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 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

AWCSWO
Jinha - Womens News Agency - March 8, 2025
<<AWCSWO: Do not leave Afghan women alone on International Women’s Day
In a statement, Afghanistan Women and Children Strengthen Welfare Organization (AWCSWO) called on the UN and international community not to “leave Afghan women alone on International Women’s Day.”
News Center- The Afghanistan Women and Children Strengthen Welfare Organization (AWCSWO) has issued a written statement to mark International Women’s Day. In the statement, the organization pointed to violence faced by Afghan women and girls and said, “Do not leave Afghan women alone on International Women’s Day. The situation is critical. The Taliban’s gender apartheid has erased women from public life, denying them education, employment, freedom of movement, and even access to basic healthcare. Afghanistan has become the most dangerous country in the world for women.” Reminding the four-year Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the statement said, “Afghan women have endured unimaginable suffering and systematic oppression. They have been subjected to imprisonment for seeking their basic rights, sexual violence and rape at the hands of Taliban members, mental and physical torture, including brutal public punishments, stoning and flogging for so-called ‘moral crimes’, forced marriages to Taliban fighters, often against their will and kidnapping of girls under and over the age of 18 by Taliban members, robbing them of their futures.”
In the statement, the AWCSWO urged world leaders to act “now before more lives are lost” and called on the United Nations, international community and human rights organizations to:
* Hold the Taliban accountable for crimes against women under international law.
* Implement targeted sanctions against Taliban leaders responsible for human rights violations.
* Ensure safe asylum pathways for women and girls at risk.
* Support underground education and resistance networks to empower Afghan women.
* Amplify the voices of Afghan women activists who continue to fight for their rights.>>
Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/awcswo-do-not-leave-afghan-women-alone-on-international-women-s-day-36691?page=1

and

ZAN Times - March 13, 2025 - By: Khadija Haidary
<<The Taliban destroyed my shops
My name is Zohra. I am 46 years old. My husband and I married in 1999 and we have four daughters and two sons. My husband was a construction engineer working in remote districts of northeastern Afghanistan. He constructed bridges, which the Taliban frequently destroyed. He and his colleagues rebuilt those bridges while facing constant accusations and threats from the Taliban, who labelled him a communist and an apostate.
My husband was dedicated to his work despite Taliban plots to kill him, including once placing a bomb on his car. In the summer of 2015, he was poisoned. His colleagues rushed him to a hospital, where he died. I was a widow with five young children, while also being five months pregnant.
My husband left me a piece of land in the city and a car. In the years since his death, I built several shops on that land, which I rent to provide for our children. Shortly after completing the shops, the Taliban returned to our area. They built roads, bulldozing my newly constructed shops without compensation or even an apology. I am responsible for raising my six children. Life is extremely difficult, even more so under a government determined to confine women to their homes. During the Taliban’s three years and five months in power, I have endured more suffering than in my entire life previously. I graduated high school in 1994 in a northeastern province and passed the university entrance exam to study natural sciences at Kabul University but my family prevented me from going to the capital city because of insecurity. Instead, I trained to be a teacher and taughter various subjects, including mathematics, at local schools. After my husband’s death, I taught math during the day and sewed clothes at night. My eldest child, a 23-year-old daughter, graduated university. My second daughter had just begun university when the Taliban banned women from higher education. My third and fourth daughters cannot attend school due to Taliban restrictions, while my two youngest children are sons. My teaching salary barely covers basic expenses, while sewing brings in little additional income. My husband’s employer provided no assistance while his family suggested I remarry and leave my children with them. I refused, choosing independence to ensure my children received an education. Living as a single mother in Afghanistan is exceedingly tough. Once, when I had started teaching girls at home, a local mullah summoned me to the mosque and warned that teaching teenage girls violated Taliban decrees. I was only spared through the intervention of village elders. In June 2021, two months before the Taliban takeover, I borrowed money from a bank to construct the shops. I had to repay 4,000 afghani a month but before I could complete those payments the Taliban demolished my shops. They neither compensated nor apologized. I did not complain because it felt pointless. Like others whose properties were destroyed by Taliban bulldozers, I accepted that we now lived under oppressive rulers who are indifferent to the needs of the people. My daughters are educated and capable, but every opportunity is closed to them. If we weren’t under Taliban rule, perhaps life wouldn’t be so unbearably difficult for women like me.
*Zohra is a pseudonym for a woman living in Afghanistan. This account of her life was written by Khadija Haidary.>>
Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/03/13/the-taliban-destroyed-my-shops-2/

