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The Reality of Life in Afghanistan
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"Afghan people are resentful of the fact that after four years they do not have access to electricity, gas and clean water, while foreigners in their country enjoy these facilities."
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Afghanistan under American invasion The United Nations organisations (UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, and ILO) and international NGOs (amongst others, Human Rights Watch, the Aga Khan Foundation and the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit) provide reliable reports and statistics. However, their experiences are limited to their own specific projects. Also their environment is sterile, as they have to protect themselves against possible hostilities from the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. They are not allowed to mix with ordinary Afghans, although some of them are brave enough to do so as they find it frustrating not being able to be reflective and learn the truth about the reality in Afghanistan. I am grateful to these organisations for helping me. As a researcher and writer, I studied the information provided by them, but I learned a great deal more about the experiences of women and men by staying and travelling with Afghan friends in Kabul, Jalalabad and Mazar-e Sharif, here I share with you my experience and findings. Years of wars and violent conflicts left Afghanistan with massive loss of life, displacement and physical and environmental destruction. With the fall of the Taliban in 2001, many Afghans expected to attain peace and development. However, after four years of American led invasion, in the words of the United Nations Development Programme, [1] reconstruction and development is urgently needed otherwise this fragile nation could easily slip back into chaos and abject poverty. Very little has been invested in reconstruction. Out of 21,000 kilometres of roads, only 2,793 kilometres are paved. There are 47 airports, but only 10 have paved runways, and only 3 of them are over 3,047 meters. [2] No investment has been made to make the Ariana Airline (the Afghan national airline) a viable airline to travel with. The workers of the UN and international NGOs are not allowed to travel on the Ariana Airline, because it is not safe. Instead a number of western private airline companies provide services for foreign workers under the name: ‘provision of services for humanitarian, relief and development projects and organisations’. They charge between US$60-1600 per journey depending on the distance and the security of the area. In the eyes of many Afghans the invasion forces are not reconstructing, they are making a huge amount of profit out of Afghanistan’s destruction. In Kabul and a few other urban centres, big houses and businesses are being built. Many believe that these lands and properties belong to those Afghans who escaped their country during the years of war and violent conflicts and have not returned yet. According to the Afghans I interviewed, the warlords [3] who killed raped and terrorised the population for years, are now working with some foreign contractors, confiscating these properties and building big houses and businesses for themselves. Damaged buildings are not demolished and rebuilt. In some cases 2 or 3 floors are built on top of damaged foundations. As a result a number of schools and hospitals have collapsed, killing children, teachers, sick people and workers. The government has given the private sector responsibility for the reconstruction. This means that in the absence of Afghan entrepreneurs, the limited reconstruction which takes place involves foreign companies and warlords. Many Afghans are concerned about the future of their economy based on a combination of foreign and warlord’s capital. The international NGOs are responsible for provision of services. But like everywhere else in the world, they are only able to provide a degree of health, education and other services at local levels. According to the UNDP Report [4], 39% of the population in urban areas and 69% in rural areas do not have access to clean water. One in eight children dies because of contaminated water. People living in Kabul and other urban areas have electricity only a few hours per day, mainly in the evenings. Around 40 international organisations, including the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO, the UN and various international NGOs, are operating in Afghanistan. There are also foreign embassies and the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force). They are all under heavily armed protection and are situated in central Kabul and a few other cities. They have their own supply of electricity, water and gas. Afghan people are resentful of the fact that after four years they do not have access to electricity, gas and clean water, while foreigners enjoy these facilities. The Human Development Index also presents a gloomy picture: life expectancy is 44 years; 53% of the total population lives below the poverty line; the adult literacy rate is 29%; only 3% of women are literate and in some areas less than 1% of the population is literate; one woman dies from pregnancy-related causes every 30 minutes; one out of five children dies before the age of five. Three million school children (grades 1-12) and four million high school students have enrolled and 70,000 teachers have returned to work. [5] However, the majority of schools which were damaged in the war years have not been rebuilt and are not safe. There are shortages of teachers, books, tables, chairs, paper and pencils, let alone other equipment. Many children go to