My Job at BAAG

I have recently joined the British and Irish Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG). It is the network where NGOs focusing on Afghanistan coordinate, exchange information and help Afghanistan-based organisations have a greater say in policies and practices in the national and international level. 

With the political, security and economic transition awaiting Afghanistan in 2014, it is a momentous time for my country. Although there is a great sense of pessimism, there is still some light at the end of tunnel. Being at BAAG, I am happy to be contributing positively to this beginning of transformation. 

Please read my first official blog here. 

Zainab and Marefat

The ability to read and write at the primary or sophisticated level alone may not be adequate for empowerment. The process of becoming an educated person, an empowered citizen, instead requires the ability to ‘perceive accurately, think clearly and act effectively to achieve self-selected goals and aspirations’.  One of the best places in Afghanistan, where this rather abstract definition of education is not just appreciated but practiced is Marefat High School. Located in Barchi, Kabul, this school is ‘home’ to more than 3,000 girls and boys where they learn, think, critique, argue, have fun and get ready for the challenges and opportunities that life offers.

My wife and I had the pleasure to attend their annual Jashn-e Marefat (The Celebration of Wisdom) on 27 April. Many things of the event including the discipline, organisation and self-confidence of the students, cordiality between them and the staff, and their music and acting performances made both of us desire to be school kids again. One significant part of the event, which is to be shared in this post, was the speech given by ex-Marefat student Zainab Haidari. Instead of writing about Zainab, a lady in her early 20s and a student of Kabul University, I’d like to invite you to read the translation of her speech in English. It covers the essence of what Marefat means to her and how it has enabled her to dream and strive to change them into reality:

I congratulate this day to all Marefat family members, friends and all those who have a sense of belonging to this place; especially to those who have recently joined the family of Marefat.

My interpretation of Marefat, as an educational institution but also a family and a home, may appear odd to many. But the truth is that for me and many of my friends, Marefat is our second home. We call this place our home because it was here that we found each other and became friends. It was here where we learned how to be friends. It was here where we first began to write, read, think, laugh and cry; the place where we learned to write poems and to paint; most importantly, the place where we started to realise our dreams and learn the ways to make them into reality.

Marefat opened to us a door to a world of knowledge and wisdom. It is where we learned to look at things differently. It is a place where we learned about beautiful social values and it is an opportunity for us to understand and experience these beautiful values in real terms. These values brought a different meaning to our lives. We learned as part of these values to be happy, to smile and to think. We learned to make our world a better place, a world where we experience being to the fullest, a world that is enlightened with education, hope and passion.

Yes. This new beginning and this first step towards enlightenment and aestheticism started right here in this place. And today, many of my friends and classmates and I have used this opportunity to take steps further towards achieving our dreams.

Today my friends and I go to university and experience these beautiful values at a larger setting. As a student at Marefat, I learned from ‘Ostad Shir Ali’ how to paint and capture beautiful sceneries with all their magnificence on a small piece of paper. He taught me how to include my emotions into my paintings. But now, as a university student who studies arts, I can draw on all my feelings, dreams and sufferings and express them into my work on rather bigger pieces of papers. Today, I can use more colours in my work, paint with greater confidence and courage and get to experience the depth and immensity of art.

Today, I can courageously claim that Marefat for me as an Afghan woman, Zainabe Kobra High School for my sister and Suria High School for my other sister, were like bridges, or springboards that catapulted us and changed our destiny during some chaotic periods. These are the places that changed the course of our lives and showed us another direction and a different world, a world that is free of chains and walls of limits.

Until yesterday, our mother couldn’t go to school. But today, my sister and I go to university. We travel to other countries, to the US, Pakistan and India for education and growth. We travel to learn, to think and to learn to decide for ourselves and to take practical steps towards achieving our goals.

The steps set, for me at Marefat and for my sisters at Suria or Zainab-e-Kobra, were huge strides and indeed the beginning of a long journey. I am certain that five years later into this voyage, we can have much bigger and more achievements. I am certain that no one’s nose will be cut off[1]. I am certain that no one will put herself in the flames of fire[2]…

If we can tumble down the stonewalls that surround us in 10 to 15 years; if we can escape from the bleak dark world we live in, if we can set free ourselves from a history that is replete with darkness and hatred, if we can see the world beyond the veiled holes of burqa; that is when we can ensure that no nose is cut and no one’s body is set on fire. We must never allow anyone to take our brand new world from us. We must never allow anyone to destroy and burn our life and existence.