and

ZAN Times - March 11, 2025 - By: Younus Negah
<<No council of elites will bring legitimacy or stability
Elections and the right to vote have been a central question in Afghanistan’s contemporary political debate. Attitudes toward elections and the acceptance or rejection of the parliament have distinguished democrats from non-democrats, Islamists from non-Islamists, revolutionaries from non-revolutionaries, while simultaneously causing internal fractures within each of these groups. Since the 1960s, when King Zahir Shah and his close circle agreed to share political power beyond the royal family and the palace, to today’s Taliban who consider their amir in Kandahar worthy of unconditional obedience, one of the central disputes has been the people’s right to vote. Monarchists in the 1960s were split between supporters of constitutional monarchy and defenders of absolute monarchy. Naturally, their disagreement centered the people’s right to vote. Advocates of constitutional monarchy argued that elections and the participation of the people, elites, and influential figures beyond the royal family would lead to progress, neutralize revolutionary inclinations and violent attempts at overthrowing the government, and thus sustain the monarchy. Opponents contended that the people lacked the necessary political maturity to use their right to vote responsibly for the collective benefit of Afghanistan. They believed involving the masses in vital state matters would result in anarchy and weaken the foundations of the monarchy. Within the royal family, Daoud Khan opposed elections and power-sharing. He halted the constitutionalist movement through a coup and established an absolute, single-party republic. Leftist forces, which at that time had considerable influence among urban dwellers and educated villagers, also split into two main factions over the question of elections and parliamentary engagement: those who supported participating in elections as a way to build their ideal society, and those who rejected any participation in election. The Islamists are similarly divided into pro- and anti-election factions. One group supports an elected Islamic government with a president and parliament, while the other group believes in an Islamic government ruled by an absolute amir. The Taliban represent the extreme version of this latter group and align themselves with revolutionary leftists and absolute monarchists regarding elections and voting rights. This alignment led to shared fronts and cooperation during the period of jihad. Some leftists, who had taken arms against the “revisionists” and “parliamentarists” within the Khalq and Parcham factions, aligned themselves with very conservative Islamists. A segment of these revolutionary leftists even advocated for the return of Zahir Shah to power, viewing elected governments as a bourgeois tactic and imperialist tool to delay revolution. From the Taliban’s perspective, elections and popular participation delay the establishment of a “pure” Islamic system, corrupt society, weaken Muslims’ faith, and prevent a truly devout death. All those who reject elections, parliament, and democracy share the belief that governance is the domain of elites. For monarchists, these elites are royal aristocrats; for proponents of an emirate, they are religious scholars; and for revolutionary leftists, they are party elites. All three view ordinary people as incapable of discerning right from wrong, truth from falsehood, or beneficial from harmful. They see solutions in royal decrees, revolutionary commands, or religious edicts. For them, the correct path is predetermined, eliminating the need for negotiation or discussion on how to run the country or society. Thus, the king, emir, or revolutionary leader — each claiming divine right, being God’s chosen, or the great leader — is seen as possessing ready-made solutions and extraordinary wisdom, whose every command is deemed correct and decisive. These three groups of politicians first exclude the general public, along with political and ideological opponents, from the realm of rights. Then, for power-sharing and selecting their king, emir, or leader, they propose the creation of unelected councils. Absolute monarchists advocate a loya jirga or council of elites; proponents of an absolute Islamic government propose a council of religious scholars, known as Shura-Ahl-e-Hal Wa Aqd; and revolutionaries refer to a revolutionary council as their source of legitimacy. However, none of these councils hold genuine authority as their members speak and decide based on pre-determined agendas dictated by one or a few absolute rulers. Recently, the suggestion to form such a shura resurfaced in the media. Former jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, who has previously spoken passionately in defence of the right to vote in elections, has now declared that if the Taliban establish such a council, he will accept its decisions and the Taliban government will gain legitimacy. This view means that legitimacy is ceremonial and not rooted in participation by all, just one privileged group. The fundamental difference between authoritarian and democratic participation lies in the diversity of participants. Democratic elections are grounded on the principle that society consists of diverse groups, classes, and segments. Elections provide an opportunity for farmers, workers, shepherds, factory owners, teachers, merchants, women, men, the elderly, youth, the affluent, and the hungry to express their distinct needs and priorities. Local elites and religious scholars cannot adequately represent all social classes and sectors, nor reflect their interests in council decisions. The priorities of a mullah differ from those of a farmer; similarly, the wishes of an influential elite do not align with those of workers. Some argue that elections are marred by fraud, that candidates are usually elite individuals, and that it is rare for someone from marginalized groups to have a real chance at serving in district councils, provincial councils, or parliament. Often, people’s votes are manipulated, and the disadvantaged cannot find suitable candidates able to navigate through the nomination filters. These critiques are justified. Establishing genuinely representative councils that reflect all social classes, groups, and professions is neither easy nor always achievable in every election. Yet, democracy is a process whose successes should be measured relatively. Elections represent a correct but lengthy path that cannot be completed in a single step; each step is valuable. On the other hand, councils such as the loya jirga or the Shura-Ahl-e-Hal Wa Aqd prolong Afghanistan’s conflict and postpone the building of a national consensus essential for stability. If top-down social engineering worked, and if the people truly desired it, Afghanistan would never have reached the era of Mullah Hibatullah. Instead, the kings and leaders who came before him would have used their own councils to bring stability and prosperity to the country.>>
Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/03/11/no-council-of-elites-will-bring-legitimacy-or-stability/

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