Malalai Joya, the dissident author and former member of the Afghan Parliament, addressed a thousand-strong audience at Marrickville Town Hall last week. Joya expressed her views on the war waged on her country by US/NATO forces for the past decade.
On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which formed the pretext for the invasion of Afghanistan less than four weeks later, Ms Joya advocated passionately for immediate removal of all occupying troops. “I agree with my people that democracy never comes by bombing wedding parties, by committing war crimes,” she emphasised.
Ms Joya said President Obama’s “troop draw-down” was an exercise in “image-management”, since the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has agreed to permanent US control of military bases in the nation. She said the U.S. “don’t want to leave Afghanistan because it’s in the middle of Asia, so it’s a base for US control in the whole region”.
Refuting Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s claim that removing the troops will leave Afghanistan in the hands of the terrorists, Ms Joya said, “Someone should tell Gillard that Afghanistan is already in the hands of terrorists.” Ms Joya was famously expelled from her Parliamentary position in 2007 after denouncing the warlords and war criminals holding seats in Parliament.
She identified three forces embattling her people: the warlords, the Taliban and occupying troops. While the Taliban posed right-wing resistance to the occupation, it is “the resistance of ordinary Afghani people that gives hope for the future”.
Ms Joya acknowledged Afghanistan would still face problems even after the removal of troops, and appealed for humanitarian support. “Nobody says when occupying troops leave, it will be heaven. There’s no question we need a helping hand, but that never means we want occupation. We don’t want troops, but we want your solidarity – we need educational support, teachers, health clinics. When warmakers and fundamentalists can unite, then so can we!”
The Stop The War Coalition, organisers of the public meeting, announced a protest to mark the tenth anniversary of the invasion, on October 8. For more information, visit: www.stopwarcoalition.org
