- 4 months ago
India immediately sent crucial relief aid to Afghanistan following the devastating earthquake that killed over 800 people and injured thousands. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) strongly condemned the April Pahalgam attack in Jammu & Kashmir but has yet to enforce significant sanctions. In this exclusive interview, Mariam Solaimankhil, Member of Afghanistan’s Parliament in Exile, discusses the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the international community’s response.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Viewers, today I have with me Mariam Soleimankhil. She's a member of Afghanistan's parliament in
00:21exile. Thank you so much, Mariam, for speaking with Asianate News. You know, we both are speaking
00:27at a time when yesterday we saw there was a major earthquake in Afghanistan, magnitude 6,
00:33and India was one of the first countries who've actually, you know, came out not only expressing
00:39condolences, definitely Prime Minister Modi and Jai Shankar tweeted about it, but it also extended
00:45help to Afghans. You know, this is not the first time that we have seen, no matter which government
00:52is in power, we have seen that consistently Indians have extended their help for Afghans,
00:58whether it was before U.S. invasion or definitely after U.S. withdrawal. How significant is this
01:05relationship between both the countries? Well, first and foremost, thank you for having me today
01:09on this rather solemn day where we've lost countless lives. I mean, one family alone lost 17 members of
01:18their family, their wife, their kids, everyone. And during the darkest times, India stood up
01:25immediately. They didn't hesitate for a minute. There weren't words of condemnation. There weren't
01:30words of, I'm saying condemnation because of everything that's happened in the past, but they
01:34weren't words of sympathy. It was just action. And India has countless times done the same thing.
01:41Whenever a tragedy happens, when a tragedy occurs, they've never politicized it. And they've been there
01:46on the humanitarian level, helping the people on the ground. So the Afghan nation appreciates it and
01:52sees it. I think last to last year, we saw that U.S. actually cut down the aid for Afghans.
01:59And they said that the reason was because it was going into the corpus of Taliban. You know,
02:05people there need basic health facilities, basic education, basic facilities. How important it is
02:14for world's oldest democracy to actually come to the rescue of Afghans? You know, the first,
02:21the hafazard withdrawal that happened in August 2021. And then it cuts down aid. Do you think that
02:26Washington needs to relook at its policy, which it holds towards Afghanistan?
02:31I think when we look at the word democracy and what's the oldest democracy, we can look into cultures
02:36like your country and my country. And it's built on an older version of democracy, where we really
02:42empower the people. And we have tribal elders, and we have real representation of our people.
02:49So that aside, one of the global powers is the United States, and they're the ones who
02:54control it all. Yes, we need health care, we need education, but we can't ostracize half the
03:02population, which is the women, right? So right now, if you want to help the people on a grassroots
03:08level, you want to open an NGO, the first thing you have to do is register with the Taliban.
03:13So that means only Taliban approved NGOs are allowed to work in Afghanistan. This mechanism
03:19needs to be changed. People need the aid from the UN, from the United States, from the whole world,
03:27not just the US, but handed to the right hands, the trusted hands, the Afghan people to be able to
03:33disperse that aid correctly, where that money does not get into the hands of terrorists.
03:38How much aid do you have to give for women's health? I'll give you an example. When women
03:44aren't allowed to become midwives or doctors anymore, and they're not allowed to see male
03:49doctors. So who are you helping at the end of the day? So not just a mechanism for aid needs to be made,
03:55but the mechanism where women feel in control of their own lives, in control of their own health,
04:01in control of their own education. None of that exists right now. So handing over money to the
04:08Taliban isn't the answer. And recognition of the Taliban isn't the answer as well, unless the people
04:16of Afghanistan recognize themselves first before anyone in the globe does. And India in particular
04:24has done a great job in being able to politically work with the Taliban without recognizing them,
04:30with understanding what the nuances is in regard to women's rights and what's happening.
04:37So yes, aid needs to get dispersed, aid needs to get to Afghanistan, but in the correct way,
04:43to the most deprived people in Afghanistan. And so that's a little bit more complicated than just
04:48opening up the money lines again.
04:50You know, I remember one conversation that I had with another member of Afghanistan's parliament in
04:57exile, Mirvais Balkhi. He was the former education minister in Afghanistan. And he told me that we
05:03talk about international community, but where it is, I mean, it has been so many years that Taliban
05:09has taken over Afghanistan. There are condemnation definitely across the world, but on ground,
05:15there is nothing happening. You know, human rights abuses continue to happen. Women continue to
05:20suffer. What exactly can the so-called international community do?
