 Good afternoon. My name is Lise Grande and I'm the President of the U.S. Institute of Peace, which was established by the U.S. Congress in 1984 as a nonpartisan public institution dedicated to helping prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict abroad. USIP is honored to be one of the co-hosts of today's launch of the U.S. Afghan Consultative Mechanism. During the years since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan last August, we've seen the Taliban government systematically strip away the rights and the protection for women, girls, and vulnerable people across Afghanistan. In every way, this is terrible, unacceptable behavior by state authorities, and something that requires determined joint action. This is why the U.S. Department of State in partnership with the Atlantic Council, the Institute for Women, Peace, and Security at Georgetown University, the Sisterhood is Global Institute and USIP, are establishing this new U.S. Afghan Consultative Mechanism. The aim of the mechanism is to support the fight to protect the rights of Afghans by providing international platforms for Afghan women, by tracking human rights violations, and by identifying ways the U.S. and the international community can support a more inclusive and peaceful Afghanistan. It is a privilege to be joined today for this launch by the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights, Reena Meary, who will be moderating today's presentation and discussion. Reena has over two decades of experience advising and working with governments in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Reena served as a senior advisor to the U.S. Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan during the Obama Administration, and she has held a number of positions with the United Nations, including as a senior mediation expert, one of the most prestigious positions in the U.S., and in the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General in Afghanistan. Reena has also held senior positions at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, at Princeton University, and at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. Reena, it's an honor to have you here. Thank you very much, Lise, and thank you to the U.S. IP for opening up their beautiful space tests and for just being such a solid partner, both to the U.S. government and to Afghans for decades now. I couldn't think of a better place to launch this initiative. I also want to thank the audience. I see among you Afghan women leaders that it makes me very happy to see just the unsung heroes that have been working tirelessly for Afghanistan for decades. I also see many colleagues from the State Department and across the U.S. government who have been working tirelessly on Afghanistan. The last two decades of what has been achieved in Afghanistan has been through the people I think you all illustrate, the vitality, the spirit, the commitment that was there, that enabled the successes that we saw in those two decades. What has been encouraging for me is I have heard from those voices over and over again before I took this position and since then that it's not going to be a question of if but how to support the Afghan people. And I think ultimately that's what we need. We need to not look at this in terms of the tremendous challenges of today but the short term, the media term, and the long term. My perspective is one of a realist but optimist and I think that's the only way to look at the situation in Afghanistan. Pessimism and walking away is not a choice that any of us have. Not only from a moral imperative but also from a strategic imperative. You know the U.S. engaged in Afghanistan in 2001 not just from a position of principle but because the situation in Afghanistan was one that was going to be, it was a menace and a threat to the region and to the U.S., to the international community, that situation is not different today. And the work that we are doing, the engagements that we aspire towards is all designed to address the moral imperative and the strategic imperative. I am honored to be on the stage with these, the women that you see with us today. They again are one, they're three people right now. There's a fourth representative that is here with us but she did not want to be on screen because of security threats that she will unlikely face. She's in Afghanistan. I want to start perhaps by talking about, first I should actually thank our partners, the Atlantic Council of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, the Sisterhood is Global Institute in addition to USIP. And then I want to perhaps begin by introducing the voice that we have from Afghanistan and then I'm going to introduce the exceptional women we have on stage and then I'll talk a little bit about what we are aiming to do with this consultative mechanism. The woman that is with us from Afghanistan, she's an activist. She is a woman of tremendous courage. I am not going to use her real name. I'm going to use a pseudonym, Maria, which is a very common name in Afghanistan. She says, with so much media coverage and a complete shutdown of civil society and freedom of expression, many of you will not know what is happening in Afghanistan. The Taliban have issued 29 verdicts and decrees to eliminate women's rights and freedom of speech. But the wholesale and public attack on women and the values of humanity is not something that is simply an Afghan problem. It is a threat to global rights and values. Communities have been working at the local level and know better than anyone what their needs are. It is more important now than ever that the international community continue to work with the Afghan people and our struggles for dignity, human rights, and