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This visit to Kabul has been short and sweet, if not full of its usual challenges.
Following the spate of recent attacks that have marked an significant increase in violence over the past months since I was last here (Intercontinental Hotel, US Embassy, Rabbani’s assassination) I arrived on the 2nd day of national mourning to quiet and often barricaded streets. Add in some cross border rocket attacks by Pakistan into Afghanistan and the shift in talk to ISI and Haqqani’s as the real threat behind terrorism, and you can say tensions are more than a little stretch. Consequently, two public street marches within a few days in the central Shar e nau district, with chants of “death to Pakistan” “death to the Taliban” show that the Afghans are not going to continue to take attacks quietly.
Its not just politics that are making Afghan get loud. Sound Central pulled off the first rock festival in over 35 years yesterday in Kabul at the Babur Gardens. Around 350 young afghans, boys and girls alike, turned up for the outdoor concert. Eight bands rocked the crowd from 12-6, and kept a respectful adherence to Afghan customs by not serving alcohol and the bands leaving the stage to make sure the call to prayer was heard.
Those unable to hear the ring of musical freedom? ANAD. The Afghan National Association for the Deaf. Our work with the deaf community in Afghanistan continues forward with completion of the perimeter security wall surrounding the 5 acre land donation from President Karzai in March 2010. Now we are moving forward with the construction for the first ever K-12 school for the deaf in Afghanistan. But as its Afghanistan, even a land donation from the President himself is not without challengers and representatives from the Ministry of Education had been asking questions why the school hasn’t been constructed yet and if they weren’t going to build then they were going to use the land for another’s school. This despite the obvious work over the past year building the wall. After meeting with ANAD and a deputy minister we made it clear that we were planning on breaking ground on the school itself in the spring and had our architectural renderings and construction partner in place, and he called off the dogs.
Now its time to raise that money, and quickly, so that construction can start and ANAD can have a permanent home for the association, for the school, and for future teacher trainings, interpreter trainings, and vocational programs that can benefit the deaf not just in Kabul, but sow the seeds to spread around the country. We first met ANAD and got involved in 2008, but this one project is 8 times our entire annual budget – no small challenge for an organization with no staff.
In comes Reuters News to lead the charge. Yesterday they interviewed ANAD founder, Ghaffar, and Parween, a woman who without whom, ANAD would not be where it is today. They will film at the school next week and when finished, ANAD’s story will be heard much more broadly in the hopes that we can raise support and funding from those that see it and get inspired. That ANAD is creating their own sign language over the past decade, that without ANAD Afghanistan’s deaf population would have no hope of ever communicating with anyone outside their immediate family. They are combating isolation and creating a community and that is worth the enormous challenge to support and create a permanent home for them.
Lastly, speaking of challenges – let’s not forget the young female fighters! The boxing girls of Kabul. They swagger, they punch, they jab, and they do it within the confines of conservative culture in long pants, long sleeves, and headscarves. These girls rock, and they are amplifying the sound of freedom almost as much as the 10 rock bands did in Barbur Gardens.
Challenging or not, Afghanistan is where we are, where we can make a difference, and where we need your help!!
Sadaf has a bit of a swagger as she moves. Her dark hair is pulled off her face and her pale pink headscarf is tied tightly in a way that reminds me of my sister’s soccer team in Colorado rather than a typical Afghan girl in Kabul. But Sadaf is not a typical Afghan girl. And neither are the other twenty or so girls gathered in the dark, leaky basement of Kabul Stadium with their trainer, former Afghan boxing champion Saber Sharifi.
I’ve come to Kabul Stadium, most famous for its use as the site for public executions under the Taliban, to see the strength of Afghan girls personified in sport. Boxing. The sta
Sadaf is 17 years old and has been boxing here for four years. She and the other girls go through a half hearted warm up but come alive when its time to don red boxing gloves and their swagger emerges. Shoulders loose, punches strong, and feet quick – their body’s exude confidence not seen elsewhere in Afghanistan. They are all dressed conservatively, with long pants and long sleeves accompanying sheer headscarves which during bouts they trade for traditional boxing headgear.