We, the girls and women of this country with shared life and destiny, who fought the darkness of our past, overcame the difficulties through education and wisdom; today can fight even bigger enemies and tackle even greater obstacles.  United and together, we must never allow anyone to laugh at our destiny, and to play with or belittle our dreams.

Jashn-e Marefat is the celebration of our knowledge and wisdom. In this day, we look at our past and gaze at our future. We have come a long way, thanks to our determination, motivation and faith. We are moving toward a destination where our determination, perseverance and faith can help us become valuable gifts for the generations to come.

I feel honoured to be talking in front of this audience today and from here send my utmost gratitude to my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, my classmates, my teachers and all those friends who have contributed and added beauty to this celebration.

Translation by Kobra A. Nader

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[1] A reference to Aisha, whose nose and ears cut off – with the approval of a Taliban commander – by her abusive husband as punishment for running away.

[2] A reference to the cases of self-immolation committed by Afghan women in response to the increasing psychological and physical violence against them.

Rory Stewart’s Great Game: An Afghan Response

Last night the 2^nd and last episode of ‘Afghanistan: The Great Game – A Personal View by Rory Stewart’ was aired on BBC 2. In this documentary, Stewart discusses the invasion of Afghanistan by three superpowers: British Empire in the 19^th, Soviet Union in the 20^th and the United States and its allies in the 21^st century. He makes comparison between these three invasions to highlight the expansionist paranoia of superpowers in ‘one of the most isolated and barren’ countries, the magical resilience of Afghan xenophobia, and the humiliation experienced by the invaders.

The documentary, in Stewart’s words, is about the British inability to appreciate the limits of its knowledge and power, as well as the failure to shun the exaggeration of its fears and the inflation of its pride. However, the underlying argument of the documentary is that the current US-led war against Al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan is based on the US arrogance, has nothing to do with British national security, is already lost and will have no positive impact for Afghanistan.

An Afghan, with meagre knowledge of the US and British psyche and internal politics, I may not be qualified to counter all Stewart’s arguments. However, I can explain what the current war against Al-Qaeda and Taliban means for most Afghans and why it cannot be compared with the Soviet invasion in the 20^th century.

The current US-led intervention in Afghanistan differs starkly from the Soviet invasion in its historical context, international mandate, internal support, and resultant situation for Afghans. The Soviet invasion occurred in a bipolar world during the declining power of USSR with a motive to install a widely unpopular, anti-Islamic and autocratic rule. It was resisted by an overwhelming majority of Afghan population in almost 100% of country’s territory, supported by the biggest US covert operation ever and the military and financial support of most Islamic countries. It resulted in the death of nearly 2 million Afghan civilians, nearly 10 million refugees and internally displaced, shattered economy and devastated infrastructure. It also cost more than 14,000 Russian lives and played a role in USSR’s defeat in the Cold War. It is therefore understandable why Russian General Aushev, in the documentary, advises the American troops to ‘take the quickest route home’.

In contrast, the current war against Al-Qaeda and Taliban is supported by UN Security Council Resolution 1378 and is backed by 50 nations on the ground. It is only Iran that has publically denounced this war while all major superpowers including Russia and China support it. This war overthrew the extremely unpopular Taliban government, ended almost three decades of civil war, and resulted in the establishment of the most broad-based, democratically elected government ever in the history of Afghanistan. Unlike the anti-Russian Jihad, the Taliban resistance against the current war is not popular in most parts of the country. A recent TAF opinion poll shows that in 2011, only 29% of Afghans predominately from East, South and South West, think they have some level of sympathy with the motivations of armed insurgent groups. Though the graves of 20-year-old Russian soldiers shown in documentary may resemble the corpses of American and British soldiers that are flown back home, or at least the mildly intoxicated Russian soldiers interviewed in the documentary may think so; however, it is misleading to conclude that these two wars are similar in motive and impact.

Perhaps, the fallacious conclusion Stewart has arrived is due to the flaws in his respondents’ selection. Among others, he has interviewed ex-Russian military personnel in Afghanistan, a Pakistani professor in the US, as well as ex-Taliban commander Abdul Salam Rocketi. As argued earlier, the Russians have every reason to be sceptical about any foreign military presence in Afghanistan. Similarly, Rocketi cannot be expected not to advocate a Taliban-friendly policy, especially when he knows he is interviewed by a British MP and will be watched globally. The interviews of some of Afghan ex-Mujahideen are used as if they are the same people who fight the current war against the US.

