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.
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00:00Viewers, today I have with me Maryam Soleimankhil. She's a member of Afghanistan's parliament in
00:21exile. Thank you so much, Maryam, 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
00:32six, and India was one of the first countries who've actually, you know, came out not only
00:38expressing condolences, definitely Prime Minister Modi and Jaishankar tweeted about it, but it also
00:44extended help to Afghans. You know, this is not the first time that we have seen, no matter which
00:52government is in power, we have seen that consistently Indians have extended their help
00:57for Afghans, whether it was before US invasion or definitely after US withdrawal. How significant
01:04is this relationship between both the countries? Well, first and foremost, thank you for having
01:09me today on this rather solemn day where we've lost countless lives. I mean, one family alone
01:17lost 17 members of their family, their wife, their kids, everyone. And during the darkest
01:23times, India stood up immediately. They didn't hesitate for a minute. There weren't words
01:28of condemnation. There weren't words of, I'm saying condemnation because of everything that's
01:33happened in the past, but they weren't words of sympathy. It was just action. And India has
01:39countless times done the same thing. Whenever a tragedy happens, when a tragedy occurs, they've
01:44never politicized it. And they've been there on the humanitarian level, helping the people
01:49on the ground. So the Afghan nation appreciates it and sees it.
01:54I think last to last year, we saw that US actually cut down the aid for Afghans. And they said that
02:01the reason was because it was going into the corpus of Taliban. You know, people there need
02:06basic health facilities, basic education, basic facilities. How important it is for world's
02:16democracy to actually come to the rescue of Afghans? You know, the first, the hafazard withdrawal
02:23that happened in August 2021. And then it cuts down aid. Do you think that Washington needs
02:28to 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
02:36cultures like your country and my country. And it's built on an older version of democracy,
02:41where we really empower the people. And we have tribal elders, and we have real representation
02:47of our people. So that aside, one of the global powers is the United States, and they're the
02:53ones who control it all. Yes, we need healthcare, we need education, but we can't ostracize half
03:01the population, 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.
03:18This mechanism needs to be changed. People need the aid from the UN, from the United States,
03:25from the whole world, not just the US, but handed to the right hands, the trusted hands, the Afghan
03:32people to be able to disperse that aid correctly, where that money does not get into the hands of
03:37terrorists. How much aid do you have to give for women's health? I'll give you an example.
03:43When women aren't allowed to become midwives or doctors anymore, and they're not allowed to see male
03:48doctors. 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 and control of their own health
04:01and 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 has done a great job
04:24and being able to politically work with the Taliban without recognizing them with understanding what
04:31the nuances is in regard to women's rights and what's happening. So yes, aid needs to get disperse.
04:40Aid needs to get to Afghanistan, but in the correct way to the most deprived people in Afghanistan.
04:45And so that's a little bit more complicated than just opening up the money lines again.
04:50You know, I remember one conversation that I had with another member of Afghanistan's parliament in exile,
04:58Mirvais Balkhi. He was the former education minister in Afghanistan. And he told me that we talk about
05:04international community, but where it is? I mean, it has been so many years that Taliban has taken over
05:10Afghanistan. There are condemnation definitely across the world, but on ground, there is nothing happening.
05:16You know, human rights abuses continue to happen. Women continue to suffer.
05:21What exactly can the so-called international community do?
05:25The international community is saying nothing. Afghan blood, it feels worthless at this point.
05:32You see children 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.
05:43If disputes happen and a woman goes missing, it's called an internal issue within the household
05:48and no one takes it seriously. There are no human rights organizations that I see on the ground.
05:53There is no safe place for Afghan women or Afghan youth or Afghan men, anyone,
05:59any Afghan citizen to go to and ask for help or just record the atrocities that's happening to them.
06:05So there's very few outlets. And at that point, what can you do whenever you know the world has abandoned you?
06:11What do you do? You start living under those rules. You're too afraid to stand up against what's happening.
06:17There is no way for you to raise your voice. So eventually it's going to implode.
06:21When the people get hungry enough, sadly to speak, but that's the direction it's going towards.
06:28The Taliban are not taking care of the Afghan nation and they're going to have to pay for it eventually.
06:33Do you think that India being the world's largest democracy and definitely the goodwill that it shares with Afghans,
06:40people to people connect, 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, the Afghan nation,
06:55and it can be built more on that. The first thing that the Indians can do is supply more scholarships to Afghan women,
07:05support them online, support them any way they can to educate them, to help them, to empower them,
07:11to speak, to only send female delegates to Afghanistan to speak with the Taliban.
07:16That's one step that every country in the world should do, and that's the only way to break the ice,
07:21is to bring financial pressure on them as well as political pressure on the Taliban to say,
07:26hey, you know, women are also human beings as well. They deserve a right to have their voices heard.
07:30They deserve a right to be seen as human beings. We're not asking for much.
07:36Afghan women are not asking for much. They're asking to be seen as human beings.
07:39And you don't hear as much coming out of Afghanistan these days because they're lifted by the international community.
07:45So from India to the United States to all of the Islamic world, especially the Islamic world, which I haven't seen anything from,
07:54why are they not building that bridge? Why are they not building that bridge for Afghan women, for other Muslims to come in and speak with the Taliban and begin this?
08:04It's not happening. They're intimidating the entire world with their version of Islam, which they've self-proclaimed said that we are the only Islamic nation in the world.
08:14So that says it all. Under Taliban, there is an oppression, you know, which is going on in Afghanistan.
08:20But when it comes to cross-border terrorism, Afghanistan is again suffering at the hands of Pakistan.
08:25How do you view this? I think India and Afghanistan have suffered for decades since 1947.
08:32The attacks on Kashmir was happening, but we can't just look at it as India and Pakistan.