school at 8.00am and return home by 10.00am. University courses are closing down because of lack of teachers and equipment. Without literacy, education and skills, many have difficulty obtaining work. In Kabul and a few other urban areas, a small minority of people with limited skills and education work for international NGOs, UN organisations, foreign embassies and the ISAF. These organisations pay a higher wage than Afghanistan’s state and private institutions. The average monthly wage is US$40.00. The average monthly rent is US$200 and the average monthly food/expenses cost is US$200. Poverty has led to massive corruption. Nothing can be done without paying the ‘middle man’. Being a ‘middle man’ is a job and a way to survive. Poverty and years of war, violent conflicts and displacement mean that 3 generations live under the same roof. Many feel a great need to support each other and to be with each other after so many years of separation and displacement. However, overcrowded houses and apartments mean that young people in particular suffer from lack of space and privacy. No-one dares to be out in the streets after sunset. Drugs, violence and the kidnapping of children and young women are widespread. Moreover, there is a danger of being shot by security forces or run over by their fast cars patrolling the streets. 3 million refugees have returned from Iran and Pakistan. They live in tents in Kabul and other urban areas. They face unemployment and a lack of education and healthcare facilities. I came across a young man who was begging in the streets. He recognised my Afghan friends who run an NGO in Peshawar. When he was in Peshawar he went to the school provided by this Afghan NGO. Back in Kabul he is a beggar. He felt that he was better off in Peshawar as a refugee. Around 1.5 million people come to Kabul from other parts of Afghanistan every year looking for work. Kabul’s population was 500,000 just after the fall of the Taliban, today it is 5 million. The majority of these people are landless and homeless. Those who can afford it, mainly men, emigrate to Iran and Pakistan to work and earn money for their families. Many families move from cold areas to warm areas, as they do not have any way of keeping themselves protected from the cold weather in winter. The extreme poor cannot emigrate and live in absolute poverty. The Poppy Economy For the majority of people the only available option to consistently secure food is to become involved in the poppy economy. Many are locked into debt. They sell or mortgage their land; they sell their household belongings; even their daughters and their sons in order to cultivate opium to pay for their debt plus interest. In other cases, families send their young boys to work in the fields of traders in the form of bonded labour. Many young girls are married off to richer, older men in return for money which can be used to repay debts. Despite unprecedented high prices for opium, they only ever succeed in partially paying off their debt and systematically fail to regain their land. So they sell their belongings again to pay off the rest of their debt. They are highly dependent on the opium poppy as a means of survival. [6] According to the Aga Khan Development Network research on opium production in Badakhshan, some areas are consumption areas and some areas are production areas. In the consumption areas a large number of the population are addicted. The consumption is high, ranging from 18 grams per 15 days to 18 grams every day. People use opium to fight the unbearable amount of sickness and pain, caused by years of poor nutrition, sleeping in cold conditions and, for women, constant cycles of pregnancy. Pregnant addicts give birth to either still born babies or babies which themselves become addicted when they breast feed. Opium consumption is relatively low among families with higher standards of living and is higher among the poorer households. They give opium to their children to curb their hunger, to keep them quiet and calm, and in times of sickness. Older children cannot go to school without a dose of opium. Accidental death from overdose is common among children. Also, opium addiction is often the source of husband-wife conflicts. When men are addicted they cannot provide adequately for their families, and when women are addicted they face disapproval from their husbands. Both cases lead to violence against the women. In many cases male opium addicts who become impotent force their wives to become addicts, with the aim of reducing the chances of infidelity. [7] According to my interviewees, these experiences are not specific to Badakhshan. For the majority of the population the opium economy is the only available option for survival. Poverty and the absence of healthcare have led to widespread opium addiction. The Position of Women A major justification for the war was that it would improve the position of women. Four years after the US led invasion of Afghanistan, there is very little evidence to demonstrate improvements for women and girls. As was mentioned above, girls can go to school, but school buildings are unsafe and there are severe shortages of teachers, facilities and equipment. The new constitution guarantees women equal rights. However, continuing religious and cultural conservatism and a dangerous security environment are real obstacles to women’s participation in the economy, politics and society. The regional and local warlords, who were the key allies of America against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, are not women’s rights advocates and the invasion forces are not interested in the warlords’ treatment of women. In most of Afghanistan, the rule of the warlords’ guns is more of a reality than the rule of