freedom. I will inject some of her thoughts throughout this discussion. She has also written a letter to Secretary Blinken, who I hope is going to be with us later today. He is deeply committed to the situation in Afghanistan and women's rights. I think the fact that he created my office is a testament to that. But I've also been incredibly grateful with the level of support that I have received from him consistently in the last eight months since I've taken my position. And he has indicated that this initiative is a priority for him and he's going to work very hard to get here. Hopefully by the end of our session. Let me begin by introducing our luminary panelist. Ms. Palwasha Hassan, at the very end, is a senior fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, where she chairs the Afghan Women's Policy Collective. She is dedicated women's rights activist, pioneering many critical works to promote women's rights in civil society in Afghanistan. She has been working for decades on the issue of Afghan women. And there seems to be nothing that she is willing to sacrifice, not willing to sacrifice in order to fight for the rights of Afghan women. And I first met Palwasha Hassan, I think over two decades ago, when I went and visited her in Pakistan. We have Ms. Asila Wardak in the center. She is the 2022-23 Robert Jarnous Scholar Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She is an Afghan woman leader, activist, and former diplomat. She has played many different roles in the Afghan government previous regime and was, again, both a champion inside the government and outside, and continues to play that role. Our final panelist is Ms. Nahid Sarobi. She's a visiting fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development within the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institute. And she has over 10 years of experience in development, policy, and planning. And she was also in the former government. Each one of these women brings just, I think, what is very exceptional about their work is that they have been able to bring their level of expertise inside the government, outside the government. They've worked with the international community. And so they have the advantage of having looked at this issue from many different lenses and will bring that expertise into the discussion. Let me tell you a little bit about how we are seeing this launch and where it comes from. Since I started my position on January 7th, we've had over 100 consultations with Afghan women, civil society, and at-risk groups. And, you know, this is a deliverable, in some respects, from those conversations. What I heard from the women and men that I spoke to is that they were seeking a place and a platform to bring their voices together, particularly Afghan women, who say they are scattered all over the world now. They are experts. They're inside Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan. They are engaged inside and outside the country. They have, they lost their platform in Afghanistan, but they haven't lost the drive to continue being a leading voice for Afghan women and men. They have told us, do not just speak to the Taliban. The Taliban do not represent our voices. Do not listen to the Taliban when they tell you that this is Afghan culture. Because to understand Afghan culture, you need to talk to the myriad of voices inside Afghanistan, which is one of the most diverse countries in the world. They have said, avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Bring us in at the outset, engage us, learn from our lessons from the past, and turn to our expertise. Because right now, more than any other time, we need out-of-the-box thinking in terms of how we move forward. And we need those lessons from those that have the knowledge and the expertise from inside the country. Let this be a two-way exchange, not just a dynamic where we come and we sit with policymakers and they nod sympathetically, and then that ends the conversation. We want something that's systematic. We want something that's ongoing. And we want something that brings together the policymaking community in the U.S. and the Afghans who are both the stakeholders, but also the experts. And that's what we're striving to do. We're striving to put something together that is going to meet those needs and that is going to reflect a more systematic way of engaging non-Talib Afghans. I don't like to use that term, but I think that that is something that they have said to us, is that the distinction, you know, the Taliban right now are getting a big audience in the international community, despite the fact that there's enormous misgivings with that. And I think quite frankly a bit of frustration these days in engaging them, but there is the recognition that there's a necessity to engage them to address the situation inside the country for the 40 million Afghans. But there's also a need to reflect a more systematic process of engaging Afghans that reflect the diversity of the country so that they don't present a monopoly in terms of the voice of Afghan people. So why start with partner organizations rather than doing something on our own? This is something also that we are building on the feedback that we've received where they said, don't start from zero. There's a lot of expertise out there. There is a lot of work out there. And it's quite frankly, I think in the U.S. government, we know how hard it is to start something that is this ambitious, I think, in terms of the reach that we want. And so we are building on the platforms that have been engaging Afghans for decades, those that know Afghans, that Afghans have had established relations, but also those that actually know the U.S. government and the international community. USIP, Atlantic