Kabul: Sima Samar, a well-known activist who has been fighting for the rights of women in Afghanistan for the last 40 years, believes that this struggle is growing violence in the country, The peace talks between the anti-Afghanistan groups have been halted and the US is contemplating withdrawing its forces in May. Sima (64) said in an interview, “Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow.” Others fighting for the border and civil rights spoke to US envoy for peace in Afghanistan Jalmay Khalilzad through a ‘zoom call’ last week and the US envoy assured that the US would leave the Taliban The latter will stand with the people of Afghanistan to protect the progress made in the last 20 years.
He said that when the US-led coalition ousted the Taliban from power in 2001, he demanded that the perpetrators of the erstwhile regime should be punished, made accountable, and equality and justice should be given priority. . He said that he had warned that those who took part in the civil war and destroyed Kabul in the 1990s should not be given important roles in the administration after the Taliban left. Sima said, “I am not saying send someone to jail, but they should at least apologize.”
He said that Afghanistan needed the involvement of the international community to ensure that the promises made would be fulfilled and the ceasefire would be monitored independently. Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission said that there have been triple incidents of violence against women in the country in the last year. This commission was established by Sima Samar. Commission spokesman Jabihullah Farhang said 65 women were killed and 95 women were injured in the targeted attacks in 2020.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken awarded the International Women of Courage award to six women from Afghanistan who died in the attacks last year on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
