Afghanistan today ‘a mockery of the war on terror’

“Human dignity has no price and it as easy as killing a bird,” she said. A 19-year-old hanged herself after she learnt she was to be sold to a 60-year-old man. Another woman had locked herself in a stable and immolated herself, she said. Women continued to wear burkas because they could not trust the authorities in power.

Crimes and acts of brutality were going on under the noses of US and allied troops. In a recent UNIFEM survey, 65 per cent of 50,000 widows in Kabul indicated they had been victims of sexual and mental violence. A woman could become a victim of her own husband’s violence for “he will know he has the support of the misogynist Northern Alliance,” she said.

What was happening to “my crying country” had been described in a UN health report as a disaster worse than a tsunami, she said. It was estimated that 700 children and 50-70 women die on daily basis owing to the lack of health services. Child and mother mortality rate was still very high as 1,600 to 1,900 women among each 100,000 died during childbirth. Life expectancy was below 45 years. A majority of people were living below the poverty line.

About 40 per cent of the workforce was unemployed although the country was in need of reconstruction. “Yet this is happening in a country that has received $12 billion with another $10 billion pledged … but this will go into the pockets to better suppress the nation.”

Among Afghan people, the phrase “freedom of speech” was a joke. Journalists faced severe pressure from Afghan authorities - threats, intimidation, imprisonment and even murder, she said.

Her own recent experience had been that after she had been interviewed at a local TV station, together with others including “a member of parliament who was also a wanted criminal”, the TV station broadcast a trailer to advertise the forthcoming program. A subsequent phone call to the TV station threatened that if it were broadcast, the consequences would be “dangerous” for the director. When it was finally broadcast her comments were excluded.

It was not the first time she had been censored, “Many journalists are too frightened to report my comments,” she said. Those who spoke for justice were threatened with death. “I was physically attacked by four war lords, members of parliament - in the parliament - just for speaking about the crimes of the Northern Alliance.” She said one attacker had even shouted, “prostitute, take and rape her.” She said that instead of bringing war lords to trial, the president had appointed them to higher posts.

She said because of the situation in Kabul, it was an unattractive proposition for Afghanistan’s four million refugees to return.

“No country can deliver liberation to another country,” she said. It had to be done by the people themselves.

But Australia could play a great role if it aligned its policies according to the aspirations and wishes of Afghan people and stop any kind of support for the war lords.

“Please could Australia act independently,” she asked, and not follow the policy of the US, but rely on the Afghan people and democracy-minded groups that could help guarantee Afghanistan a bright future.

At the end of her address in Brisbane she was given a standing ovation. Among those present were Queensland Governor Quentin Bryce, Queensland Minister for Minister for Women Margaret Keech and Lord Mayor Councillor Campbell Newman.