paid back her 
loan and her income is now substantial enough to support her 
family.  A young woman who used her loan to start a small 
vegetable canning business spoke proudly about how she "can 
now do things like a man, and is not afraid to go outside." 
While not all of the women shared the same successes (the 
wife of a disabled man explained that she had given her 
microloan to her 11-year old son to start selling things on 
the street), many of them do continue to attend literacy and 
skills classes.  They are driven to continue to better their 
and, to them more importantly, their families' lives.  As 
nearly half (49 percent) of all Afghans listed lack of 
education as the biggest problem facing women, it is 
important that AWC connects literacy training with their 
vocational programming.  The women were thankful for AWC's 
financial support and encouraged the international community 
to continue to direct aid to the people of Afghanistan. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Similarly, female MPs from Kabul, Badghis, and 
Badakhshan praised a development program where rural Afghan 
communities are empowered to "identify, plan, manage and 
monitor their own development projects."  Fawzia Nasseryar 
(Kabul, Tajik) attributed the success of the National 
Solidarity Program to the decision making process local 
communities conduct in order to implement projects.  Sabrina 
Saqeb (Kabul, Tajik) enthusiastically described how better 
decisions on funding, construction, and road-building are 
made when women are involved in the process.  Their 
overwhelming approval of the partially-USAID funded program 
demonstrated their continued need for international 
development assistance. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
On Domestic Violence: Providing a Safe Home 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  According to data from the Afghan Independent 
Human Rights Commission, overall violence against women has 
decreased this year.  There were 1,708 reported cases of 
violence against women between January and September 2009, 
versus 2,322 during the same period in 2008.  However, the 
directors of two women's shelters in Kabul told Embassy 
officials that the number of female victims of domestic 
violence referred by police to shelters has increased over 
the past year.  While some women are still sent to jail for 
"running away from home," the increased police referrals is a 
positive sign that police training on domestic violence 
issues has been effective.  INL-funded programs have trained 
125 female police, thirty of whom work in "family response 
units," which are located in police stations and respond to 
crimes again women. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) At Women for Afghan Women's (WAW) "Family Guidance 
Center" (FGC) in Kabul women who had been abused by their 
male relatives live, eat, cook and take classes together. 
They live as a family, affectionately protecting and 
encouraging the younger residents.  FGC residents vary from 
an eight year old girl who was sold into marriage at age five 
to an Iranian grandmother who was trafficked across the 
border with her daughter. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The shelter's newest resident is a teenage girl 
from Uruzgan who was regularly beaten by her husband and his 
family for the several years they were married.  The girl, 
Bibi Aisha, eventually ran away.  Instead of receiving help, 
the police took her to the women's prison in Kandahar. 
Bibi's father rescued her from prison and returned her to her 
husband's home, where the abuse continued.   To punish Bibi 
for running away and bringing shame on her family, the 
husband beat her to the brink of death, cut her nose and ears 
off, and left her to die.  She was eventually brought to the 
U.S. Special Forces base in Uruzgan, where she was given the 
medical care she needed.  The PRT in Uruzgan coordinated 
Bibi's transfer to WAW's Kabul shelter in early November, 
where she is finally living in one of few Afghan safe havens 
 
for victims of domestic violence.  (Note: There are currently 
only 11 shelters throughout Afghanistan.) 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Embassy officials recently visited the shelter and 
listened to women's stories of abuse.  All of the women 
expressed their gratitude to WAW for protecting them.  A 
young Pashtun woman from Kandahar implored international 
donors to open more shelters in other areas of the country to 
house women victims of violence (Note: INL is currently 
funding organizations to open new shelters in Faryab, 
Badghis, and Kunduz.)  WAW-run Family Guidance Centers focus 
on counseling family members and aim to eventually place 
women back in their homes.  The women at the Kabul shelter 
explained to Embassy officials that once they return home 
they will work to educate their extended families and 
communities about women's rights to education and a life free 
of abuse. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
On Security: Increasing Violence Affects Women 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶14.  (SBU) While women mainly spoke confidently of the 
increasing rights they have gained, several also addressed 
the issue of deteriorating security in conversations with 
Embassy officials.  According to one woman who had received 
skills training from AWC, security concerns have increased in 
Kabul to the point where some women are afraid to send their 
children to school.  From January 1, 2006 through October 15, 
2009, there were 58 suicide attacks in Kabul City, versus 
only nine suicide attacks between 2002 and 2005.  While the 
city remains safer than many other areas of the country, some 
women we interviewed view the increased number of these 
attacks as a sign that the Afghan government and 
international community are not following through on their 
many promises. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) The deteriorating security situation has also 
affected civil society.  According to Orzala Ashraf Nemat, 
the lead up to the November 19th inauguration was "less 
secure than before the elections."  While this fear was not 
supported by fact, there was notable silence from many civil 
society actors during October and early November.  Nemat said 
the hush stemmed both from security concerns and the feeling 
that "anything civil society said would be hijacked" by a 
particular politician for his own personal use.  (Comment: If 
the security situation were to continue to threaten civil 
society into silence, Afghanistan would risk losing the force 
that has been most active in nudging the country towards an 
effective democracy.) 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶16.  (SBU) Progress on women's rights in Afghanistan 
continues to advance at a snail's pace.  However, women in 
Kabul appear proud of the progress they have made in 
increasing women's awareness of their rights and promoting 
development.  They recognize that these advancements could 
not have been made without international support, and 
repeatedly emphasized their continued need for assistance 
from the international community.  The Embassy will continue 
to support Afghan women through increased funding to women's 
organizations and by encouraging civil society to continue to 
play an active role in pressuring the government to support 
women's rights.  USAID expects to spend over $93 million of 
FY 2009 funds on programs benefitting women and girls in 
Afghanistan, a significant increase from the $78 million 
spent of FY 2008 funds. 
Eikenberry