The Favored Daughter (36 page)
Read The Favored Daughter Online
Authors: Fawzia Koofi
For far too long politics in my country has been conducted at the end of a gun. It has had more to do with who's got the most soldiers or the best tanks. It hasn't been about policy, plans, or reforms. But it must be in the future.
These changes will take time. But while these changes germinate, take root, and grow, so too will the economy. A stable Afghanistan will sprout opportunities for its people. Whether it is the farmer who can use better and safer roads to get to market, the budding entrepreneur building an importexport business, or the hundreds of thousands of Afghans living abroad, many of them highly educated, the building blocks for a better future will begin to present themselves.
I don't wish to understate the challenges that lay ahead for my country. There are so many problems we must overcome. Afghanistan is awash with corruption, flawed religious extremism, and a river of money from the sea of opium poppies grown on our farmland. But through the generations of suffering this land has endured, there is a strength and resolve in the people that has never been broken. I believe and pray that the time is approaching for all Afghans to put aside the past and look to the future. After so many years of war and oppression we are left with virtually nothing. The only choice we have is to rebuild, and I believe that's what the majority of my countrymen and women genuinely want. They just need the framework to do it.
And if we can achieve that, my darling daughters, then perhaps someday your children's children will grow up free in a proud, successful, Islamic republic that has taken its rightful place in the developed world.
This is what I live for. And what I know I will die for.
If this should happen, my darling daughters, then know that every word in this book was written for you.
I want and need you, and all the boys and girls of Afghanistan, to understand. My dreams for this nation will live on in you.
And if the Taliban does not succeed in killing me? Well Shuhra, maybe I will try and beat you to the post of first female president of Afghanistan. And maybe we will form a new dynasty of powerful Islamic female leaders.
I know as I write these final words my mother is most definitely smiling in heaven.
| 1919 | Afghanistan regains independence after a third war against British forces who were trying to bring the country under their sphere of influence. |
| 1933 | Zahir Shah becomes king and Afghanistan remains a monarchy for the next four decades. |
| 1973 | Mohammed Dawoud seizes power in a coup and declares a republic. |
| 1978 | General Dawoud is overthrown and killed in a coup by the leftist People's Democratic Party. |
| 1979 | A power struggle between leftist leaders Hafizullah Amin and Nur Muhammad Taraki in Kabul is won by Amin. Revolts in the countryside continue and the Afghan army faces collapse. The Soviet Union finally sends in troops to help remove Amin, who is executed. |
| 1980 | Babrak Karmal, leader of the People's Democratic Party Parcham faction, is installed as ruler, backed by Soviet troops. But anti-regime resistance intensifies with various mujahideen groups fighting Soviet forces. The United States, Pakistan, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia supply money and arms. |
| 1985 | Mujahideen come together in Pakistan to form an alliance against Soviet forces. Half the Afghan population is now estimated to be displaced by war, with many fleeing to neighboring Iran or Pakistan. |
| 1986 | The United States begins supplying the mujahideen with Stinger missiles, enabling them to shoot down Soviet helicopter gunships. Babrak Karmal is replaced by Mohammad Najibullah as head of the Soviet-backed regime. |
| 1988 | Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, the United States and Pakistan sign peace accords and the Soviet Union begins pulling out troops. |
| 1989 | The last Soviet troops leave, but civil war continues as the mujahideen push to overthrow Najibullah. |
| 1991 | The United States and the Soviet Union agree to end military aid to both sides. |
| 1992 | Resistance closes in on Kabul and Najibullah falls from power. Rival militias vie for influence. |
| 1993 | Mujahideen factions form a government with an ethnic Takjik, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who is proclaimed president. |
| 1996 | The Taliban seize control of Kabul and introduce a hardline version of Islam. Rabbani flees to join the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. |
| 1997 | The Taliban are recognized as the legitimate rulers by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Most other countries continue to regard Rabbani as head of state. The Taliban now control about two-thirds of the country. |
| 2001 | Ahmed Shah Massoud, a legendary guerrilla and leader of the main opposition to the Taliban, is killed, apparently by assassins posing as journalists. |
| 2001 October | The United States and Britain launch air strikes against Afghanistan after the Taliban refuse to hand over Osama Bin Laden, held responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States. |
| 2001 December 5 | Afghan groups agree to a deal in Bonn forming an interim government. |
| 2001 December 7 | The Taliban finally give up the last stronghold of Kandahar, but Mullah Omar remains at large. |
| 2001 December 22 | Pashtun royalist Hamid Karzai is sworn in as the head of a thirty-member interim power-sharing government. |
| 2002 April | Former king Zahir Shah returns, but says he makes no claim to the throne. |
| 2002 May | The UN Security Council extends the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force until December 2002. Allied forces continue their military campaign to find remnants of al-Qaida and Taliban forces in the southeast. |
| 2002 June | The loya jirga, or grand council, elects Hamid Karzai as interim head of state. Karzai picks members of his administration, which is to serve until 2004. |
| 2003 August | NATO takes control of security in Kabul, its first-ever operational commitment outside Europe. |
| 2004 January | The loya jirga adopts a new constitution that provides for a strong presidency. |
| 2004 OctoberâNovember | Presidential elections: Hamid Karzai is declared the winner, with 55 percent of the vote. He is sworn in, amid tight security, in December. |
| 2005 September | The first parliamentary and provincial elections in more than thirty years are held. |
| 2005 December | The new parliament holds its inaugural session. |
| 2006 October | NATO assumes responsibility for security across the whole of Afghanistan, taking command in the east from a US-led coalition force. |
| 2008 November | Taliban militants reject an offer of peace talks from President Karzai, saying there can be no negotiations until foreign troops leave Afghanistan. |
| 2009 October | Hamid Karzai is declared winner of the August presidential election, after second-place opponent Abdullah Abdullah pulls out before the second round. Preliminary results had given Karzai 55 percent of the vote, but so many ballots are found to be fraudulent that a run-off was called. |
| 2009 November | Hamid Karzai is sworn in for a second term as president. |
| 2010 July | A major international conference endorses President Karzai's timetable for control of security to be transferred from foreign to Afghan forces by 2014. |
“A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan” adapted with permission of BBC Online.
I would like to thank the following people:
My daughters, for their patience and the time they gave me during the writing.
Nadene, who has been extremely helpful in co-writing and narrating the book.
Elsa, who has been a great support in shaping the stories, managing the team and editing the book so many times and with patience.
My brother Ennayat, who spent his one week off traveling with Nadene and I to the remote mountainous area of Badakhshan to remind ourselves of childhood stories.
The security people in my district for providing required security to all of the team during the trip to our village.
Kaka Yatim, the brave driver who drove us on some of the most difficult roads in Afghanistan non-stop for two days and nights.
Fawzia Koofi is a supporter of BEH Z Creations, which funds literacy projects in remote areas of Afghanistan. You can read more on
www.fawziakoofi.org
.
Afghan civil war (1978âpresent),
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and Salang pass, See Salang pass
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See mujahideen; Saur Revolution; Soviet war in Afghanistan; Taliban
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Afghanistan
and children, See children
civil war, See Afghan civil war
and communism, See communism
ethnic diversity of, See ethnic diversity
and female clothing, See female clothing
households, See hooli
historical timeline,
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and male clothing, See male clothing
in the 1980s,
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and natural resources,
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overview of,
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and parliament, See parliament
and politics, See politics
and poverty, See poverty
and Soviets, See Soviet Union
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world view of,
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See Afghan civil war; war in Afghanistan
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Bhutto, Benazir,
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Blair, Tony,
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British Embassy, Kabul,
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British Empire,
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brothers,
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