Council, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, they are regularly engaging with Afghans and with the U.S. government. And the sisterhood is global, the New York-based entity that we're working with. They are working very closely with the UN and have also pulled together a group of experts. This is where we're starting with, but I'd like to think of it as being at the pilot level right now. It's an iterative process. So it's not to say that we're just going to be working with these four partners, but as we learn how to do this, as we learn what works, what doesn't work, we're going to apply those lessons with our partners, and most importantly with Afghana voices to identify how we can broaden the engagement with other organizations. And in terms of the composition of who is going to be part of this mechanism, it will be a diverse group of Afghans from both inside and outside the country to foster deeper, more systematic discussions with the U.S. government. They will include both standing members as well as a regular flow of new voices because we want the standing voices to have that deep in the discussion, but we also want to bring in new voices so that we don't have the, sometimes you become quite staid. And we also want to make sure that that inclusivity is brought in by being able to constantly bring in the new voices. It's going to be largely Afghans, but we will also have internationals as experts and as resource people. And in terms of the composition of men versus women, it's going to be two-thirds women or something along these lines, one-third men. We are leaning heavily into bringing women because quite frankly the situation is the most dire for women. And also whenever we have these type of initiatives, we sprinkle in women, and it's largely men. We're going to do this a bit differently this time. In terms of issues and themes that will emerge from the discussions in the work, it's going to be emerging from the discussions that the members are going to have with the U.S. government, but it's not just going to center on what tends to happen when there's engagements with women where we talk about women's rights and then we don't engage them on other issues. We're going to make sure that the discussions are ones that respond to the situation on the ground, to the challenges that need to be met. It's going to be everything from looking at human rights mechanisms and accountability and how that can be better fostered to other areas of rule of law, to inclusive processes to bring women in civil society, and to an inclusive peace process. Hopefully that is something that will emerge, and I'm hoping in the near future, but at some point I think there will be entry point for that. And we need to make sure that we are well equipped to be able to engage meaningfully on that issue. So I'm taking much more time than I wanted to in terms of talking, but I just have two more points. So the Division of Labor is going to be that these partner organizations that already have groups of Afghans that they're working with, they are going to be responsible for bringing the voices together, identifying what the thematic issues are. Our office, my office is going to be engaging the U.S. government and I shouldn't say it's just my office, what I'm hoping is that the U.S. government across the board is going to be engaging this platform and both to come, what I'm hoping, the conversation that I'm hoping is going to happen is they're going to say, you know, we are trying to figure out how to get funding to women led organizations. How can we do that better? Let's go to talk to the experts at the consultative mechanism, or the women know that, well, this is an issue we really want to learn more about in terms of how the U.S. government is approaching the issue of shelters. Let's go and have a conversation with them. Let's see what they're doing. Let's see how we can do this better. And, you know, this is the way we're looking at it. But as I said, it's just the very beginning. The way that it's going to develop is going to be dependent on how the members see it, how the organizations identify the path and the process to move forward. And finally, we are keen to link with other platforms. Right now, one of the positive trends have been that there are countries in different, particularly in Europe, there's the EU, there's Spain, there's the UK that are putting together platforms to bring together women leaders in civil society. We want to link up with them so that women, Afghan women and men, are not having separate conversations, repetitive conversations, but to really bring these discussions together and to work together strategically. Now, without further ado, I'm going to turn to our speakers, and we're going to have a, I'm going to take the prerogative of the moderator and ask them a few questions. Then I'm going to turn to you. We also have some questions that were given to us online. And then hopefully at that point, the secretary will come and address the group. We will then, and the, the, this part of the discussion, and we will meet you again in reception after they have a few minutes with the secretary. I finally want to just say, before I forget, I want to thank my fabulous team who has been working around the clock to make this and so much else happen. Thank you. Can you hear me? Okay. So the first question, I see Lajan, I know you don't want me to ask you the first question, so I'll start with Paola Lajan. Despite multiple commitments by the Taliban on education, secondary secondary school doors remain closed to Afghan girls. If you could sit down with the Taliban today, how would you approach this? And let's think beyond the Taliban. What else can be done when the Taliban have been