08:37The entire world suffers from terrorism coming out of Pakistan, from Bangladesh to we have to remember Osama bin Laden was found only a few kilometers away from one of the most important military bases in Pakistan.
08:51And it's a safe haven for terrorists.
08:55And just a few days ago, after the flooding that happened in Pakistan, you saw the heads of Lashkar Taiba on social media, video proof, walking around with the leaders of the ISI, with the military generals, with their political figures, handing out help to the people.
09:12What does that do? That shows them in a holy light, that shows them whitewashing their crimes.
09:18And that helps the recruiting process keep on going. And who suffers? Not just Afghans, not Indians, but the entire global community.
09:25We have Asim Muneer, who is threatening nuclear annihilation on the entire world.
09:31And then the next day, President Trump is having breakfast with him, right?
09:34So how can a man blackmail an entire global society with nuclear weapons, harbor terrorists, create an entire economy based off of terrorism,
09:46and still be allowed to have nuclear weapons?
09:50That's the real question that haunts me all the time, is that this country can technically threaten the entire world with nuclear annihilation.
09:59Harbor Osama bin Laden, create dozens, countless terrorists, dozens of terrorist organizations and countless terrorists,
10:07be responsible for killing countless people, 4 million to be exact Afghans, since all of these cold wars and Majahideen wars and Taliban have been created.
10:20And they still have nuclear weapons. So the world has a lot of consequences to see from this mess that we call Pakistan today.
10:28And recently we saw that Shanghai Cooperation Organization Grouping also condemned the Pahel Kaam attack.
10:35This is a big news for India because, ironically, Pakistan is also a member of SCO.
10:41But this joint statement which has come out, it's a big win for India.
10:46How do you look at this joint statement? Of course there are big countries involved in it.
10:52There are Central Asian nations which are very close to Pakistan condemning what's happened in Kashmir.
10:58How do you look at it?
11:00I think it's long overdue. I think they should have condemned it earlier.
11:04I think it's great that they condemned it, but let's see action behind it.
11:07Where are the sanctions? Where are they holding accountable?
11:10We see the head of Lashkar Taiba openly walking around having events in Pakistan.
11:15Why is he not arrested? Why is he not put to court?
11:18So it's a good step in the right direction.
11:21But we need to see more from the SCO.
11:24What's the future that you see for Afghanistan?
11:27I mean, it happened in 2021 that Taliban took over Kabul.
11:32But since then, you know, nothing much has changed in Afghanistan.
11:37Every now and then we see that diktat has been issued by Taliban, you know, more human rights abuses.
11:46What is it that you foresee can happen in future in terms of Afghanistan, in terms of the people of Afghanistan?
11:54The easy answer would be a very sad answer that history would repeat itself.
11:59But I'm I'm an optimist. I believe that we've learned our lessons and I can see that people's eyes have been opened up about Pakistan.
12:07You can see that every single time one of the resistance groups, any of the resistance groups, any human being that goes towards Pakistan should try to get help again to come and take over Afghanistan is shunned by the entire community.
12:20I have hope and I have faith in the people of Afghanistan.
12:23I do believe that we're in an interconnected world due to technology.
12:28I think that there's a lot happening behind the scenes that most people can't talk about in social media.
12:33And eventually, I 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.
12:42I don't want to see past politicians.
12:44I don't need to see anyone from before.
12:47But I believe that the youth of Afghanistan, I believe that the newer generation of Afghanistan is so interconnected and what moves them more is the positive people like like how the Indians helped Afghans.
13:00Right. This is changing minds in Afghanistan.
13:03It's inspiring people.
13:04I truly believe that a brighter future is there and the new generation is going to be the one who creates it.
13:11And the natural opposition is women.
13:14I do believe that if given a chance, that women can create a truly peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan, which will create a truly peaceful and prosperous region, which will create a truly peaceful and prosperous world.
13:29So that's my hope.
13:30That's my dream.
13:31And 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.
13:38But of course, there are people like you who had to, you know, kind of flee Afghanistan, leave their homeland.
13:44It is also a tragedy.
13:45I mean, what is the general sentiment in Afghan diaspora who is now in exile in, you know, different countries, UK, US?
13:53It's a collective trauma.
13:55Me and my colleagues have talked about this many times.
13:58It's a different type of PTSD.
13:59It's a different type of survivor's guilt.
14:01I think many of us regret leaving the country and it's hard.
14:09You have a better life.
14:10You're safer.
14:11You have luxuries in life whenever you live outside of Afghanistan.
14:15But you watch your own people crumbling.
14:18You watch your own people having no rights.
14:20You watch your own people just losing your culture, losing your identity, losing who you are.
14:26And the culture that my parents raised me with, the culture that most of my colleagues were raised in, that's being taken away.
14:34And Islamist extremist ideology is being replaced from that beautiful culture, those beautiful traditions that we had.
14:44So that's traumatizing.
14:46So majority of us are very traumatized.
14:48And the worst part is whenever you speak about it, most of the international community will say, well, hey, you're not in the country anymore.
14:56You can't speak.
14:57But whenever you're in the country, you can't speak because you have a gun pointed at your head.
15:01So who's allowed to speak?
15:03It's almost like they've shut our mouths by force and they have guns to all of our heads.
15:08When each person that's left Afghanistan is still deeply connected and deeply rooted back home.
15:14So every Afghan voice, every person in exile right now, they have something to say.
15:21And it's not just their words.
15:22We're all connected with people back home who give us messages and depend on us to relay that message to the rest of the world.
15:29And that's the only way that they feel seen or heard.
15:32So thank you again for giving me this opportunity to speak because it's not just me speaking.
15:38It's the people who call on me and count on me and write me letters and send me voice messages day in and day out who see people like me as their hope, as their light.
15:48So thank you for extending that like and reflecting it throughout the world.
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