WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday joined forces with his predecessor Hillary Clinton to urge that hard-won gains for Afghan women since the fall of the Taliban be protected.
They were joined by former first lady Laura Bush, in a powerful plea to ensure that the rights of women in Afghanistan are not eroded as US and international forces prepare to leave the country next year.
“We all know that creating opportunities for women is not just the right thing to do. It’s also a strategic necessity,” Kerry told a symposium at Georgetown University.
“There’s no question in my mind that investing in Afghan women is the surest way to guarantee that Afghanistan will sustain the gains of the last decade and never again become a safe haven for international terrorists.”
Citing examples of Afghan women entrepreneurs, police officers, teachers and students, he said the women of Afghanistan never wanted to go back to the dark days of rule by Islamic Taliban militants when they were barred from going to school and from having jobs.
“Societies where women are safe, where women are empowered to exercise their rights and to move their communities forward not occasionally, but always,” Kerry said.
And he insisted that it was not just up to the women -- their menfolk also had to stand up for their rights.
Clinton, who has long advocated for the rights and empowerment of all women, said that with 2014 looming Afghanistan stood at “a serious turning point.”
She called on Georgetown students to discuss what they could do to support the young people of Afghanistan through virtual contacts and exchange programmes. “I’m so worried that once our troops leave no-one will pay attention again to Afghanistan,” Bush told the audience. “I want the people of Afghanistan to know that the people of the United States are with them and do support them.”
AFP