so unable and unwilling to deliver on the issue of girls' education, particularly at the secondary level? Hello. Is this okay? Thank you, Rina, John. And now first of all, congratulations for establishing this platform, which reduces the gap with civil society in Afghanistan has always been complaining about. And we are now in direct contact with U.S. policymakers. Regarding this question, one of the things I would recommend is that the U.S. should strongly engage Islamic countries as they can effectively demonstrate the compatibility of girls' schooling within Islam or in Islamic countries. Unfortunately, Afghanistan is one country where girls are not allowed to study beyond a primary level. That is the only country it is, and it is an alarming factor not only for women in Afghanistan, but internationally, and especially in Islamic countries, because this is setting a very wrong precedent and example. So for that reason, it's important that they be part of the efforts to make that change possible in Afghanistan. I also see that the U.S. and international community should pursue parallel efforts. On one hand, the leverage should be applied so that enough pressure is created and Taliban reopen schools for girls in Afghanistan. But on another hand, we cannot afford to lose more education time for Afghan girls. And it's important that we have alternative for girls in Afghanistan that they can benefit from, they are not left behind, and they can benefit from the education to go on. And I think in this very much, it's important to note the critical role that Afghan civil society and especially Indian sectors and women groups are playing in education in Afghanistan in last 20 years, but also beyond that. In the years of conflict, there has been several initiatives, including homeschools, there have been peer learning education, there have been trends of online education, which is starting, scholarship, so many other alternatives. These are very much important to be supported, but they should not be considered as a substitute for education sector in Afghanistan or formal education. So there should be continuous efforts on reopening schools, but in meanwhile, there should be these support to all the other roles that civil society in Afghanistan is playing. One other thing which is important that, or maybe in conclusion, I would like to say that Afghanistan is in one country that we cannot afford that our next generation be not be educated or ill-educated. Our youth, especially our girls, need to be part of that future stability and peace in Afghanistan, and that can only be done if they are educated. Thank you, Palosha-jan. Asila-jan, in the course of your career, both in civil society and as a government official, you've had many opportunities to engage with the U.S. government. What are your hopes for how this consultative mechanism can effectively engage Afghan women in civil society, particularly at this critical juncture, and what can it do differently to maximize values on all sides? Thank you, Reena-jan. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm so glad that seeing so many friends like from past years, I couldn't make time to see friends, but I'm so happy that I can find myself among all these wonderful people. Reena-jan, as you are aware about the women's movement in Afghanistan and also civil society organization, they were very much active and then they played a great role in the past 20 years or more than 20 years, especially women's movement in Afghanistan. And we were sort of involved, like informal, we had informal discussion in the past months with your Excellency, with Excellency Tom West on different occasions and through Afghan Women Network platform, through Afghan Coalition for Changes, through Women's Forum for Afghanistan, through different platforms we had informal discussion. But I'm so glad I welcome this initiative that at least now it's shaping all these informal discussions to a formal discussion and it shows that the commitment of U.S. government. Of course, no one can deny that the beauty of Afghanistan is the diversity. So we cannot deny that we do have multi-ethnicities, we do have multi-language in Afghanistan and everything should be inclusive. Not only civil society or women should be consulted, but minority groups, marginalized people, women group, youth group should be part of all these consultative mechanisms. And I would like to also request U.S. government that at least gave us some space, some open space to discuss, to be a voice for a voiceless woman. As Palawasha said that CSSO, we had so many organizations, media, women's group in Afghanistan, but some of them they were closed by Taliban and some they were not active because of the funding issues, some they left the country. But we really would like, especially in terms of women organizations, we would like to be kind of bridged between women inside Afghanistan and then women diaspora and then exile. I cannot count myself as a woman in diaspora, but I'm exile, I'm forced to leave my country. So I really would like to be a kind of bridge. And then it's very much important to include everybody to this mechanism. And I hope that U.S. government also start this, this to bridge this gap. Thank you. Thank you. One of the areas that inclusion is going to be absolutely essential is on economic recovery. You previously served as the Deputy Minister of Finance in Afghanistan. Could you please speak to women's contributions to the Afghan economy and the short term and the long term and the impact of what we're seeing today women's almost entire exclusion from economic activities. Thank you so much, Rina. So honored to be here. Greetings to everyone. Women have made great headways in the past 20 years in both