TORONTO, 11 September 2006 — Malalai Joya, the youngest member of the Afghan National Assembly, says that foreign troops in her country have not “achieved any fundamental change”.
“When the entire nation is living under the shadow of the gun and warlords, how can its women enjoy very basic freedoms?” she asked while speaking at the Federal Convention of Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) on Saturday.
“Contrary to the propaganda in certain Western media, Afghan women and men are not ‘liberated’ at all,” Joya told the gathering of nearly 1,500 NDP delegates from across the country. The 25-year-old Afghan MP, who was elected in 2005 from the Farah province, has worked to protect women’s rights and is the head of the Organization of Promoting Afghan Women’s Capabilities. She expressed her sorrow for the deaths of Canadian soldiers and voiced her support for Jack Layton, the chief of NDP, who has been asking the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to withdraw Canadian troops from Afghanistan.
“I think that if Canada really wants to help Afghan people and bring positive changes, they must act independently, rather than becoming a tool for implementing the policies of the US government.”
Joya noted that her country needs help to rid itself of corruption and to rebuild after years of violence, but she said that foreign soldiers under this mission are not the ones who will bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
She summed up her views in a single sentence: “No nation can donate liberation to another nation.”
