Kabul, the parliament dominated by the "warlords"

Inauguration took place yesterday. MP Malalai Joya: "There is no democracy if the warlords are there".

Elected in September, the Afghan parliament took office yesterday, with an inauguration ceremony accompanied by solemn words. After the 351 members of the two Houses were sworn in, Prime Minister Hamid Karzai called for national reconciliation. It is in the name of national reconciliation that the heads of the former Taleban armed militias ("warlords") are sitting next to independent politicians and civilly engaged women in parliament. According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, 60% of MPs are warlords or people connected to them. This is the reason why Malalai Joya, 27-year-old MP, has reservations about the "transition to democracy" in Afghanistan. "How can you speak of democracy, in the shade of shotguns? The warlords have the power, because they have the weapons, the money and the support of some foreign countries. The electoral campaign was controlled by them. And now many of those warlords are MPs", she said some days ago, during a visit to Italy.

Elected in the Farah province with 7.813 votes, an astounding number of votes ("In a country where people vote who their clans tell them to vote, I had the support of several groups"), Malalai became popular in December 2003. At the time she worked with a non governmental organization "for the promotion of Afghan women". "I visited the villages and took notes of the problems the people had: health, education, the harassment by the warlords who had the control of everything". The Loya Jirga, the "Grand Council" in charge of writing the new post-Taleban Afghan constitution gathered in Kabul. Malalai was sent there as a representative of her province. "I saw the people who were there in Kabul. In the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, where I worked as an interpreter, I listened to their stories: I knew who had destroyed our country and I knew that those people were now members of the Loya Jirga, and thus in charge of discussing the future of Afghanistan. I asked to speak for the new Afghan generation. I was given 3 minutes, but after only one minute they stopped me. However, I had enough time to say that the legitimacy of the assembly was threatened by the presence of the same people who had turned the country into a theatre of war, and who should be tried by international courts. ‘If the rubble could speak, it would say that you are the culprits’, I said. I kicked up a row. They insulted me, they threatened me".

Was it difficult to run for Parliament?

They threatened and insulted me. They said: "Malalai soils the honour of mujahedins". They handed out leaflets with my picture with my head uncovered and the word "prostitute" written on them. The director of Farah’s TV station, which is a real fundamentalist, never broadcasted my speeches. Nevertheless, in the bazaar people talked about things I said. During the electoral campaign, many candidates made promises: roads, schools, rights, democracy. I didn’t have any promise to make. I said: "I will do my best to restore safety and peace, equality of rights and respect of human rights". But, is it possible to realize such goals in a parliament dominated by the same "warlords" who destroyed our country? I made only one promise to the voters: "I will never make compromises with these people, I will continue to denounce these sworn enemies of human rights, of women and of democracy in Afghanistan. I will try to fight them". In the end, the voters trusted me and I am happy to be a member of the parliament. Now I can speak.

Which are the most urgent problems for Afghans?

Safety is still much more important than food and water. There’s no safety in Afghanistan, both for women an men, and that’s because the warlords still rule our Country. Many people lost confidence in the democratic process. Afghans trusted Karzai because his hands are not dirty with blood. They voted him with enthusiasm. But then he made compromises with the old warlords putting them in his administration. Fundamentalists learned the language of democracy, but their ideology has not changed. Yes, in Kabul women are allowed to go to school, to have a job, but the situation in the provinces is much more different from the state capital. Afghanistan is still a male chauvinist country. There is no freedom for women nor press freedom. There are no job opportunities. The only thriving activity is the opium business. We are the biggest opium-exporting country in the world and the opium business is a "mafia" in which many politician and secretaries are involved. There is a need of health facilities and schools. The little money we get is not spent in public works. Where does this money go? There is no law enforcement at all.