Farkhunda Zahra Naderi, a member of the High Council for National Reconciliation in Afghanistan before the Taliban took power, was an adviser to President Ashraf Ghani. A peace activist from a country plagued by conflict, she believes in bringing peace to Afghan society, while admitting the failure of the former government. Portrait.
Farkhunda Zahra Naderi chooses his words carefully before speaking in English, with a firm and poised voice. Despite this, when asked to talk about the situation in Afghanistan, a few months after the fall of Kabul, the tone wavers, before firming up. ” I’m really trying not to let my feelings go, even though I’m devastated, broken… but we have to find hope. We have to find a way out of this. At the same time, we are all responsible, from the individual level to the national level “, she concedes in the premises of RFI, in Paris.
A burden that weighs particularly on the politician: she was an adviser to President Ashraf Ghani, a member of parliament from 2010 to 2015 and was part of the High Council for National Reconciliation in Afghanistan, a stakeholder in negotiations with the Taliban. His entire family has been, from his father to his brothers, actors in Afghan political life.
A childhood in Afghanistan
Farkhunda Zahra Naderi was born in Kabul in April 1981, she knew Afghanistan at war all her childhood. ” We are products of war, unfortunately. I remember I was going from one school to another, I didn’t like it. Part of it had to do with my father’s work and responsibilities, but war and conflict were already there. Her father, an Afghan politician and leader of a Shiite community in the province of Baghlān, north of Kabul, educated her and encouraged her to exercise her critical mind. ” At home, I was encouraged a lot to go into politics, but because of the war and the conflicts, the way I had experienced Afghan politics, I didn’t like it at all and I thought that for to serve the people, you didn’t necessarily have to go through politics, you could do it by other means. »
The young woman was 15 when the Taliban took power for the first time. Coming from a wealthy family, she has the opportunity to flee the country. ” There followed a period of uncertainty and a great upheaval in my education at that time. “. To her Afghan culture is added the British culture, where she passed her baccalaureate, and the Uzbek culture: she studied law and letters at the international university of Westminster in Tashkent until 2007. Farkhunda Zahra Naderi summarizes: “ I was in different countries, between different identities, different cultures, it shaped me “. After eleven years away from her country, the young woman finally decides to return to Afghanistan. From her childhood in her native country, she remembers the sounds of war and ” of a beautiful village and marvelous mountains. Feelings, bittersweet memories. »
From association to politics
In Afghanistan, the time is for reconstruction. ” It was time to start my life over there, where democracy was taking its first steps “, she says. Returning to his country was not an option. Strongly attached to the mountains of Afghanistan, she is well aware that nostalgia played a major role in her decision. ” One of the most structuring emotional ties in the relationship to a country is linked to childhood. Over time, you grow, but that child is still within you, regardless of how that child remembers their country. I think it’s the most powerful thing that connects you to a place and encourages you to try to make a change there. »
This change begins with actions on the ground. At first faithful to her rejection of politics, Farkhunda Zahra Naderi does voluntary work, associations, and deepens her knowledge of the rights of women and children. After three years, she went into politics. Elected to the Afghan parliament in 2010, she will not leave her country until the new fall of the regime, eleven years later.
Putting women at the heart of the system
At university, Farkhunda Zahra Naderi had studied the role of women in Afghan power, and was convinced that the absence of Afghan women in the Supreme Court was a major issue for the cause. During the 2010 parliamentary campaign, she promised to fight for the participation of women in the Supreme Court of Afghanistan. In 2015, Anisa Rasooli was nominated by President Ashraf Ghani to become the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court. The request is rejected by seven votes by Parliament. Three years later, same scenario. Request approved by the President, rejected by Parliament.
However, Farkhunda Zahra Naderi does not despair. Afghan society can only develop with women, and even the return of the Taliban to power cannot change the situation. For her, they can no longer pretend that women don’t exist. ” The women of Afghanistan are in the streets: the Taliban should be worried. They should talk to those women and men who know how to make their lives better, how to make them safer. However, when RFI asks him if there have been signs in this direction, Farkhunda Zahra Naderi admits to being worried, especially for education. ” There was no need to close the schools. It was a system that worked and it was an unnecessary decision. Even during the war, schools were open. »
By reopening schools on September 17, the Taliban government decided to exclude women from them, except in primary school. A wrong way, according to the activist. ” We have so many qualified women, but they need recognition. They need to be hired in their fields. If they are on the streets, it is because they want to be useful during this crisis for their nation and for their people. For the former MP, it is up to the Taliban to protect women, because the war is over and the Afghan nation in all its components must be safe.
Test of humility and hope
The wound of August 2021 is still raw for the politician, and will remain for a long time. The sense of responsibility is great. What did the government miss? What has the political class failed to see, hear, do? Farkhunda Zahra Naderi struggles to find the answers to these questions. ” It is a disaster for me to think that we are far from the country, it is sad that we are not there. We are meant to be next to those on the street. (…) We are in a situation where another generation is suffering. We didn’t really pass our test, but we have to break this vicious circle. It has to stop. »
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