Without Emancipation of Women,
Emancipation of Afghanistan is Impossible!

Today, it has been nearly eight years that our country has been burning in the fire of fundamentalist tyranny. After the collapse of the puppet regime, our people wished for the establishment of a government that would bring them prosperity and peace. But the ignorant Jehadi and Taliban traitors came into power. Both whitewashed the faces of Khaliq and Parcham through their crimes, obscurantism, and hostility towards women. The women of Afghanistan have been denied basic human rights, the right of education and even medical care. Intense poverty and unemployment have even forced the women of Afghanistan to sell their dear ones. The animal-like behavior of the Taliban towards women is more extreme than any other group's behavior toward women anywhere else in the world. Even a hypocrite or charlatan can not ignore the heartbreaking reality.

The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, for the sake of voicing the cry of our people and particularly the cry of our womenfolk, declare the following points:

1- We condemn the criminal acts of the Taliban towards the people of Shamali and, in particular, criminal acts against women. Once again, we express our deepest feelings of solidarity in sharing their burden and miseries. We hope that by the widespread uprising of the people of Shamali and other places of our country, the stink of the Taliban and their Jehadi brothers will vanish forever from every nook and cranny of our land.

2- We believe that the efforts of the UN and any other authorities, if not combined with thorough disarmament of the Taliban and their Jehadi brothers, are condemned to failure. Behind every hullabaloo about peace lies an intensified war. We don't have any doubt that the present hue and cry about peace is nothing more than the paving of the way for a fresh round of bloody dog fighting. Recent fighting north of Kabul proves this assertion as true.

3- The religious, fascist Taliban have been trampling under foot whatever exists under the name of humanity, civilization, dignity, democracy and woman's rights. While on the one hand, these shameless hypocrites wanted the British authorities to use force against the hijackers of Ariana Airlines, they on the other hand, provided arms to the Kashmiri hijackers and welcomed them whole heartedly. While the hijackers had forcefully kept only a handful of people in a distressing and nerve-racking situation for a few minutes, the Taliban and their vandal Jehadi brothers-in-arms have forced the Afghan people to endure torture, threats and assaults for eight long years.

4- The UN sanctions, which supposedly have been imposed on the Taliban, make the lives of our people more difficult, while at the same have no real effect on the Taliban who are rolling in dollars and pounds. The sanctions have to effect on the source of the Taliban's funding which is both from drug money and from foreign governments. Above all, the sanctions exclude the Jehadi traitors of the United Front, and can only mean that the preference shown to the Jehadi forces by the UN and certain counties is a plot for the renewed empowerment of the criminal Jehadis in our homeland. Such a policy is totally rejected by the people of Afghanistan. If the US and other governments and organizations of the world wish to show the least concern for the interests of our nation, they must, before anything else, punish those countries which are providing money and arms economically and politically. Only by such punishment will the war machine of these criminals be quickly and automatically paralyzed.

5- We welcome the declaration of the Pakistani government of the closure of the offices of the Jehadi and Taliban traitors. In the meantime, we consider the decision insufficient against those whose hands are stained with the blood of the best sons and daughters of our nation. We strongly demand from the Pakistani government immediate action so that the top bosses of the fundamentalist parties, like Gulbudin, Rabbani, Sayaf, Khalili, are quickly brought to trial and punished for their crimes against humanity.

6- RAWA appeals to all democratic and freedom-loving groups of Pakistan and other countries of the world to pay attention to the current catastrophic situation in Afghanistan and especially to the animal-like oppression of women. We ask that through whatever possible way you declare your solidarity with the suppressed people and particularly the enchained Afghan women both in letter and in spirit.

7- RAWA, in its turn, conveys its deep support for and solidarity with the heroic struggle of women and freedom-loving forces in Iran, Kashmir, Kurdistan and throughout the world against reactionary and oppressive forces and states. We hope that the solidarity of women will not be limited to just this day but will endure throughout the years. We must fight shoulder to shoulder in our work of toppling whatever power bears the name of oppression and tyranny until we have complete emancipation.

Long live solidarity of the women of the world!
Death to the Jehadi and Taliban terrorists!
Long live freedom, democracy and women's rights!

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
March 8, 2000 - Peshawar