24 January 2022
In the name of freedom and equality:
I would like to take a moment to remember and revere all those women and girls in Afghanistan who say no to servitude!
Respected Ladies and gentlemen,
Since Friday, January 21st, when I was invited to Oslo to echo the voices and demands of free men and women of Kabul, millions of men and women both inside and outside have given me the energy and are expecting me to raise their legitimate and rightful demands. I want to emphasize that I am not here to negotiate but to raise the people’s demands.
Yesterday, I talked about the atmosphere of repression, terror, and strangulation in Afghanistan. You all are well aware of the fate of all women protesters. I do not see a need to repeat it.
On behalf of the Taliban, Mr. Mottaqi yesterday said that he has spoken to his colleagues to clarify the fate of detained women in Kabul and Balkh. Mr. Mottaqi invited me for a dialogue in Kabul.
We, the protesting women, see a contradiction in these words, and they are considerably hypocritic. In the international community’s presence, they display a good gesture aiming to get the blocked funds unfrozen and hoping to gain international legitimacy and trust. However, in practice, the Taliban have carried out repression and terror in Afghanistan’s streets, houses, and cities. During the last five months and nine days, they did not mention anything about dialogue with the women who repeatedly came out to the streets in peaceful demonstrations in Kabul, Balkh, Herat, and other cities. On the contrary, women were oppressed, murdered, and dehumanized.
Not long ago, the people of Afghanistan were used as a human shield in military operations between you [the international community] and the Taliban, while now they misuse women protesters, poverty, and humanitarian crisis as leverages. We fight against any gender captivity and suppression of oppressed ethnic groups.
We do not recognize the Taliban as government, not even a de facto ruler. The past five months have shown that the Taliban act not as a de facto ruler but as outlawed militias and religio-tribal Jihadists. Arresting men and women arbitrarily without due process of law, invading our private spaces in the middle of the night, abducting women, incarcerating women in their houses, and denying all these atrocities are the attributes of warlords and irresponsible militias. The Taliban spokesmen openly stated that they would preserve the privilege of suppressing and punishing arbitrarily anyone who dissents them. Before anything else, the Taliban must answer the primary question of who has given them the right to rule over us?
Some insist that the Taliban are genuine representatives of the people of Afghanistan, that the people of Afghanistan are traditional, and lack the competent and political culture for democracy, women’s rights, human rights, and freedom of expression.
No, ladies and gentlemen!
Make no mistake. No people have sacrificed to the extent we did for democracy, freedom of expression, women, human rights, education, and knowledge during the past 20 years. We participated in the elections at the cost of our lives, getting our limbs amputated and our fingers cut by the militias of the same group you are hosting today. Look at the global list of journalists and intellectuals who have been targeted, tortured, and killed by Jihadists in the last 20 years. You will notice that my homeland is on the top of the list. These are, but our sacrifices paid for liberty.
Unfortunately, the international community has forced us to accept the Taliban as the only alternative. Why do we have to accept the Taliban? We are not obliged to choose either surrendering to the Taliban or starting from scratch. We are not a primitive society that does not possess principles, values, and morality for autonomous governance by itself. We were a society based on a constitution and law. Based on what right did the Taliban forcibly abolish the 2004 Constitution? Why did the Taliban demolish the legal foundations of the post-2001 government? Who gave the Taliban such a right to hijack and monopolize the whole state and society in Afghanistan?
The continuation of this situation might be acceptable for the international community. They can say that the Taliban are better than nothing or that we have no alternative to them. However, it is never acceptable for us. We do not want the continuation of the current situation, where the Taliban victimize and enslave people and their thoughts through sheer power.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I do not have any demand from this group. Because they are famous for their lies and deception, they believe that lies could be used as a tool for their ends as this is not a sin for the soldiers of religion and God.
I appeal to the international community instead of sharing my generation’s demands with you. You have the power/authority. You have the resources. You can hold such meetings. Can you get the following guarantees from them?
- All political prisoners, including civil protesters in Afghanistan’s cities, Balkh, Herat, and Kabul, should be released immediately.
- An independent and competent commission shall be established by the United Nations, consisting of the families of victims, representatives of the people, and independent international human rights bodies to monitor and investigate the conduct and policies of the Taliban.
- In rank and file, gun-bearing Taliban insurgents must cease violence against women, persecutions, arrests, and imprisonment civilians, who demonstrate peacefully must be stopped.
- Women’s demands of “bread, work, freedom” must be met. Freedom and equal rights, including the right to work and equal education, must be guaranteed for all unconditionally.
I urge the international community to remember their children and daughters when negotiating with the Taliban. In a different environment, Afghanistan’s children and girls face enslavement due to global and regional competition. Children and girls of Afghanistan are no different in terms of human rights compared to yours. Please do not compromise their future.
In the long term, security and safety are only possible under the rule of law. Therefore, we want to restore power to the people. As a first step, the second chapter of the 2004 Constitution must be revived, which is the fundamental rights of the citizens, and the international community must monitor its implementation. The next step is to hold inclusive, transparent, and comprehensive negotiations to create a new political system in accordance with the requirements and needs of our age.
Yes, I will be returning to Kabul from the Oslo meeting. I know better than anyone else here the risks of my return. However, millions of young and old women of Afghanistan and I are determined not to relinquish the resistance for “bread, work, and freedom.”
Ladies and gentlemen!
I would like to end my words with a question from the US Special Envoy, Mr. Tom West. Mr. West! Twenty years ago, we trusted the international community due to an inevitability for which we were not to blame. Put yourself in the shoe of a father in Afghanistan. Can you advise your daughter to trust the world with the situation you have created?
Hoda Khamosh
On behalf of all free people of Afghanistan and women victims of the Taliban’s violence.
January 24, 2022
Oslo, Norway