Although Stewart has tried to depict that not all Afghans are against the US-led war, his interviewees are by no means representative of current Afghan view. Naïve as it appears, Stewart has not interviewed any women bureaucrat, parliamentarian or civil society leader; nor has mentioned the many progress in the lives of millions of Afghan mothers and children after the US-led intervention. He arbitrarily concludes that the British soldiers have died in vain, not acknowledging that as a result of their sacrifices, today more than 6-million Afghan children attend school, thousands of hospitals and clinics save the Afghan lives in rural and urban areas, Afghanistan has the longest ever road in the history of country, a thriving civil society …

We Afghans hate being invaded and occupied, that is true, but show us one country that does not. If most of us today do not feel that the current US-led military operation is a threat to our freedom, it is not because our human nature of love for liberty has dried. Instead, it is because since 2002 we have experienced the fruits of relative peace, saw the will of Afghans translating into laws, felt the joy of being able to choose our President and Parliamentarians, saw university doors opening for young girls and boys and started to be respected at the regional and global level. This is not said to neglect the formidable challenges we face in our struggle for effective governance, and against corruption, but it is to say that today the Afghan dream of becoming a viable nation seems more real than ever.

Stewart does acknowledge the sufferings of Afghans during the last centuries of great game. He narrates how Afghanistan has been the front-line of war between British Empire and Russian Empire in the 19^th century, Capitalists and Communists in the 20^th century, and the West and religious extremism today. But he fails to acknowledge Afghanistan’s need for help to become a society where individuals have the most basic rights needed to live a life of dignity. The alternative, he rather egocentrically proposes for the US, British and other international troops and civilian actors is to get out of the country now; because the superpowers have destroyed Afghanistan beyond repair and we in the UK should not care, simply!

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Nowruz controversy in Afghanistan and its ‘anti-natural’ reasons

For some, it was shocking to note Mullahs in Kabul speaking against Nowruz, or to see posts in facebook of posters in a Kunduz market that discouraged people from celebrating it. For me, who first faced such oppositions while in Peshawar 15 years ago, it was not. Another reason was because I had already witnessed similar movements in Pakistan that demanded criminalisation of celebrating Basant, a south-Asian version of Nowruz, because of its Hindu origins.

The opponents of Nowruz in Afghanistan can be generally divided in 1) those who consider it a bidat (an innovation in Islam), 2) those who think it has become too Ali-centric, and 3) those that cannot create any cultural bond with it.

Bidat or bidah critics believe there is no such a day in Islam, so it is both non-islamic and anti-islamic. According to a Hadith they forbid everything that does not have its root in Quran or Hadith, or at minimum does not have any precedence in Prophet Mohammad’s era. The celebration of Nowruz, they believe is a Zoroastrian practice, which was stopped when Islam replaced Zoroastrianism and Buddhism in the Persian region (today’s Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran). Those who celebrate it, the misguided, force this innovation back on the Islamic Afghanistan. Therefore, this contamination of the pure faith should be stopped.

Those who believe it is too Ali-centric believe the Shia Muslims have re-manufactured Nowruz by claiming that it is Imam Ali’s birthday or his Caliphate anniversary. Afghan Muslims, both Shia and Sunni, raise the flag of Imam Ali on Nowruz, and call it janda bala. The biggest janda bala event takes place in Mazar-e Sharif, centre of Balkh province, and is attended by government officials and thousands of Afghans who come to the city from most corners of the country[1]*. Mazar-e Sharif (The Sacred Shrine) is named after Imam Ali’s supposed shrine, so it is one of birthplaces of janda bala tradition. However, janda bala takes place in Kabul, Kandahar, Zabul and other parts of Afghanistan too. Interestingly, Afghan refugees in Islamabad organised janda bala in the Pakistani capital this year. Criticizing janda bala and similar rituals, these set of critics believe that Shias have kidnapped Nowruz, and use it as a tool to infiltrate Sunni faith, therefore, it should be stopped.

