8th of March, the International Women’s Day, tied to the name and memory of the shining star of the global freedom movement of women, Clara Zetkin, and other courageous women of the world, has arrived again. We Afghan women are welcoming this day in a situation where misogyny and violence are ravaging every corner of our homeland. The US invaders along with their internal lackeys, the Taliban, ISIS, and other criminals gathered in the puppet government, commit the most heinous crimes and horrors against the women of our country.
Shakeela was raped and killed by Wahidi Beheshti.
Abdul Basir, Kabir Marzban's (pictured) nephew, and his brutal men, kidnapped and gang-raped a young girl name Zainoora from the Rustaq district of Takhar province. Abdul Basir then married Zainoora and four months later, when she was pregnant, he shot her to death.
Payinda Mohammad (pictured), one of Abdul Rashid Dostum's men, whose son raped 12-year-old Bashira. Bashira's father (pictured) made the case public but did not get justice.
After occupying Afghanistan, the US committed the historic treason, against the people and women of Afghanistan, of bringing to power the most misogynist and criminal forces and elements, like Sayyaf, Qanooni, Fahim, Khalili, Atta, Mohaqiq, Dostum, Mohammad Khan, Farooq Wardak, Pirum Qul, and other murderers, to power. These arch-criminals have formed the nuts and bolts of the US’s puppet government in Afghanistan and are the root cause of the sufferings of our nation. Their presence in the government has paved the way for the revival of the barbaric Taliban, these chained dogs of the terrorist-nurturing ISI, who drown our people in the blood of suicide and bomb attacks every day.
If we review the surveys conducted by international bodies, the rates of violence against women rise every year. At the end of 2016, UNFPA announced that 87% of Afghan women experience some form of physical, sexual, or psychological violence in their life. Amnesty International also reported more than 5000 cases of violence against women in 2016. Despite the influx of millions of dollars for the elimination of violence against women, raising awareness, and the improvement of the health and education for women, Afghan women are still ranked the lowest and worst statistically in the world. Last year, UNAMA reported that Afghanistan was ranked 152nd out of 155 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report. Despite these shocking statistics, one can claim with certainty that they do not reflect the real situation of Afghan women, hundreds of cases of such cruelties have not made it to these reports.
The domination of fundamentalists, especially the Jehadi pigs, in the past 25 years, has resulted in our country becoming the center of the rape of women and children. Hundreds of girls and women in our country are victims of rape, while the Afghan law does not even recognize rape officially. The rapists usually belong to militias or powerful figures who have close ties to Jehadi leaders such as Abdullah, Atta, Dostum, Pirum Qul, Khalili, Sayyaf, Kabir Marzban, and others. Among such cases are the case of Mariam, who was raped in the Balkh province by the police chief and one of Atta’s men, Akram Zarey; the rape and murder of Shakila in Bamyan province by Wahidi Beheshti, member of the provincial council of Bamyan and brother of parliamentarian Fukoor Beheshti; rape of 12-year-old Bashira in Sare Pul province by parliamentarian Payinda Mohammad’s son; and the rape and murder of Zainoora in Takhar by parliamentarian Kabir Marzban’s nephew.
Domestic violence and under-aged marriages victimize hundreds of our women every day. After the agonizing killing of Farkhunda, the killing and burning of women in Afghanistan has become a norm, and even the media reports them as marginal news. But we should remember that domestic violence in Afghanistan – like all parts of the world – is rooted in and has been exacerbated, by years of the domination of treacherous and misogynist systems.
Despite the horrifying condition of Afghan women, the heads of Ghani and Abdullah’s puppet government are in constant bargaining to get more power and money, and put on sickening displays of support for women’s rights. The US government and its Western allies use their propaganda machines to justify the occupation of Afghanistan under the excuse of “rescuing Afghan women”, and have taken to their service female puppets in the parliament and NGOs. But now the people of Afghanistan know very well that these puppets of the US are simply their devoted lackeys and chase their own interests.
Dear sisters,
The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) declares that our freedom is impossible to obtain by relying on the occupiers and their puppet government of Jehadis and Taliban. Our freedom is only attainable through our relentless struggle. Let us take the oath of struggle once more on this day, and vow to fight against the invaders, their criminal fundamentalist and non-fundamentalist lackeys, so we can honor the true, revolutionary essence of this day.
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
March 8, 2017