afghanistan . a woman's perspective on a male made mess.

She is not one of the Afghanistan's  'teenagers" . The ones that a racist, paternalistic and patronising  American general talked about. The ones that, apparently, justified  the American Military Occupation of their country.  Malalai Joya was the youngest member of the Afghan Parliament and the loudest  voice against the Male Authority figures  that made, and continue to make, Afghanistan the mess that it is.

This short interview brings more than just a woman's perspective to the  that man made mess. 

There are many reports that the U.S. and NATO want to keep a significant "troop presence" in Afghanistan well after 2014. But if all the foreign troops were to leave, would there be civil war in Afghanistan?

There is already a civil war, a dangerous civil war. Whether the foreign troops stay or leave, war is going on.  The presence of foreign troops only makes our struggle for justice harder, because the occupiers empower reactionary warlords -- and now also empower Taliban, along with killers from the past Russian puppet regime.  At least if the foreign troops leave, one of the biggest evils will be gone.  Then we will face internal enemies.  If the occupation leaves, at least the Taliban will not get more powerful. If the troops honestly leave, the backbone of these terrorists will break.  They will become like orphans, because their godfather is the U.S., which was also the godfather of Al Qaida.  

We are fed up with the so-called helping hand of the U.S. and NATO that is used to justify occupation.  The mother and father of all these tragedies is the occupation itself and the U.S./NATO support of the killers of my people.  When the occupation leaves, these fundamentalists will get weak.  They have no roots in the heart of the people, and their backbone will break.  If the U.S. stops helping terrorists and killers, then they may not be in a position to wage a civil war and destroy Afghanistan like they did in 90’s.

So the first request of the people is: Leave Afghanistan and stop supporting our enemies.

Where do you place your hopes for the future of Afghanistan?

I tell people, don't just see two fronts like the Taliban vs. the occupation or the warlords vs. the occupation.  There is a third front of democratic-minded  intellectuals, activists, parties, organizations, groups, and individuals.  Focus on them.

The Afghan people are fed up.  Fundamentalism and occupation are no longer accepted among the common people because of the brutalities and savagery they have experienced over the past decade. There is more openness, now, to progressive and democratic organizations and ideas. With the passage of time, I hope for the emergence of a powerful justice-loving alternative in Afghanistan. The U.S. is the main obstacle towards the development of such democratic forces.

f you were invited to speak to the U.S. and NATO officials, what would you say?

Stop this criminal war in my country as soon as possible. Your war, waged under a fake banner of human rights and democracy, is in fact a war against poor Afghan people. You are not only traitors to the Afghan people, but to your own people as well. You are stealing from the pockets of poor Americans and Europeans and wasting billions of dollars on killing and looting in order to safeguard only the interests of a very small, elite minority.  You have a massive war and propaganda machine to sell your lies. But the world's conscience, which includes a large number of U.S. antiwar veterans, is against you: you can’t overturn it by any means. So your war machinery is doomed to fail, and the toiling people of the world will win.

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2013/01/10-0