The third group of opponents believes Nowruz is mostly an Iranian and Central Asian festival. These mostly over-zealous Afghan nationalists have a strong tendency to claim an independent culture for Afghanistan. As such, they cannot relate themselves to Nowruz and the various events and celebrations attached to it. They intentionally refrain from using the term Nowruz, which is of Persian origin, but do make most of the 1-day public holiday in their own way.

Those who oppose Nowruz may have one or a combination of reasons discussed above. For proponents too there may be religious and non-religious reasons for loving Nowruz. It is not surprising that in a religiously conservative Afghanistan, a festival has to be presented in the guise of Islam to be made acceptable. Cities such as Mazar-e Sharif have been augmented based on the claim that Imam Ali’s body is buried there, giving it a religious touch and justification.

For me, however, Nowruz is always an awakening, a new start and a moment to bring myself in harmony with nature. It is to forget the harshness of winter and appreciate the warmth of sun. It is to see snows melting away and its whiteness replaced by the greenness of grass and colourfulness of tulips and other wild flowers. It is a retreat from the ordinary days to reflect upon my previous and upcoming 364 days. It is to set new objectives and have new resolutions. It is to meet families and friends and enhance the humanness of our relations. For me, Nowruz is independent of a religious justification and invulnerable to a dogmatic refusal.

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[1] I have been to Mazar-e Sharif twice in Nowruz. The last time, 2010, I could not find any hotel in the city because they were all occupied. So, I had to stay two nights in a very-far-relative and a colleague’s semi-constructed house, who out of Afghan hospitality and their own kind nature were delightful to receive us, not minding my ‘notice-less’ visit.

My Dari Weblog

Dear friends, I am glad to announce that I have  a Dari weblog now. It is monadee2.wordpress.com .

The new stats feature of wordpress lets you  know from which country was your weblog read. The top most readers of my weblog are in the US, the UK and Germany. This is a great piece of news because it shows I have been well connected with my English speaking friends. However, I’d love to communicate with my Afghan and other Farsi speaking friends too, for most whom English is not the easiest medium.

Kandahar massacre by US soldier(s) in need of thorough investigation

On 16 Mar 2012, some representatives of Panjwai residents of Kandahar met President Karzai in Arg. The report of the event is unfortunately not published in English. It could have been enlightening for the English-knowing people to understand the details of how one/many US soldiers massacred 16 Afghan civilians, mostly children, and how much agony and fear it has caused in Panjwai and other parts of Afghanistan. That meeting also displays how the ongoing conflict has reinforced the sense of helplessness among Afghans and the Afghan president. It shows how in Panjwai and elsewhere in the country innocent civilians are caught between the pro-government forces and Taliban, suffering heavy losses in terms of human lives and everything else.

Narrating how the US soldiers broke into the house and killed Mohammad Dawood on the spot, his brother asks:

Who is to blame for the fact that Americans attack us at midnight, killing us and our children, and humiliating our women? Who is responsible? This is the only question I have. Wazir Sahib (Mr. Minister) you answer me. [8 seconds, and no one responds]. I want an answer, I don’t want [anyone’s] silence. [President Karzai nodding agreeably and looking at different people in the room, utter silence for another 7 seconds] So you don’t have an answer, do you? No one has any answer.

Although that issue was not discussed further and even the representatives may have had certain differences on who to blame, there did exist a unanimity among Panjwai representatives that, 1) the massacre was not done by one person and not in one part of the district, 2) the perpetrator cannot be declared insane if he knew how to get to people’s houses kill and then move back to the base, and 3) that they accept no monetary or non-monetary compensation but the prosecution of the murderer. Mohammad Dawood’s brother said, ‘I don’t want any kind of privileges, neither Hajj, money, nor houses. I only want the perpetrators to be brought to justice’.

But it seems unlikely that the sentence Staff Sgt Robert Bales, the accused murder, will receive in the US will be anything near acceptable to what Panjwai representatives demand. John Henry Browne, his lawyer, has issued statements that, if proved right, can benefit him greatly in terms of commutation of the sentence. These statements include assertions that during his service in Iraq, Robert Bales was injured twice. He was sent to Afghanistan against his will and that he witnessed his friend’s leg blown off the day before the killings.