law. Women suffer under conditions of violence, fear and intimidation, and they remain at risk from sexual violence. With the exception of Kabul city centre women do not go out of the house or travel without Borqa and without being accompanied by a male member of their family. According to Human Rights Watch reports, in many parts of the country parents do not send their daughters to school because it is not safe enough for them to walk to school. The practice of exchanging girls and young women to settle feuds or to repay debts continues, as do high rates of early and forced marriage. [8] The western media have reported the Afghan people’s access to satellite TV, Bollywood films, mobile phones and the internet as a positive development. Taking into consideration the level of poverty and lack of electricity, very few Afghans have access to the television stations across the country. For those who can afford this luxury the choice is to watch American style cop violence movies or Bollywood movies which advocate the subjugation of women to men and their families. Many Afghan women’s rights activists are worried about the messages of Bollywood romance films, which are all about the woman’s submission to the husband and his family’s tradition. Love affairs between a rich man and a poor girl will start with romance, music and dance and end up in traditional marriage, the wife obeying the husband and his family or else facing domestic violence. The relative availability of cheap mobile phones for a minority of young men and women in Kabul and a few other urban centres may mean that boys and girls can text each other and meet each other in internet cafes. However, many religious, conservative families do not consider internet cafes an appropriate place for their daughters, as pornography is freely available online. There are many young girls in jail who have been put there by their male relatives. Feze, one of my interviewees explained: “I was put in jail by my father, uncles and cousins for being a ‘bad girl’”. Although she passed the virginity test which is done in jail to all ‘bad girls’, she was kept there for months. In jail, she was approached by the jail keeper. When she was finally released, she was approached by the local policeman. “When a young woman is accused of being a bad girl by her own father, the word goes around town that she is available to men.” Out of jail she is under constant threat of being murdered by her family as the issue of a woman’s honour is linked to the family’s honour and can frequently escalate to killings and violence. The Presence of Foreign Troops People resent the presence of foreign troops. The ‘war against terrorism’ costs the US more than US$1 billion each month. George Bush and Tony Blair created the phenomenon of ‘humanitarian aid’ as part of the War on Terror. Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) are a mixture of soldiers and civilian aid workers. This means that soldiers shoot and kill people in the morning and the aid workers distribute aid in the evening. [9] The majority of people are hostile to the presence of foreigners. A woman, whose blind husband was dragged from their home as an al-Qaeda suspect, was cursing the Americans as ‘Kafar’ (the infidels) who raided her home, disrespected her religion and culture and created misery and fear for her and the neighbourhood. Many believe that the Americans are building military installations and camps and/or stealing Afghanistan’s resources all over the country. Najia explained: “They are building massive walls around large areas where Afghans are not allowed to enter. My husband works for them. He and his friends fill the lorry with sand and earth and drive the lorry to the area near the walls and empty them all day long. They pay in dollars, so even those people who hate them work for them, as they have to feed their families”. American soldiers kick, swear and beat people up in the streets and terrorise them when traffic jams are created. In fact the traffic jams are created by the large vehicles of the UN, NGOs, and the ISAF which are filling Kabul city centre and other city streets all day long. The word ‘motherf****r’ is used so often that many Afghan men use it for the foreigners. They don’t even know the meaning of the word, but they know it is a derogatory term. The Warlords There has recently been an increase in open fighting between the foreign troops and the insurgents. The US has concentrated on maintaining Karzai in control of Kabul. The warlords have grips on large chunks of the country and on the population. Some of the old warlords are now registered and paid as part of the security contingent. Of course, this may be considered as a good move because these groups may have changed their positions and reformed. However, many Afghans that I interviewed do not believe this, as these groups, on the one hand, are working with the government and on the other hand working with anti-government groups in other parts of Afghanistan. They are all armed with their own privatised security forces and resist state authority. The process of their disarmament has not been successful. They are also connected with the opium economy and impose forced labour on communities, making the people work on their land. They control large areas which are outside the law of the state and are used for drug trafficking. They are engaged in corruption, confiscating lands and properties belonging to those who left the country during the war years and have not yet returned. There are over 60 registered political parties approved by the Ministry of Justice. Most of them remain allied to the warlords and their military factions and are in conflict with local government officials. The UN, the NGOs and Human