05:25The international community is saying nothing. Afghan blood, it feels worthless at this point. You see
05:33children dying. You see women being murdered. There was a story of a Talib killing two of his wives
05:38because he said that they were sick. So that goes unanswered. If disputes happen and a woman goes
05:45missing, it's called an internal issue within the household and no one takes it seriously. There are no
05:51human rights organizations that I see on the ground. There is no safe place for Afghan women or Afghan
05:56youth or Afghan men, anyone, any Afghan citizen to go to and ask for help or just record the atrocities
06:04that's happening to them. So there's very few outlets. And at that point, what can you do whenever
06:09you know the world has abandoned you? What do you do? You start living under those rules. You're too
06:15afraid to stand up against what's happening. There is no way for you to raise your voice.
06:19So eventually it's going to implode. When the people get hungry enough, sadly to speak,
06:26but that's the direction it's going towards. The Taliban are not taking care of the Afghan nation and
06:31they're going to have to pay for it eventually. Do you think that India being the world's largest
06:36democracy and definitely, you know, the goodwill that it shares with Afghans, people to people
06:40connect, do you think that India can do more in order to actually address these human rights issues?
06:47Of course. Of course. India has built up strong reputation amongst the Afghan people,
06:54the Afghan nation, and it can be built more on that. The first thing that the Indians can do
06:59is supply more scholarships to Afghan women, support them online, support them any way they can
07:08to educate them, to help them, to empower them, to speak, to only send female delegates to Afghanistan
07:14to speak with the Taliban. That's one step that every country in the world should do.
07:19And that's the only way to break the ice is to bring financial pressure on them as well as political
07:24pressure on the Taliban to say, hey, you know, women are also human beings as well. They deserve a right
07:29to have their voices heard. They deserve a right to be seen as human beings. We're not asking for
07:35much. Afghan women are not asking for much. They're asking to be seen as human beings. And you don't
07:40hear as much coming out of Afghanistan these days because they're lived by the international community.
07:46So from India to the United States to all of the Islamic world, especially the Islamic world,
07:53which I haven't seen anything from, why are they not building that bridge? Why are they not
07:58building that bridge for Afghan women, for other Muslims to come in and speak with the Taliban and
08:03begin this? It's not happening. They're intimidating the entire world with their version of Islam,
08:10which they've self-proclaimed said that we are the only Islamic nation in the world. So that says it all.
08:16Under Taliban, there is an oppression, you know, which is going on in Afghanistan. But when it comes
08:20to cross-border terrorism, Afghanistan is again suffering at the hands of Pakistan. How do you view this?
08:26I think India and Afghanistan have suffered for decades. Since 1947, the attacks on Kashmir was
08:33happening. But we can't just look at it as India and Pakistan. The entire world suffers
08:38from terrorism coming out of Pakistan, from Bangladesh to, we have to remember, Osama bin
08:44Laden was found only a few kilometers away from one of the most important military bases in Pakistan.
08:50Pakistan. And it's a safe haven for terrorists. And just a few days ago, after the floodings that
08:58happened in Pakistan, you saw the heads of Lashkar Taiba on social media, video proof, walking around
09:06with the leaders of the ISI, with the military generals, with their political figures, handing out
09:11help to the people. What does that do? That shows them in a holy light. That shows them whitewashing
09:17their crimes. And that helps the recruiting process keep on going. And who suffers? Not
09:22just Afghans, not Indians, but the entire global community. We have Asim Muneer, who's threatening
09:28nuclear annihilation on the entire world. And then the next day, President Trump is having
09:33breakfast with him, right? So how can a man blackmail an entire global society with nuclear
09:40weapons, harbor terrorists, create an entire economy based off of terrorism, and still be
09:47allowed to have nuclear weapons? That's the real question that haunts me all the time, is
09:53that this country can technically threaten the entire world with nuclear annihilation, harbor
09:59Osama bin Laden, create dozens, countless terrorists, dozens of terrorist organizations and countless
10:06terrorists, be responsible for killing countless people, 4 million to be exact Afghans, since
10:15all of these cold wars and Mujahideen wars and Taliban have been created. And they still
10:21have nuclear weapons. So the world has a lot of consequences to see from this mess that we
10:27call Pakistan today.