public and private sectors. So you think broadly women comprise 22 percent of the work entire workforce in Afghanistan before August 12th, August 15th, sorry. In the public sector women were 27 percent of the 400,000 civil servants that we had and 38 percent of teachers in Afghanistan were women. In the private sector again there were progress, great progress that were made, women established the Afghan Women's Chamber of Commerce and according to their data there were over 3,000 licensed small and medium businesses and over 54,000 unlicensed businesses. So we're talking of a huge accomplishment and contribution earning income and contributing to the well-being of themselves and of their families and society which also impacted on the development indicators at the end. But the political and economic turmoil of August 15th took a big toll on women and all aspects. There were reports specifically referring to a World Bank report that came few months before. There were 75 percent reduction in women employment and of all the businesses that established many of them closed down because they couldn't survive the turmoil, both economically and political uncertainty and everything. The annual per capita income is expected to even decrease by half compared to 2012 which will have its impact on women because at the end we all know the last penny is spent on women in any household. Money of the expertise industries for example carpet weaving and others were closed because exports were limited. Now money of us or as I have heard argue that situation has been better in rural areas because there is relative security. The survey that I saw a few days ago, the situation is not much change in rural areas too. The survey showed that women's mobility is decreasing, their access to outside their neighborhood is decreasing and because aid is being distributed to where they cannot go even of their access to aid is much worse than access of main to the aid that is being distributed right now. So short term we are talking about extracting economic contribution of women's workforce that were there before August 15 and again because I'm an economist referring a report that there is a loss of 5% of GDP which is close to one billion dollars according to UN report. Long term impact if you're extracting contribution of the half of the human capital of the country it means you're losing employability you're losing access and economic contribution of half of the population of Afghanistan and that is that starts from their access of banning of women to education and their ability to go and provide their skills on the job and in many other areas. So I'll stop it here. Thank you. You know I just came back last night from the Tashkent International Conference on Afghanistan and a special representative Tom West and I both noted these type of specific figures in terms of what the Taliban are doing and not only depriving Afghan women of the right to education and work but decimating the Afghan economy in a country that is struggling so at every level and what I was encouraged there's many regional actors picked up on this and also cited that the not only just on education but women's right to work and country to ability to contribute to the economy was essential so that was encouraging. Palwasha John I want to come back to you. You've long I think you guys have already raised this issue of appealing for direct funding for Afghan women-led civil society organizations. Many of you have noted that it is more most urgent than ever in fact some Afghan women have told me that it's not just the Taliban that's hurting women right now it's the fact that donor funding has dried up and have left Afghan women in a very desperate situation particularly those that are trying to contribute to the economy and to put food on the table but one of the challenges that we face and other donors that I've spoken to confront is that because they no longer have a presence on the ground there's the lack of capacity to monitor and to administer those that grants in a way where more could be done with women directly direct funding to women's organizations and hence there's a reliance on working with UN organizations and other large organizations. What are some ways to address that? What else do you want the US government to understand about what women how to work with women leaders and and what how to overcome some of those challenges? Thank you I think two points are important one it's important for US and international community to remember about compatibility of role of international organizations UN and also local organization there is a competition and for resources and funding I think more partnership should be encouraged through whatever funding opportunity exists there. There is role for international organization and there is role for local organization to be a direct implementer as you said we previously raised that the local women organization are very much important for the whole thing as an agency of women lies there to foster and to play that role that they need to play and this can only happen if there is more investment on those organizations which are on the ground and that could be done directly. I think the international organization can play the role of monitoring evaluations and even capacity building and that can create a very good partnership between the two. In conclusion I would also remind us all that African women leaders are so much scattered outside of Afghanistan and maybe inside of Afghanistan and it's very much important that many of these women in these countries capitals outside of Afghanistan are still struggling for their status and they are not able to participate in an important meeting such as Uzbekistan meeting and others even if