Rights Watch, while working on gender issues have reported that they have faced hostility and their work has been undermined by the conflict between local government institutions and political parties. Afghanistan has massive natural resources (natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulphur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones). Afghanistan also has skilled labour, ranging from professionals to those with industrial and agricultural skills. These qualified people have lived in diasporic communities over the last 25 years, the majority in Iran and Pakistan and a minority in the West and Australia. But 4 years after the fall of the Taliban, the Afghan economy is still not functioning and is unable or unwilling to absorb this skilled labour. [10] Davoud, an American educated engineer explained: “I have offered my services; the American client state administration does not want us to participate in the reconstruction. The Americans co-operated with the warlords to defeat the Taliban and still they are co-operating with them, they have mutual interests in sharing the country’s resources”. And Shahla, an educated businesswoman from Britain, said: “I have come to help with the reconstruction of my country. But there is no place for me here. There is no reconstruction; there is just a terrible rush to make quick money. I don’t know how long I will be able to remain here”. Hundreds of thousands of refugees who lived in Pakistan and Iran have returned. They are skilled workers but have not been absorbed into the Afghan economy. Therefore, they have no choice other than to go back to Iran and Pakistan and work illegally, because they are no longer categorised as refugees. According to research by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, in only one area of the border with Pakistan (Torkham), 160,000 people per day go from Pakistan to Afghanistan and 190,000 people per day go from Afghanistan to Pakistan. They bring hundreds of thousands of US dollars per month to Afghanistan and for them this is just survival. The warlords are engaged in the opium economy and the majority of the population is engaged in survival activities. International organisations and western governments keep changing their position between a military anti-drugs campaign and a long-term approach combining law enforcement issues with alternative economic opportunities. Either way, no real attempt has been made to develop Afghanistan’s economy. The International Community It has been argued that the presence of international security forces is positive. This is because international organisations and NGOs feel safe working to create jobs and security for the population, especially for women and girls. In the eyes of many Afghan women’s rights activists that I interviewed, the lack of any meaningful reconstruction and the presence of military invaders have created resentment and hostility. The UN organisations and NGOs have no power or resources for development. They are not in Afghanistan just out of good will. In order to attract more funds and continue their businesses they have to exaggerate the degree of success of their programmes. Najia explained: “Women’s rights, human rights and democracy issues are cosmetically imposed from above. There are so many international organisations, some are trying their best, but they are miles away from understanding our cultural issues. Also when people are hungry and sick these issues are meaningless for them”. Some felt that even their language and culture was under threat. Considering the level of illiteracy, they found the spread of English language terminology by NGOs, UN organisations, television programmes and the internet oppressive. Terms such as gender, development, participatory rural appraisal, democracy, planning etc are rapidly used by illiterate or partially educated men and women who are involved in UN and NGO projects. Many do not understand the real meaning of these terms and do not have any chance to learn the Dari or Pashto equivalents. Many are questioning whether these organisations, with all their good intentions, are contributing to the improvement of people’s lives in Afghanistan or unwittingly cooperating in neo-colonial reconstruction. They also feel that their culture is under threat as many projects on gender, human rights and democracy are based on individuality and fail their cultural needs. Fatima believed that, “Women’s rights and human rights issues have become tools and slogans for those in power to use for their own agenda. I work with ordinary women and men and try to explain to them that Islam has given rights to women. This is the only way to fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan, to show to women and men the positive side of Islam and Islamic culture, not from outside and not by insulting people’s culture and religion”. The Western invasion of Afghanistan was and still is about strengthening US political and economic hegemony and control of the energy resources of the region. Afghan women and men do not have the power to combat them on their own. But they have the power to think and to implement what is best for them and how to construct and develop their country. They need the people around the world to stop the neo-conservatives’ imperial programmes which continue a vicious circle of war and terrorism. Edited version of part of a project entitled ‘Afghan Women’s Resistance and Struggle in Afghanistan and Diasporic Communities’ funded by the Economic & Social Research Council, UK (Reference No: RES-000-22-0762). Elaheh Rostami is the author of Women, Work and Islamism, Ideology and Resistance in Iran, under the penname of Maryam Poya.
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