Give Afghan Women a Seat at the Table

We agree that “the makeup of the eventual new government” in Afghanistan is of immediate and primary importance and we applaud the call for a meeting in Geneva “with invitations to all groups” to create a new and inclusive Afghan government (“A Post-Taliban Plan, Now,” editorial, Nov. 13). However, the next regime must represent not only “all regions and ethnic groups” of Afghanistan, but also the largest subset of the Afghan population--and the group that has suffered the most under the Taliban’s five-year reign--the nation’s women. The facilitators of such a meeting in Geneva must resist the urge to give in to a continued denial of basic human rights to half of Afghanistan’s population in order to expedite the nation’s rebuilding.

There are thousands of Afghan women ready to be heard. We know because the Pacific Institute for Women’s Health has been working in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan assisting refugee women who demand an equal role in a new Afghanistan. They await their invitation to Geneva.

Lovisa Stannow

Exec. Dir., Pacific Institute

for Women’s Health, Los Angeles

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Two months ago we began the war against Osama bin Laden and his terrorists. Bombing soon began and has now set the stage for a horrible but preventable human tragedy. Seven million weak Afghan civilians are not getting the food they need to survive. Last weekend a U.N. convoy of 22 trucks laden with 330 metric tons of food was struck by U.S. bombs and 80% of the food was damaged (Nov. 13). Hundreds of thousands of women and children and the elderly face starvation, exposure and death.

I join with Veterans for Peace in urging President Bush to lead an international emergency effort to get food to the Afghan civilians who are in danger of starvation as winter comes. Time is running out for the Afghan people. I hope we will not be too late to save lives and to continue our world leadership in showing that we value human lives.

The Rev. Bob Brashares

San Marcos