“Their fight represents the fight that all women in Afghanistan are facing daily,” say Saber as the girls pair off and spar, jabs and punches flying through the room along with their headscarves, many of which end sliding off their heads and spend the rest of the practice around their necks or on the floor in the corner. He is genuinely invested in these girls and his pride is undeniable. When asked what they need most, he replies with a wry smile. ”There are a lot of things they need. A female boxing trainer would be first, but that is very difficult to find someone willing to come here to work with the girls. But also equipment and money to build the program and fund their girls travel outside of Afghanistan to compete. We are building a program, but like most things in Afghanistan, with little resources.” Something Mountain2Mountain aims to help with by reaching out to the US boxing community.
As I watch the girls train, a group of boys have gathered on the sidewalk above the basement training room, and are looking in through the one cracked window. Saber shouts and waves them off, but they are slow to move, the novelty of girls boxing apparent. Sadaf has already boxed outside of Afghanistan in three countries to hone her skills and learn from more experienced boxers. She played soccer for a couple years and then discovered boxing. Two of the girls are Olympic hopefuls for London next year. A historic double as its the first Olympics that women’s boxing has been included. They won’t be alone, as female athletes in judo and taekwando are expected to join them in London. Showing the world the strength of Afghanistan is in the girls.
September 27, 1996, the Taliban took Kabul. The first thing they did was brutally execute President Najibullah and leave him hanging from a lamppost for all to see.
Exactly 14 years later, today, hundreds of Afghans marched in Kabul to protest the recent assassination of former President, Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of the High Peace Council, assassinated by the Taliban two weeks ago. Chanting, “death to the Taliban” “Death to Pakistan”, the protest remained peaceful. Organized by Amerullah Saleh, the former spy chief, demonstrators carried pictures of other key Northern Alliance figures slain by the Taliban in recent months, including General Mohammad Daud Daud, the police commander of northern Afghanistan who was killed in June.
A written statement on the Voice of Jihad stated that revolutions are no substitute for jihad. Guess the Taliban aren’t fans of social uprisings like those seen in the Arab Spring? Can’t say I’m surprised, Afghans marching in the streets, standing up for their rights, using their voices to protest does not bode well for the Taliban. Rather than scaring the populace with their country-wide attacks, roadside bombs, suicide bombs, and assassinations, they are emboldening it to stand up.
Speak with the majority of Afghan citizens about life under the Taliban and their willingness to return to that era and you are typically met with a resounding, “no thank you please”. It was a time of darkness for men and women alike, where fear controlled the country. Fear breeds in silence, the only way to combat this elusive foe is standing up publicly against it. Voicing your opposition. The very freedoms we too often in the West take for granted, the freedom of assembly and the freedom of speech, are those that can inspire change.
Nearly three dozen young women marched in the streets last July to <a href=”http://http://www.afghanistan-today.org/article/?id=138″ target=”_hplink”>protest public harassment</a>. Organized by <a href=”http://http://www.youngwomenforchange.org/” target=”_hplink”>Young Women for Change</a>, an emerging feminist group in Kabul, the women carried signs that stated, “Its my street, too”. Becoming the second such time in recent years that women have organized publicly to voice their rights.
“By holding such marches and campaigns we want to draw the attention of the public, the government and the international community to this problem,” said Noor Jahan Akbar, the 19-year-old founder.
It is still unknown if protests like the one today may become more commonplace in Afghanistan, lesser known still, if they will remain peaceful or be railroaded by those wishing to create more chaos. Could it signal an Arab Spring like movement, seen throughout the Middle East this year, or the start of another civil war? Only time will tell. But the right to assemble publicly, to demand equality, peace, and justice are rights worth taking to the street.
(originally published on Huffingtong Post September 27, 2011)