Whatever Robert Bales’ fate, there are two stories told in relation to this incident: One, that is told by Robert Bales himself, and is the accepted version in the eye of the US government (the prosecutor); and the other that is told by the victims’ families and is supported by the Afghan government (the actual plaintiff). As in this case, both the plaintiff and the prosecutor is the US military court, it shall not turn a blind eye to the fact that no one soldier can leave his base at two o’clock in the morning, break into houses and massacre 16 people – all of that in a remote and volatile district such as Panjwai.

Hell the war may be as US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta noted, but the acceptance of this fact shall not divert our attention from the fact that Panjwai massacre was potentially a planned attack by more than one soldier. That there is an ever-increasing frustration among the US soldiers, and the current practices employed by the US army leadership has not been able to stop their frustration from turning into civilian deaths. That the US soldiers do not fear the consequences before indulging in such crimes, chiefly because earlier court processes dealing with incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan have not produced notable examples. That the US government’s lack of attention to the accounts of Afghan counterparts and the victims’ families, can only worsen the already imperiled trust among the three.

Turning a blind eye to the realities of Panjwai massacre will take more civilian lives and can only perpetuate the hell, the war.

Joe’s homelessness awarenessraising

Last night, I joined my Afghan and Pakistani friends to visit Joe Chrisp and three of his friends who were on the important mission of raising awareness and fund for St. Mungo’s Homelessness Charity. To do so, they had resolved to sleep rough (on streets) for one week. It was their final night and this time they choose the Bristol local government headquarters.

The weather was cold, just a little above 4 ^oC, with some of the preceding nights being even colder and rainy. During this one week, they had been made to move from one street to the other and sometimes interestingly from one place to a couple of meters farther. There had been the constant fear of drunkards and other abusers, so they had to sleep alert. Yet, Joe believes his experience was just the tip of the iceberg, as he was most of the times surrounded by friends and had enough to eat and drink. These defended him against the mains sources of homelessness namely loneliness and destitution. Nonetheless, for them this one week had been an exposure to the real life experience of the misery homeless people endure in a relatively rich city of the rich UK.

During our short stay there, we were actually intruded by a drunkard who forced himself upon the group and was intending to sleep beside them. This should have not been acceptable for the group especially for the female member, because throughout their mission they had committed themselves to a high standard of law-abidingness. They had not drunk themselves to avoid being mistaken as revellers or others who do it for fun. But to the surprise of some of us, they actually welcomed the guy and prepared the blanket and mattress for him. The female member of the team told us a little about the background of that person and reminded us that he needed help, not exclusion.

Joe is not someone who is directly threatened by the fear of homelessness. He has studied his undergraduate in Oxford University, which among other things indicate his family’s good financial position. So his high sense of sympathy for the less-advantaged compatriots and his resolution for making a difference is commendable.

Joe and his friends are not the first people who’ve been in similar missions in the UK. But, they are among the few who have the courage to stand up and be as much impact as possible. I believe they made a big difference by collecting more than 3000 pounds and raising the awareness of many of his friends, family and other members of society. For me personally they were the living example of those who light a candle instead of cursing the darkness. They changed my perception about homeless people for ever.

You can join Joe’s cause too by donating a few pounds here.

Hypocrisies and opportunisms in Quran burning riots in Afghanistan *

We are passing through tough days: the bitterness of winter, the increasing and omnipresent threat of terrorist attacks, and now the widespread violence that erupted in different parts of the country in response to the burning of the Quran in Bagram Base by American personnel. As a Muslim I too consider intentionally disrespecting Quran unacceptable and condemn it. Likewise, as an Afghan citizen, I condemn the violent demonstrations organised by particular groups in response to this incident. The very instigation of the violent riots, inter alia, demonstrate the political immaturity of certain political leaders, trigger-happiness of certain demonstrators, the volatility of security in Afghanistan, and the inability of considerable number of Afghans to learn lessons from more than 3 decades of conflict in their country.

Accidental or otherwise, the last week’s Quran burning case provided greater space for neighbouring countries and their intelligence services, Taliban, criminal groups and political opportunists to exploit the situation for their advantage. It has doubtlessly allowed neighbouring ill-wishers to strengthen their networks with terrorist groups in Afghanistan and induce anti-American sentiments in a bid to bring Afghans closer to Pakistani and/or Iranian interests. It has allowed Taliban to seek legitimacy base for their current insurgencies. And, it has allowed certain members of the Afghan Parliament (MPs) to show their ‘significance’ by exhibiting their ‘destructive’ potential to the Afghan government and international community, as well as to show their unwavering faith to their constituencies by playing the lead role in the current soap opera.

