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Rula Ghani thinks Afghanistan is progressing

On Thursday, the Atlantic Council hosted “The New Afghanistan: A Conversation with Rula Ghani,” Afghanistan’s First Lady. Fred Kempe, Atlantic Council CEO and President, offered welcoming remarks, and former Ambassador to Afghanistan James B. Cunningham introduced Ghani. 2015 was the first full year in office for the “unity” government. It has had to deal with renewed Taliban violence.

Ghani underlined how important listening is in her position. When her husband entered office, she had no specific plan except to serve the people of Afghanistan, especially vulnerable ones. Ghani wanted to reflect the actual current situation in Afghanistan, as she believes the media has portrayed a different picture from reality on the ground. Journalists are so pressed to break a news story first that they are imprecise in their fact checking.

Several myths have arisen about Afghanistan, according to Ghani. The first myth is that the Taliban are winning. Ghani pointed out the Taliban does not control enough territory for this to be declared. The second myth is that the United States lost the war. The US was not at war with the Afghan people and came to take out Bin Laden. They accomplished this goal, so the war was not a loss. The next myth is that the 2014 electoral process was fraudulent. The UN Commission carried out three recounts and was unable to discover fraud on an industrial scale. Ghani thinks that democracies should believe in the voice of the people, so the 2014 vote should not be doubted.

Another myth she addressed was that of the unity government’s failure. It takes time to create a new government, and some trust should be put into this current one. Building the unity government is a long-term effort. It takes time to replace violence with the rule of law.

Ghani addressed the notion that women are worse off now and are not taking part in the peace process. Women constantly come to see her and raise concerns about violence in Afghanistan. As a result, an emergency fund for victims of violence has been created. Congregations of religious scholars gather to discuss women’s equal treatment and their relationship with sharia law. Afghanistan also has passed new regulations regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. The police aim to recruit 5,000 women and have now passed the halfway mark. The country is working to integrate women into all aspects of society. Integration in the cities is a much easier process than in the rural provinces, though. Providing education in the provinces is proving a difficult task.

In the audience question and answer portion of the talk, Ghani cited past mistakes regarding foreign development and investment projects. The USAID Promote Program aims to help women. Ghani does not want this program to repeat past mistakes. This type of program needs follow-up after workshops that supposedly give women skills for the workplace. The program needs to ensure that their work is substantial, so women can apply the new skills in a real-life, practical way.