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Military

27 November 2001

Post-Taliban Government Should Protect Rights of Women, White House Says

(Fleischer and first lady comment on talks under way in Bonn)(940)
By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent
Washington --The United States believes that a post-Taliban government
in Afghanistan should include a role for women and be multi-ethnic,
but fundamentally the composition of that government is up to the
people of Afghanistan, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and
first lady Laura Bush told reporters November 27 at different events.
Fleischer spoke at his daily press briefing, while Mrs. Bush talked
with a reporter covering a meeting she hosted at the White House with
11 Afghan women exiles.
Fleischer said "the message that the administration is carrying to the
talks in Bonn, Germany, on the makeup of a new government for
Afghanistan and all the conversations the United States has with the
parties in Afghanistan is the importance of having a multi-ethnic
government that also includes a role for women in the future
government of Afghanistan."
The United States, he said, "is not under any illusions that it will
be done easily, right away."
"We're talking about different regions of the world where people have
their own cultures and histories, and the future shape of Afghanistan
will fundamentally be determined by the people of Afghanistan," he
said.
"The United States will continue to play a helpful and constructive
role in it. We cannot dictate every day's events to everybody all
through Afghanistan, but the president will speak out clearly, as he
did at Fort Campbell last week, about the need for people in
Afghanistan to follow human rights procedures and treat people well,
including the women of Afghanistan."
Told by a reporter that the Northern Alliance is not permitting women
activists to march in the streets, Fleischer said that is one issue
that he had not heard about, "but if that's true, that suggests, as
always, a difficult challenge -- to achieve every foreign policy
objective."
Fleischer pointed out, however, that the Northern Alliance includes "a
very wide collection of different people in different regions who are
constantly doing different things. So it's not fair to say that there
is one policy that the Northern Alliance puts in place for every
person in Afghanistan."
Separate entities, he said, constitute the Northern Alliance, and "the
United States' message will continue to be consistent with all those
entities about the need to treat women with respect."
Fleischer said the liberation of previously held Taliban territory in
Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance and by the Pashtun in the south
"has been nothing but a liberating experience for women."
Thanks to the United States, he said, "the life of women in
Afghanistan has improved immeasurably. The condition of women in
Afghanistan today, compared to what it was three, even four weeks ago,
before the fall of the Taliban, has led to a dramatic improvement in
the quality of lives of the women in Afghanistan. Children are going
to school again. Young girls know that they can get educated again.
The situation has changed immensely for the better.
"Will it change to America's standards? No. We're America. Not every
nation needs to be like us or is like us. But it's dramatic
improvement, dramatic change. We can't get everything that we like as
Americans; neither shall we seek it everywhere, but it is dramatic
improvement and dramatic change," the Press Secretary said.
Laura Bush, at her November 27 meeting at the White House with 11
Afghan women, discussed with them the need for the new Afghan
government to protect the rights of women and children and make sure
all children get educated, "not just boys," she said.
Mrs. Bush said the Afghan women were at the meeting to talk about
"ways that when and as the new government in Afghanistan is formed,
that human rights for women and children will be a clear principle of
that government."
She said one goal is to "make sure that women get an education, and
right now we are at a very, very crucial time as Afghanistan forms its
new government. The stability of Afghanistan, the stability of the
region is very dependent on making sure that human rights are a very
clear part of the new government. And of course human rights includes
the rights of women and children."
Mrs. Bush said the decisions are up to the Afghani people and "I don't
have any choice in how the new government is made but I hope that one
principle in that new government will be human rights and that
includes the rights of women and children.
"I also note that education is very, very important. That's what I
have really based my life on, my whole career on the education of
American children. It's also very important for the stability of
Afghanistan once the new government is formed to make sure every child
there is offered an education, not just boys."
Mrs. Bush also stressed that the 11 women present were all educated,
either in pre-Taliban Afghanistan or outside Afghanistan, adding:
"It's not new for Afghanistan to have educated women."
She was asked if the women she'd been speaking with were encouraged so
far by what they're hearing from Afghanistan. "They are," she replied
as several women nodded their heads affirmatively. "They are very
encouraged. They know how crucial this time is as the talks start in
Bonn to make sure ... the Afghanistan government will be diverse and
include everyone."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)



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