A mistake by one/more American personnel has resulted in the death and injury of more than 200 Afghans. The resultant situation serves the interests of neither those who seek greater respect for Islam and Quran in the mind and the heart of non-Muslims, nor those who want Afghanistan to become a peaceful and prosperous country. While among the demonstrators, there were innocent Afghans who staged it peacefully based on their pure Islamic feelings not knowing it would turn violent, the number of casualties and damages to public assets and country’s economy show they were greatly outnumbered by those with malicious intentions.

Hypocrisy of Demonstrators

The scope and violent nature of the demonstrations are arguably not because of Islam and Quran, but because it was done by Americans, therefore the political motive behind is not exclusively ‘the respect to Islam’. Taliban’s suicide and other terrorist attacks on mosques and schools in Afghanistan not just kill innocent Afghan civilians but also damage, burn and disrespect a large number of religious texts, Quran included. The explosions in Friday prayers, Eid prayers and other religious commemorations have killed and disabled permanently far more religious scholars, praying Muslims and other civilians and burned far greater number of Qurans. Such acts by Taliban does not justify burning or disrespecting Quran by non-Talibans, however the violent riots against only Americans does indicate the hypocrisy of certain riot-organisers in remaining silent against the Taliban atrocities.

The lack of demonstrations against Taliban is perhaps due to current demonstrators’ perception that Taliban are savages, leading to higher expectations from Americans who have greater respect for other religions. Or, they might find Americans an easier target due to their fear from the Taliban. However, when footages show that these demonstrators publically supported Taliban by raising their white flag in different parts of Afghanistan, it is hard to believe they are not Taliban sympathisers or not wedded to the idea of disrupting public order.

Opportunism of Politicians

The reactions of certain political leaders and MPs show but their opportunistic behaviour. Their call on religious leaders to proclaim holy war (Jihad) against Americans on one hand shows their utter indifference to national security, public order, burgeoning democracy and political stability in Afghanistan, and on the other undermines the legitimacy of Afghan State, which they as members of Parliament constitute an important pillar of. For an Afghan MP not to understand that constitutionally what body can proclaim war under what circumstances is in simple terms pathetic.

These violent riots show how some Afghan political elite are indulging in antisocial behaviour. Some MPs, with a complete disregard to Afghan interests, which in this case can include safety of ordinary Afghans, Afghan security forces and public assets, maintaining good relations with allied nations, preventing Taliban influence, have involved in demagogical sloganeering and acted like the spokespersons of insurgent groups. Completely ignoring the official apologies of the U.S. officials, and providing spiritual support to opportunist rioters, they paved the way for the death and injury of more than 200 Afghans and damages to public and private properties.

Conclusion

If we are genuinely concerned about winning international troops’ respect to Islam or securing Afghan national interests, we should adopt such approaches that are peaceful and can attain highest benefits with lowest costs for Afghanistan. The US President and Head of NATO’s apologies, insufficient as may seem in the eyes of rioters, are clear indications about the non-intentional nature of this incident. It should; however, by accompanied with a thorough investigation, in which not just NATO and Afghan government, but also members of Ulema Shura, other civil society groups and media should participate. The outcomes of this investigation shall be made public and the perpetrators should be dealt with according to the law.

Meanwhile, the troop contributing nations should work together with Afghans to devise culture and religion orientation programs for all their troops and staff. As most of these countries do have Muslim staff too, it shall not be a problem that they are given a lead role in religion-sensitive operations in the future.

It is ideal that no Muslim or non-Muslim treats Quran with disrespect, but it is equally important that Afghans are not deceived by a group who misuse their religious feelings for their political ends, and more important is that for such mistakes, more than 200 Afghan families are not forced to mourn for their loved ones. It is the legal and religious obligation of the MPs and other politicians to use the strength and feelings of Afghans for building Afghanistan and not for destroying it.

* This article was first published in Dari 8 Sobh Daily a few days ago. Here, I present its translated version with slight changes, for wider readership.

