Afghanistan in grip of corruption: MP"Today we have a drugs mafia in Afghanistan and the so-called government is deeply implicated in drugs and the war lords"
The Canberra Times, March 9, 2007
Malalai Joya speaks softly, but very fast, the words spilling forth in an urgent rush as she talks of corruption, war crimes, drug lords, and endemic violence against women. The young Afghan Member of Parliament has been speaking several times a day since her arrival in Australia as a guest for International Women's Day, but she still has plenty of energy to repeat her message to anyone willing to listen. Today, she will deliver that message at a Canberra lunch for the United Nations Development Fund for Women. Since the fall of the Taliban, Iraq has displaced Afghanistan as front page news. Ms Joya says that this complacency ignores the continuing suffering of Afghans, particularly women, at the hands of powerful warlords. She is incensed by parliamentary attempts to introduce an amnesty for those war criminals who accept the country's constitution. Many of those accused remain in positions of power. Ms Joya describes the proposed amnesty as ''criminals forgiving criminals''. She has no intention of forgiving. ''Why are they worried, if they are innocent? We would like them to be tried in our national courts, but at the moment this is not possible. So we are calling for the support of the International Criminal Court in bringing them to justice.'' Like an entire generation of Afghans, Ms Joya grew up in refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan. She first came to public attention as a delegate to the 2003 Constitutional loya jirga (grand council), where she provoked uproar after denouncing some of her fellow delegates as warlords and criminals. She was later elected to Parliament, where she continues to refuse any compromise with those responsible for crimes against ordinary Afghans. One of those she accuses of compromise is Afghan President Hamid Karzai. She says Mr Karzai was initially supported by ordinary Afghans because he had no blood on his hands, but that he was now a ''hostage'' to powerful warlords. She contemptuously dismisses claims that Afghanistan under Mr Karzai is on the road to recovery, stating the new buildings in Kabul serve foreigners, but not ordinary Afghans, with overseas moneys in the hands of politicians and corrupt non- government organisations. She is also impatient with talk of Afghan women having thrown off the burqua. She describes rapes, beatings, and murders of women and young girls. Women in Afghanistan, she says, are primarily concerned for their immediate security. Ms Joya describes US foreign policy on Afghanistan as a mockery of democracy and urges Australia to act independently. She wants more funding for infrastructure, especially schools, provided at a grassroots level so it is not misappropriated. She says official corruption is responsible for schools being built on the cheap. The higher wages offered by NGOs have also created problems for the Afghan education system, with many teachers leaving their jobs to seek better-paid work with the international agencies. She believes education is the key to Afghanistan's future. ''Once people are educated, they won't allow these criminals to rule over them.'' Ms Joya is not a member of any political party, although she says she is thankful for the support of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, which achieved international prominence as a women's rights activist during the years of the Taliban. Ms Joya and the association share an implacable refusal to settle for anything less than a society that is entirely cleansed of those responsible for past and present crimes. This stance has been criticised as impractical by some Afghans who are democratic by nature, but who see no way forward that does not involve compromise of some kind. However, Ms Joya's voice is a necessary reminder that Afghan women's rights remain in crisis. |
