EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Karzai Grapples With Appointment of Women's Affairs Minister in Afghanistan

EURASIA INSIGHT

KARZAI GRAPPLES WITH APPOINTMENT OF WOMEN’S AFFAIRS MINISTER IN AFGHANISTAN
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard 6/25/02

Transitional Afghan President Hamid Karzai is grappling with a cabinet conundrum over the selection of a minister of women’s affairs. Given the privations suffered by women under Taliban rule, the women’s affairs post, which remains vacant, should attract international scrutiny and could serve as one gauge of Afghanistan’s civil society progress. But in nudging Afghanistan in a progressive direction on women’s issues, Karzai is taking care not to offend a large conservative constituency.

It is proving to be a difficult balancing act for Karzai. His first choice as Minister for Women’s Affairs, Sima Samar, declined the offer after coming under attack from Islamic conservatives. Samar, who served in the interim Afghan administration from December until earlier this June, has said she will assume a leadership post on the Afghan commission for human rights.

Samar, a doctor by training, was perhaps the best-qualified person for the women’s affairs portfolio. During the Taliban era she had been a leading advocate of women’s rights, gaining prominence by opening a network of clinics that specialized in treating women and children. She also helped organize schools and literacy programs, and engaged in family planning advocacy.

With no clear-cut alternative, Karzai has indicated that he may opt for a stopgap solution. "Mahbobeh Hoghogh-Mal would be our representative at the Women Affairs Ministry." Karzai said June 24 at a swearing-in ceremony for 26 cabinet members.

Karzai declined to clarify whether Hoghogh-Mal would be appointed as minister, or serve as an interim administrator. The transitional president emphasized that running the Women’s Affairs Ministry might be too daunting a challenge for one individual to handle.

Samar indicated that a smear campaign led by the Jamiat-i-Islami Party � headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former leader of the Mujahedin government in the early 1990s � played a key role in prompting her to decline the women’s affairs portfolio. Rabbani is closely aligned with Islamic conservatives, including Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who claim that Islam does not allow for women’s participation in public life.

According to Samar, the campaign to discredit her began with the publication of an article last December in Canadian newspaper read predominantly by Iranian exiles.
The article, published in Persian, purported to quote Samar as saying she didn’t believe in the Sahria, or Islamic law.

Prior to the June 11 opening of the Afghan Loya Jirga, or grand council, the article was reprinted in an Afghan newspaper called Payem-i-Mojahed, or The Mujahed’s Message, controlled by Jamiat-i-Islami. Copies of the article were widely circulated among Loya Jirga delegates, with the obvious intent of embarrassing Samar, and blocking her re-nomination to the women’s affairs ministry.

"It was a coordinated plan to derail the women’s movement by targeting me in particular," Samar told EurasiaNet. " I never talked about Sharia. They tried to manipulate the audience with the broad circulation of the article." Based on the comments attributed to Samar in the article, some conservative leaders have called her the Afghan Salman Rushdie, a reference to the author who Iranian clerics say blasphemed Islam in his book the Satanic Verses.

When asked why she thought she was targeted, Samar responded: "I am a woman, I am a professional, I am outspoken and I am a Hazara. That’s why I am targeted." Samar also expressed concern that without the strong support of government leaders, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs could evolve into a mainly symbolic entity, lacking the substantive ability to improve women’s lives in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, it appears that a potential rift between Karzai and Panjshiri Tajik leaders in the cabinet has been averted. The mini-crisis began when Karzai offered former interior minister Yunus Qanooni the education portfolio. Qanooni, a Panjshiri Tajik leader, reportedly considered the offer a snub. Even when Karzai also offered to make Qanooni a special advisor on security issues, the former interior minister hesitated before accepting. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Qanooni will reportedly maintain significant influence in the internal security sphere in his presidential advisorial capacity.

According to an aide of Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim, another Panjshiri Tajik leader, smoothing out the differences between Karzai and Qanooni proved to be a challenge. "We had to negotiate with Qanooni and Karzai, keep our people happy and protect the country’s unity. It was really difficult," the aide said. "What became worrisome was those invisible hands � that are all-too-ready to sow disunity and discord among us. Well, fortunately that is over now."

Editor�s Note: Camelia Entekhabi-Fard is a journalist who specializes in Afghan and Iranian affairs. She is currently in Afghanistan reporting for EurasiaNet.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

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