they don't participate in formal meeting for civil society it's always important that they be part of the parallel events and where they can express themselves mobilize and work with other women and this lies on support that they need or should be given so that they can easily travel and be able to combine their efforts for change in the country. Our panelists from Afghanistan had written in that CDCs might be an option in terms of putting more direct funding to women and men. I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. That's very important institution. I think CDCs there have been a lot of efforts for years to mobilize those groups and it is national level. I think that is one big let's say an institution that needs to be revived through direct support to them but also scattered women groups who are making possible from very scratch and from nothing not only to deliver services right now if you see in those places which have been affected by earthquake women have reached there not only to take services to those places but also they try to engage with local Taliban and to ensure that they advocate for the girls and education and other outreach that women need or accessibility that women need they are advocating on their behalf. So I would say both institution like CDC or community based councils of women and also women groups which is more like CSOs, NGOs. I'm going to cut my questions short because I understand that the secretary is yes okay. So Naidjaan I'm going to turn to you now how can the international community support Afghanistan's long-term economic recovery in a way that preserves women's rights in progress and if you could keep your answers short but specific. Yeah just shortly political social and economic empowerment go hand in hand so you can't expect economic empowerment without fixing the political and social part of it but still our hope is that if you there's consistent economic empowerment and support women will gain the ground and stand on their feet. So quick few things continue engaging with women on the ground through a specialized agency. Me talking here might be very beneficial but you can't delete the voice of women who are on the ground and doing it. Second again repeating engage through CDC's community development councils what women need right now short term is access to finance and cash. Cash distribution could be a way to uplift them from the current poverty level quickly. Second a balance between development and humanitarian. It might sound a little bit heavy but I would really like to encourage exports that is women produced even there are could be creative ways of doing this. If you're sitting face to face with Taliban and not sanctioning them let's not sanction women exports to them. And last thing I really want to see women in the eight architecture in Afghanistan and any forums that are being established I want them to have their voice and whatever is being delivered on the ground. Thank you. Thank you. This is I think a question from the audience. What do you what role and I think I invite any of you to answer this because I think the really important one what role do you see for digital and social media to play and giving a voice for women and how I'm going to add my own question because I think about this a lot. How do you still protect the security of those that are using these platforms? Any one of you can take that? I think the role of social or digital media is very much important especially when the formal media is censored in Afghanistan that is the only outlet that regularly reporting on the situation on the ground and women are effectively using that sometimes maybe not that much effective because like maybe most post-conflict countries there are internal bitterness and issues that is from time to time reflected in social media. But generally on in terms of reporting speaking on the wants what people have and especially speaking for the communities are reflecting their pictures. I was so thrilled by seeing pictures the way communities civil society traditional civil society has been supporting girls education. Those are big news which is coming through social media. Protection I think that's important and there are many times that there have been threats previously and now I believe we need more training for women to use this more effectively and also more securely so that further threats is not posed to them and those who are outside Afghanistan to ensure that they don't reproduce or share information without consulting the original source of information because sometimes it has been not very safe for some women or men inside the country. Thank you. I have a question that came in online. Some argue that the international community engagement with the Taliban hasn't produced meaningful outcomes for Afghan women and at-risk populations. Should this consultative mechanism and the special envoys office continue to make efforts to ensure that Taliban respect human rights in the country? Are you hopeful that the Taliban will change their approach to women's rights and human rights in the country? Asila, do you want to take that? I think it's very much important to have meaningful participation from the beginning because I have been involved in more than two decades to different political process from one conference up to peace process up to Doha and in every process but unfortunately what I am seeing is all these repeat that they are using they used Afghan women as a token as a window dressing as a kind of like superficial way that not meaningful we were not meaningful involved and then you can see the result today but also one thing about the human rights atrocity that you mentioned it's also important for the USG for this through this mechanism