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If you are interested in using our images for publication, please contact our sole distributor WPN www.worldpicturenews.com or Email them your request to info@worldpicturenews.com. All images are copyrighted and cannot be used without permission.   The Revolutionary Assocation of the Women of Afghanistan was established in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1977 as an independent political/social organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and social justice in Afghanistan. The original members were a number of Afghan women intellectuals led by Meena, the founder, who was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan in 1987 by Afghan agents of the KGB.   RAWA is a non-violent feminist group working for multilateral disarmament, the establishment of a secular Democracy in Afghanistan, and freedom and rights for women. It is a humanitarian organization running a hospital, medical clinics, schools, literacy programs, orphanages, work programs for widows and providing aid to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Afghanistan Today   The restoration of women's rights depends on establishing peace and security for women in Afghanistan. Fearing physical violence, the majority of women still wear the suffocating burqa that covers them from head to toe, and obscures their eyes by the fine mesh panel of the garment. While women have renewed access to education, health care and employment, it is primarily in Kabul. In most of the country, they live in an environment in which their physical security is constantly under threat. Warlords have taken over various regions of the country, and the government's presence is only felt in the capital city of Kabul. In Herat, a warlord continues to impose Taliban-like restrictions on women. Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, continues to ask for an expansion of the international peace-keeping troops beyond Kabul. After the collapse of Taliban rule in Kabul, there is some progress. Rebuilding is underway; refugees are returning. But outside the capital, the government seems as nonexistent as the billions of dollars in aid that the world has promised-but not delivered. A Woman Born to Lead   The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, RAWA, was founded by a young woman named Meena. Twenty years before the Taliban rule, the mid-1970s were a time of rising mass movements in the country's capital, Kabul, and in other cities throughout Afghanistan.   Meena left the university to devote herself as a social activist to organize and educate women. She laid the foundation of RAWA in 1977, and broadened the voice of Afghan women. Working Body and Soul   RAWA openly resisted the Soviet land invasion of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. Afghanistan is a highly prized, strategically positioned, land-locked country in Central Asia bordered by six nation states: China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north, Pakistan to the southeast, and Iran to the west.   Throughout the war, Meena boldly and effectively launched educational and work campaigns, created a bilingual magazine, and opened a hospital in Pakistan where her fellow Afghans sought refuge. RAWA's Malalai Clinic in Khewa refugee camp   She constantly exposed the criminal nature of Afghan fundamentalist groups, the would-be freedom fighters, whose increasing violence rivaled the Soviets, and were steadily damaging Meena's people and their country. The United States had heavily armed "freedom fighters" with weaponry, including land mines, to fight the Soviets.   Prominent personalities and political leaders throughout the world acknowledged Meena and RAWA's unwavering commitment to free Afghanistan and end fundamentalist oppression. Nearly twenty-five years later, the work of Meena and the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan is known throughout the world. RAWA has support groups in several countries who work to educate others of the plight of the Afghan people, their needs, and to raise funds to help them survive. A Woman Dying to Keep Women Safe   Meena's social work and effective advocacy provoked the wrath of the Russians and fundamentalists alike. She represented the emergence of her country's self-rule and a fuller expression of women's participation. To her foes she was a dangerous political threat. Meena was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan, on February 4, 1987, by KGB agents and their fundamentalist accomplices. She was 29 years old. After Her Death   RAWA redoubled its political, cultural, educational, health and human rights activities to reach its overall objective of democracy and women's rights. Simultaneously, the nation's 12 fundamentalist tribes, who had rebelled against the Soviets, were now fighting one another for power. By 1994, the Taliban, an extremist faction, was taking possession of major cities that were territories of other tribes. In 1996, with thousands of weapons at their disposal, the Taliban seized the Hindu Kush mountains, a victory of enormous proportion. Throughout their raging campaign to conquer, the Taliban forces performed mass executions of minority tribes. Left in Ruin   Over twenty years of war have all but leveled Afghanistan. Outside of Kabul, basic infrastructure and services are almost completely absent. In Kabul there is some progress, though, it is still a devastated city of rubble, dust and dirt. Years of drought and war have not allowed any vegetation to flourish. Electricity is on very sporadically and running water is virtually nonexistent. Under the Taliban, women were banned from working, amd girls were not allowed to receive an education. Women and girls were required to wear burqas.   They were not allowed to walk outside of their homes without an acceptable male escort (son, father, brother, husband), wear white socks, sing, laugh, speak or make any noise in public. The window of their homes were painted black so that they could not be seen from outside. Millions of Afghans fled to Pakistan during the Soviet-Afghan war, and then during the Taliban rule. In Afghanistan, the people live on one of the lowest incomes in the world. Many are still starving. Afghanistan now accounts for 87% of the world's raw opium production. Opium production continues under the warlords and eradication programs have failed so far. RAWA struggles to provide health care, education and basic necessities to the overwhelming number of Afghan refugees. Despite early euphoria over the downfall of the Taliban, conditions have not significantly improved for women beyond the capital. The fundamentalists and warlords are still in power. RAWA fights for women's rights and secular democracy both inside and outside of Afghanistan, both openly and clandestinely. It continues to run schools, literacy and training programs, orphanages and hospitals. In spite of death threats RAWA members receive, their political activities will not cease. For Love of Freedom and Democracy   The war in Afghanistan had nothing to do with women's rights. The same crimes continue to be perpetuated against women. Refugee camps in Pakistan continue to burst with Afghan women, children and men who are still being terrorized in their own country. We support RAWA in seeking to build a lasting peace in Afghanistan; to establish internationally recognized human rights for the women, children and men of Afghanistan; to create a democratic government free from fundamentalist warlords; and to bring fundamentalists and all other terrorists to justice under the rule of international law. Project for Peace   RAWA's work includes operation of a hospital, mobile medical clinics, schools, orphanages, literacy programs, work for widows, civil reconstruction projects and aid to the poor. Help stop Terrorism at its root!   By aiding a group of Afghan natives to bring about social change within their country, you can help reshape it into a more peaceful, benign culture that will no longer be a haven for globally dangerous extremists. Young boys in RAWA orphanages and schools would otherwise end up in Madrassas, where they would learn to hate women and the West, and learn only about the Koran and how to use weapons! Help rebuild Afghanistan from the Inside!   RAWA workers are native Afghans with programs all over Afghanistan, particularly in rural areas. Most foreign aid groups work only in Kabul, where it is safe. Other foreign aid groups have withdrawn their workers from the rest of Afghanistan due to security risks. RAWA is still there.   RAWA is instrumental in bringing about peaceful social change in Afghanistan, altering the future of their country so that it will no longer breed angry extremists. This has global impact, even improving the security of our nation and others targeted by extremism. RAWA's efforts are an excellent example to other nations also striving to reform their societies from the inside, to expand exposure to humanist ideals and ethics where they are lacking. By bringing this to public view, we will be doing far more than just exposing or complaining about a problem - we will be demonstrating solutions. Please join us in reaching out for global peace to make our own community and nation more secure with kindness rather than bombs. [ HOME ]