It was an honor and privilege to address Doha 3 event in Qatar on 2 July 2024.
I am pleased to share summary of the main points of my address:
1.I welcome steps taken towards promoting dialogue and engagement with the ruling Afghan authorities, that impacts the lives of millions of people in Afghanistan. We should be a part of solution and not a part of the problem.
2.There should be strategic direction to these engagement efforts. Intl community should align their strategy and resources to these engagement efforts.
3.For an Afghan woman, engagement is a mean to an end goal. For me, the end goal of engagement is to bring prosperity and welfare to the lives of Afghan nation. What does engagement mean for you as a country.?
4.Afghan women are the invisible leaders. We are resilient. We are change actors. We want to be seen as such, not only as victims.
5.Of course, the ruling authorities have imposed restrictions on women's education and work. We have never been silent about it, let alone defending them. However, the question is: will the imposition of restrictions and boycotting by the international community serve the purpose of alleviating the suffering of people? I am afraid not. I fear this reactive approach of the international community works hand in hand with the restrictions imposed by the authorities to further suppress the people.
6.We are tired of war and violence. We want a peaceful solution. Engagement and dialogue is crucial for a peaceful solution and I urge the international community to continue to explore every possible avenue to engage with the Afghan authorities and address the crisis that Afghans are grappling with.
7.Girls’ education and human rights issues should be separated from political agendas of inclusive government- an agenda run by actors outside Afghanistan. The issue of girl’s education and human rights should not be instrumentalized and politicized to feed into political agendas of some specific groups.