Broken Promises for the Afghan people

A couple of weeks ago, we learned that one of our program partners, the Afghan Women Judges Association (AWJA), will be suspending its activities on December 1, 2008, due to the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

AWJA was established in 2003 after the ousting of the Taliban, when Afghans had new hopes and dreams for the future of their country. Funded by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the organization aimed to ensure the active participation of female judges and lawyers in Afghanistan's newly established judicial system and promote quality and reliable legal advice for vulnerable Afghan women.

UUSC has three other program partners in Afghanistan — Afghan Center, Barakat, Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children of Afghanistan. All of them have reported a worsening security situation that makes their work more challenging. Anyone following the news knows that over the past couple of years, many of the gains in establishing security and advancing rights for marginalized populations in Afghanistan have been lost.

It is no secret that the Bush administration's misadventure in Iraq came at the expense of devoting vital resources to rebuilding Afghanistan. During the vice presidential debate last month, Senator Joe Biden poignantly explained that the United States has "spent more money...in three weeks on combat in Iraq than we spent on the entirety of the last seven years that we have been in Afghanistan building that country."

This is particularly disheartening because after the United States successfully defeated the Taliban regime, President George W. Bush said, "I can promise, too, that America will join the world in helping the people of Afghanistan rebuild their country." Not soon after that statement, he made yet another promise: "We're helping Afghanistan to claim its democratic future, and we're helping that nation to establish public order and safety...We will stay the course to help that country develop."

Just last week, a foreign aid worker, Gayle Williams, was brutally killed by the Taliban on her way to work because she was accused of proselytizing, which is illegal in Afghanistan. Her crime apparently seems to have been working for SERVE Afghanistan, a Christian charity registered in the U.K. Williams was the latest victim in a string of recent deadly attacks against aid workers, even in Kabul, which has long been considered a safe haven for international workers compared to other areas.

"While aid organizations are tightening their security in the wake of the killing, SERVE has not yet decided whether to withdraw its workers from the country. We need time to catch our breath. The safety of our people is very important," said Mike Lyth, a SERVE board chairperson.

As the Bush administration counts its final days, it can add "rebuilding Afghanistan" to its list of failed policies. One can only hope that the new administration and Congress will pay more attention to Afghanistan and work with the international community to devote the resources needed to rebuild this important Central Asian country

On my part, I proudly participated in Barakat's Walk for Literacy on Saturday to take a step forward for girls' education in Afghanistan. As we celebrate U.N. Day and the upcoming 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rigths, I want to take a moment to reflect on the innocent lives lost and the continual denial of basic rights to the most vulnerable populations in Afghanistan. Even if the international community — the United States in particular — has fallen back on its promises, we at UUSC are committed to working with our partners in Afghanistan to create a fair and just society that protects the rights of all Afghans, especially women and girls.

To learn more about UUSC's Civil Liberties Program and how you can get involved, visit www.uusc.org/content/civil_liberties.