10:28And recently, we saw that Shanghai Cooperation Organization Grouping also condemned Pahel
10:34Gaam attack. This is a big news for India, because ironically, Pakistan is also a member
10:40of SCO. But this joint statement, which has come out, it's a big win for India. How do you
10:47look at this joint statement? Of course, there are big countries involved in it. There are Central
10:53Asian nations, which are very close to Pakistan, condemning what's happened in Kashmir.
10:58How do you look at it?
11:01I think it's long overdue. I think they should have condemned it earlier. I think it's great
11:05that they condemned it. But let's see action behind it. Where are the sanctions? Where
11:09are they holding accountable? We see the head of Lashkar Taiba openly walking around having
11:14events in Pakistan. Why is he not arrested? Why is he not put to court? So it's a good step
11:20in the right direction. But we need to see more from the SCO.
11:24What's the future that you see for Afghanistan? I mean, it happened in 2021 that Taliban took
11:31over Kabul. But since then, you know, nothing much has changed in Afghanistan. Every now and
11:38then we see that diktat has been issued by Taliban, you know, more human rights abuses. What is it
11:46that you foresee can happen in future in terms of Afghanistan in terms of the people of Afghanistan?
11:53The easy answer would be a very sad answer that history would repeat itself. But I'm I'm an optimist.
12:01I believe that we've learned our lessons. And I can see that people's eyes have been opened up about
12:06Pakistan. You can see that every single time one of the resistance groups, any of the resistance
12:12groups, any human being that goes towards Pakistan should try to get help again to come and take over
12:17Afghanistan is shunned by the entire community. I have hope and I have faith in the people of
12:22Afghanistan. I do believe that we're in an interconnected world due to technology. I think that there's a lot
12:28happening behind the scenes that most people can't talk about in social media. And eventually,
12:34I believe that a free Afghanistan will happen where the people decide what their future is.
12:39And that's the only thing I hope for is I don't want to see warlords. I don't want to see past
12:43politicians. I don't need to see anyone from before. But I believe that the youth of Afghanistan,
12:49I believe that the newer generation of Afghanistan is so interconnected. And what moves them more
12:56is the positive people like how the Indians helped Afghans, right? This is changing minds
13:02in Afghanistan. It's inspiring people. I truly believe that a brighter future is there. And the
13:08new generation is going to be the one who creates it. And the natural opposition is women. I do believe
13:15that if given a chance, that women can create a truly peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan, which will
13:23create a truly peaceful and prosperous region, which will create a truly peaceful and prosperous world.
13:29So that's my hope. That's my dream. And I believe that it will happen one day.
13:34You know, you talk about people who are in Afghanistan and suffering at the hands of Taliban. But
13:39of course, there are people like you who had to, you know, kind of flee Afghanistan, leave their homeland.
13:44It is also a tragedy. I mean, what is the general sentiment in Afghan diaspora, who is now in exile in,
13:50you know, different countries, UK, US? It's a collective trauma. Me and my colleagues have
13:56talked about this many times. It's a different type of PTSD. It's a different type of survivor's
14:01guilt. I think many of us regret leaving the country. And it's hard. You have a better life,
14:10you're safer, you have luxuries in life whenever you live outside of Afghanistan. But you watch your
14:16own people crumbling. You watch your own people having no rights. You watch your own people
14:22just losing your culture, losing your identity, losing who you are. The culture that my parents
14:27raised me with, the culture that most of my colleagues were raised in, that's being taken away.
14:33And Islamist extremist ideology is being replaced from that beautiful culture, those beautiful
14:40traditions that we had. So that's, that's traumatizing. So majority of us are very traumatized.
14:48And the worst part is, whenever you speak about it, most of the international community will say,
14:54well, hey, you're not in the country anymore, you can't speak. But whenever you're in the country,
14:59you can't speak because you have a gun pointed at your head. So who's allowed to speak? It's almost
15:03like they've, they've shut our mouths by force, and they have guns to all of our heads. When each person
15:08that's left Afghanistan is still deeply connected and deeply rooted back home. So every Afghan voice,
15:15every person in exile right now, they have something to say. And it's not just their words. We're all
15:23connected with people back home, who give us messages and depend on us to relay that message
15:28to the rest of the world. And that's the only way that they feel seen or heard. So thank you again for
15:34giving me this opportunity to speak. Because it's not just me speaking, it's the people who call on
15:39me and count on me and write me letters and send me voice messages day in and day out, who see people
15:45like me as their hope as their light. So thank you for extending that like and reflecting it throughout
15:52the world.
Be the first to comment