BY KAMALA EMANUEL

HOBART — “The problem of Afghanistan is a political one. It won't be solved with aid. As long as warlordism continues, there will be no real solution”, Tahmeena Faryal, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), told a packed International Women's Day breakfast organised by Tasdec Global Learning Centre and Women Tasmania on March 8.

Faryal is touring Australia and will be one of the international guest speakers at the Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference to be held in Sydney March 29-April 1 (see article page 9).

Faryal explained that while the US bombing campaign got rid of the Taliban regime, it was replaced by the Northern Alliance, “the same criminals who were in power from 1992-96.”

Since the Taliban was ousted, the situation of women has not improved. “Images of women removing burqa and attending their jobs” are not representative, Faryal said.

RAWA's insistent message now is “to mobilise all forces to ensure the Northern Alliance are not in power in Afghanistan. The first step is to stop support to the fundamentalists ... They must be tried in an international court of law as war criminals. There must be a UN peacekeeping force, not just in Kabul, to disarm the warring factions and there must be elections. We need democracy, and we have as much right to it as the people of any other country.”

From Green Left Weekly, March 13, 2002.
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