A story of corruption in Afghanistan

Last year, it took me only two days to get a passport in Kabul. It was not expensive either; just around 100 USD fee for a 5-year validity, without any hidden costs. The reduced time and reasonable cost was not because I had an acquaintance in the passport department; that only helped me put the correct date of birth in Afghan and Georgian calendars as well as my last name with its correct English spelling[1] on the passport. But it was because a new Director of Passport Department had decided to standardise the procedures, allocated reasonable time for application taking and application processing and was doing strict monitoring on the conduct of his staff.

It does not mean, however that it was a corruption-free process throughout. My encounter with bribery was in one of the national banks, which as part of this procedure was tasked with receiving the passport fees and issuing its invoice so that passport officials could go ahead with issuing the passport. Around 4 kilometres away from the passport department, there was little the passport director could do to prevent malpractices there. Standing in a long queue with some rather trigger-happy fellows some of whom had come to pay electricity bills or do similar transactions, I couldn’t help but to think of a way to get ahead in the line. But the opening of the bank gate, and the sudden inflow of waiting clients, myself included, made me forget those ideas but faced me with newer challenges.

We had to show the piece of paper we had brought from the passport department in counter let’s say A (I admit I don’t have a very sharp memory) and get a token, give it to counter B for authorisation, go to counter C to get two slips, take the slips to counter D for filling out, take one of the slips to counter E for paying the cash, going back to one of the earlier counters and there the officer would finally forgive our sin and give us the invoice. Sorry for confusing you so much, but knowing this procedure beforehand can give you quite a good sense of predictability if you were someday in the same predicament.

Now here comes the interesting bit. In the counter that received the cash, every applicant had to pay an extra 10 Afghanis (20 cents) for which the cashier wouldn’t issue any receipt. A couple of guys ahead of me didn’t protest against this semi-extortion. But one girl actually did make a failed attempt and entered into an argument with the female cashier. Some of the impatient applicants, specially the one behind me in the queue barked on that girl demanding her to finish it sooner. Under the pressure, the girl finally accepted to give the 10 Afghanis extra.

Then came my turn. But I did not have a single penny more because I’d left my wallet in the car and had taken the exact amount of cash required. Ashamed of my naivety I couldn’t make up any strategy until I faced the now welcoming cashier. I was somewhat surprised by her sudden shift of mood, but then, I was the first applicant with a proper suit, tie, shaved and an apparently higher of level of confidence (at least I like to think so). Comparing me with the others, the cashier must have thought I was a government official or someone of note whom she could only ask for bribe at her own expense.

Giving her the passport fee, I asked if I needed to pay the 10 Afghanis extra. I asked this because even by then I didn’t completely know it was a bribe. She replied it was only a shirini, passport sweet! but it was completely voluntarily and I didn’t need to pay anything. I said I didn’t have a single penny more which led the cashier to describe the raison d’être, voluntary nature … of the 10 Afghanis extra. The impatient guy behind me misunderstood this as another round of verbal argument. Putting a 10-Afghani note on the table, he said here I pay his shirini, indebting me and the cashier alike!

One can derive many conclusions from this and similar encounters with corruption in Afghanistan:

1. According to Karklin’s typology of corruption in transition economies, it is an example of Level 1 ‘everyday interaction of officials and citizens, as against Level 2 and 3 which are ‘interaction with public institutions’ and ‘influence over political institutions.
2. Such deep-seated pity bribes corrupt the opinions of people about public sector services undermining their faith in public sector. It also sets the stage for greater malpractices such as ‘officials overspending, profiteering from public procurement, nepotism, clientelism, favouritism…’ and even nastier ones such as ‘de facto takeover of state institutions, undermining elections, corruption of the judicial process and media … If citizens show zero tolerance to these bribes, how can governments play foul with their votes!
3. It also tells us that not just policy makers but even street-level bureaucrats are wedded with over-regulation because it frustrates service users, making it easier for them to demand bribes for expediting certain services. Meanwhile, vague and opaque procedures allow for them to use/misuse their discretion powers for personal gains.
4. This case also shows that there are always particular segments of society who are more vulnerable and exposed to corruption. But given their weak economic condition, these pity bribes are way greater burdens on them and therefore more meaningful for them than a fraud in an election, for instance.

Surprisingly, corruption in Afghanistan is not the absurdist. In Hong Kong, not so long ago, ‘fire-fighters asked for water money before they would turn on hoses to put out fire, and ambulance attendants demanded tea money before picking up a sick person’. But using a three-pronged approach of investigation (pursuing corruption cases through effective detection, investigation and prosecution), prevention (eliminating opportunities of corruption by introducing corruption-resistant practices) and education (raising public awareness on the evils of corruption and foster their support) Hong Kong today is by no means comparable to Somalia or Afghanistan.

