Transcending traditional Afghan culture

By Maria Zammit

I last visited Afghanistan 38 years ago, before the country became engulfed in civil wars and battles with the Soviets and the Taliban. Electricity wasn't available in many areas then, let alone a plethora of cars.

So when I returned to the country in November, I didn't expect to see the multitude of cranes, construction, billboards and traffic jams in Kabul, the capital city.

The population has expanded from about 900,000 in the late 1970s to almost 3.5 million today. I saw a city abuzz with activity: merchants, shoppers, schoolchildren and the ubiquitous traffic.

But more than outward changes in the growing capital, what most impressed me were the talent and dynamism of a younger generation of Afghan leaders and professionals that wants to move Afghanistan's government and economy from past rigidities to a modern path.

One in particular, the minister of mines, receives high marks for competency and transparency. With new discoveries of vast mineral and gas deposits, the mining sector will be a critical source of revenue as well as an important opportunity for U.S. investment.

But it is not just Afghan men leading the efforts, which one might expect from a traditional, tribal society. I also met quite a few amazing and brave women who suffered torture and incarceration under the Taliban but who persisted in their work. They are now mobilizing their peers in politics, human rights, democracy and entrepreneurism.

One, Suraia Perlika, director of the All Afghan Women's Union, was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2005.

Another, Raihana Azad, is 27 and a member of the Lower House of Parliament. She won her election in spite of threats from the Taliban, Iranians, local mullahs and warlords. She's even considering a run for the presidency at some future date.

Ten years ago there were no female politicians. Now the minister of health is a woman, there is one female governor, more than one-fourth of parliament is female, and the first woman mayor in Afghanistan has been appointed.

They see their biggest role as promoting and safeguarding women's rights and increasing access to education, particularly in the rural, more conservative provinces. What had once been accepted practices against women - including rape, physical violence and lack of fundamental rights, among others - are now openly discussed in the media, and women's groups are pressuring politicians to stand up against this discrimination.

While I was there, pressure to release a woman named Gulnaz, who had first been raped then jailed for adultery, resulted in a presidential pardon.

Gulnaz was a conversation topic over dinner with women involved in a range of human and women's rights issues and education. Although abuses against women still occur, they nonetheless expressed optimism that laws are changing to recognize women's rights, arrests are being made, and the tide is slowly turning against discriminatory attitudes.

These women are not just token activists. At my visits to schools and NGOs, including to Kabul University, women and men attended meetings and classes together, participating equally. In one English class, the women discussed topics from English literature to post-graduation employment challenges. They were equally represented at a civic capacity-building workshop where they talked about politics, civic education and political party development.

While there, I learned of the gains of the past decade in quality of life. The recently published Afghanistan Mortality Survey 2010 reports steady declines in infant and adult mortality rates, as well as the rising availability of postnatal care by skilled providers to Afghan women. Literacy rates for 15- to 24 year-olds have increased by 50 percent for men and 30 percent for women. Ten years ago, 900,000 students were enrolled in the schools; now there are 8.4 million, 37 percent of them girls.

Afghan women have used more than 830,000 micro-finance loans during the past eight years and developed more than 175,000 micro and small businesses. Last week, the American University of Afghanistan broke ground on an International Center for Afghan Women's Economic Development (funded by the U.S. government).

Afghanistan still struggles with violence, widespread corruption and uncertainty, but there are also rays of hope that State Department personnel are working hard to nurture.

Maria Zammit is on the board of directors of the World Affairs Council of Greater Hampton Roads. She went to Afghanistan in November at the U.S. ambassador's invitation.