The advances women have made in Afghan society since the fall of the Taliban will not be lost, regardless of any reconciliation talks with the al Qaeda-linked group that brutally repressed women for years, the Afghan president told a Dallas conference Thursday.
"Definitely, affirmatively, I can assure you that the gains will be maintained," President Hamid Karzai said via video at the event hosted by the George W. Bush Institute. "They (Afghan women) want peace definitely, but they also want peace that keeps the gains they've made," Karzai said. Before Karzai's appearance, former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, stressed the importance of women retaining their freedoms in Afghanistan.
"I'm impressed by the courage of the women of Afghanistan," the former president said. The topic ranked high among the former first lady's priorities when she was in Washington. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently said the United States would step up efforts to build international support for Afghan reconciliation. The Afghan government has had contacts with high-ranking Taliban officials, but no formal negotiations are under way.
Some Afghan women fear their government's efforts to reconcile with the Taliban. Under the Taliban regime, girls were not allowed to go to school, women spent most of their time indoors and were forced to wear burqas long flowing garments that cover their heads, faces and bodies. Today, Afghan women serve in the country's legislature, own businesses and work as teachers, lawyers, community health workers and prosecutors.
However, some women continue to wear burqas, and a UN report late last year said Afghanistan needed to eliminate widespread traditional customs that harm women and girls, such as child marriage, "honour killings" and giving away girls to settle disputes. The report by the UN mission was based on 150 individual and group interviews.