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The Awesome Task of Rebuilding Afghanistan
Thursday, December 6, 2001
By Beth Day Romulo
Opinion / Editorial -- Manila Bulletin

The U.S.-led war against terrorism has proceeded militarily at a much swifter pace than it has on the diplomatic front.

As military action nears closure on the ground (the Taliban have only one major city, Kandahar, left under their control) a UN-led conference is meeting outside Bonn, Germany, to discuss what a new government for Afghanistan would look like. Four groups are meeting: a delegation from the deposed king, who lives in Rome. A delegation from the militarily triumphant Northern Alliance (which in itself is split up into several power groups) and two smaller delegations composed of exiled Afghans, one from Cyprus and one from Pakistan. A woman leader in Kabul decried the fact that although women were included, they were exiles, and none of them had lived in their home country in the past ten years. So how could they know what it was like for a woman to live under harsh Taliban rule? Due to 23 years of constant warfare, many Afghan men have been killed and women now represent 60 percent of the country's 26-million population. As the US and international women's groups have pointed out, women must be included in all aspects of the humanitarian reconstruction and development of this war-ravaged country.

The United Nations representatives, the German hosts, and delegation leaders, have all been at pains to say that the aims of this conference are modest: simply agree on a representative membership for an interim executive council.
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2001 © Manila Bulletin.

Dan