If Afghanistan too is to rise as viable nation, it is imperative that a similar approach is adopted and confidence in government among ordinary Afghans is restored. Otherwise, corruption will continue to haunt Afghans even after terrorism is no longer the most formidable challenge.

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[1]  Bizarrely, the passport officials in Afghanistan put one’s father name in the surname field. A practice that has reduced a little these days, but lingers chiefly because surnames were more of a luxury than real worth until recently in Afghanistan.

The sin of bearing a baby girl in Afghanistan and its causes

My father was a volleyball player who played for Moáref Team when he was a student in Kabul during early 1970s. Many of his friends would tease him that the reason behind having six sons was to have a volleyball team to coach in his old age. He didn’t mind that because in Peshawar during 1990s there were few things that pleased him as much as playing volleyball with my elder brothers. But deep in his and my mother’s heart was the desire to have another daughter, which only brought them another 4 sons, myself included.

My mother is therefore considered a prosperous woman. Though she publicly apposes it, she often cannot turn down some of our villager’s request to bless the bride during her wedding day hoping that like my mom she will bear more sons. Luckily, due to increased levels of education both among men and women this trend has seen a downward slope in our little part of Afghanistan. But unluckily it is not representative of the vast majority of rural Afghanistan, where the passion of having a baby son harms the well-being of mothers and families.

The story of Stori, who was brutally murdered by her husband and her mother-in-law, is as an extreme example of anti-daughter behaviour. But even if Stori was alive today, she would have had nothing to be proud of and her family wouldn’t have arranged any party for naming the child. Stori could not win a dignified position in her family, nor in her husband’s heart until she give birth to a baby boy. Her daughters would continue to be the inferior sex and her son would possibly resent the idea of having a daughter himself. The ordeal of Stori and her daughters would linger on, just as those of millions of other Afghan women and girls.

This incident and similar violence cases could have been prevented: if police captured the earlier perpetrators, the judge sentenced them to a significant punishment, the perpetrators were not influential enough to escape the jail and the media spread its news as far as it could; or if the family members had enough awareness that the parents have no role in deciding the sex of the foetus, or if the perpetrator was not a member of a criminal gang, and many ifs.

However, there are other factors that make Afghan men and women not want daughters. My parents, who wished on the contrary, did not do so because they were inherently good. May be it was because of their education: my father was a college graduate and my mother studied till 6th grade, the highest possible class for women in Sanghmasha village at the time. Or, their nature of job: my grandfather did not have much cultivable land so he sent my father to school who became a teacher and did not require a lot of labour force to earn a living. Or, because they already had sons, or because they wanted to keep the memory of their daughter alive who died of Pertussis before she saw the second spring of her life, during a frigid season in Ghazni, or …

Despite the multiplicity of the factors involved in developing certain attitude towards preferring a son over daughter or vice versa, in Afghanistan there are two main set of factors that matter the most: poverty and the misogynist traditions. Most Afghans still think the real job is the work beyond house boundaries, a realm traditionally seen as male’s domain. Tasks done by women such as homemaking and contributing in farming or animal husbandry are unnoticed and unpaid, so a woman is just another mouth to feed. While their activities may add value to the overall financial performance of the family, the role of women is mostly not recognised. Reinforcing this perception is the experiences of armed conflict, in which women were/are among the most vulnerable segments of society.

This problem is further compounded by primitive values/customs and misogynist misinterpretation of Islamic teachings, making Afghanistan one of the worst places to be a women. A place where only a son can carry on the family’s name; where daughters are liabilities and should be sent to their real home, her husband’s home, as soon as possible; and where only the son can provide for the parents during old age while daughters continue to be engaged in unpaid chores of her husband’s house.

The murderers of Stori should be brought to justice and made an example of. But until we tackle poverty and misogynist traditions ‘Lemar[1]s’ will continue to be prized more than ‘Stori[2]s’. And, as newer technologies like ultra sound scans get more accessible in Afghanistan, more creative practices of female infanticide such as aborting female foetuse will take even more female lives.

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[1]  Lemar is male name in Pashto meaning sun.

[2] Stori is a female name in Pashto meaning star.