00:00You went to Kabul in 2005. You lived there for such a long time. How was your experience at that
00:06time and how it is in contrast to now what you hear coming out of Afghanistan from your friends
00:13or maybe from people you are in touch with? I would like to thank you not only for having me
00:19but for addressing this topic. I'd like to start by really reminding everyone that when women's
00:25rights are infractured it's not only an Afghanistan issue it really affects women all over the world
00:31because when it's allowed in one place that kind of struggle carries out into the rest of the world.
00:38When we offer the permission for women to be treated this way it really opens the door for a lot of
00:45patriarchal and inhumane treatment of women around the world. When I first arrived in Afghanistan it
00:51was very soon after the first round of Taliban and initially in my earlier years there was a lot
00:59of hesitation from women and to participate in society to really be out. I mean they were coming
01:06from years of really intense suffering and what I noticed was in a very short time it took so little
01:17time so much movement happened so fast we would have women so actively participating that you could
01:24from one day hardly seeing them in public spaces in society to really seeing them at almost a 50-50
01:32in every sector not necessarily by job position but by representation they were they were really taking
01:40leadership roles and actively contributing to society. What I see and hear now is not a loss of
01:48that drive to be part of society but the loss of the opportunity not only to do it but you even dream
01:55about doing it and that is continuously cut off further by the decrees that keep piling up on them.
02:01You
02:08you
02:10you
02:12you
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