not only to focus on the documentation and monitoring mechanism in Afghanistan but there should be a system and mechanism to address all these issues that monitoring is very much important documentation is important but those issues should be tackled in or addressed in a effective way. What would be the additional mechanism that you would want? Given the context I want us to bear in mind the context in which the Taliban are the reality unfortunately on the ground they're not listening very much to the international community we have a special representative West myself members of the international community I think the one issue that everyone has taken up in particular is women's rights to education and certainly the issue of religious and ethnic minority communities is something that we constantly raise there hasn't been much movement on their end so in terms of this is a question that I want to pose to you because you know I engage and Tom West also engages special rapporteur Richard Bennett we're constantly trying to think of how we can do better and pushing more effectively to prevent further violations I think people are as you say that saying that the Taliban are the realities of the country but Taliban are the reality but not the only one reality the reality of Afghanistan is the the youth of Afghanistan the woman of Afghanistan the civil society of Afghanistan the those that they are at the front line that they are fighting towards terrorism they are the realities of Afghanistan not only Taliban everybody should be equal to treat it and all processes and women also we we women we have one woman we are at the front line I mean we are at the war with with Taliban we have one woman and girls we are erased from the society politically and socially and economically we lost our job there is no school there is no means of of living so we we we are the reality of the other country thank you thank you thank you very much another question so I have time for one more question and this is coming from the floor what advice would you give to international peace builders and activists that want to support and advocate for Afghan women both can but go ahead but quick a quick please I think sorry I don't think I got the question very right what advice would you give to international peace builders and activists that want to more effectively support and advocate for Afghan women I think it's very much important that international friends and community don't speak for Afghans or don't raise their issues help Afghan themselves to be part of their own solution I think that is the biggest piece of advice I would give and give them opportunity to to design their own solution I know it's challenging in Afghanistan engaging with Taliban is enormously difficult and also they didn't give the outcome you were expecting but I think despite of that you see that Afghans are tirelessly tirelessly putting their efforts to make that change possible to ensure that peace comes in some way to the country and those solution needs or those efforts needs to be recognized supported and build on thank you very much we can do okay good we have time for another question I'm going to take this from those that have come in online maybe I'll take an opportunity also to address because part of the question was the special envoy's office even though as a moderator I'm trying to keep myself out but in terms of engagement with the Taliban I I continue to maintain that engagement with the Taliban is necessary particularly to address the situation of Afghans inside the country that are facing a desperate situation and I really commend particularly I see special representative Tom West who has a very unenviable role and the work that he's doing to try to advance economic stabilization is absolutely critical on the issue of women's rights and human rights as you know I have chosen not to engage the Taliban in the last two meetings the last one was much more on economic stabilization but the prior to that and that was but I am choosing that at every occasion when it present when that opportunity is there I do deliberate the extent to which it is maybe possible for me to just move the needle and even a little bit then I think it's warranted to sit down with the Taliban but when I don't hear anything to that end that that gives me any type of encouragement that sitting down with them I is going to be helpful I don't want to give them the space to give some sort of to present to the world that they're engaging in good faith on these issues so that's a question that's been posed to me and that's a deliberative process for me thank you and I think oh good I have another one I'm trying to I have a great timekeeper up there so let's go back to another question about what are the priorities of Afgan women and people inside the country what are you hearing from Afgan women as to what how the consultative mechanism can address their situation how are you connecting to ensure that those voices are present at the consultative mechanism there's a part of that that I'm going to answer but I'm going to turn to our colleagues who are each working on a daily basis engaging Afghans inside the country so I'll turn to all of you in terms of also how you hope to do this poverty isn't its height in an economic situation is at the worst right now in Afghanistan so despite of a huge concern for human rights for freedom of expression so many things that women and men in Afghanistan are concerned they're also concerned how to feed their children and that is putting their situation in even in the worst place because a lot of there is a big rise on child marriage for instance and other very negative coping mechanism because there is no alternative for the people and that's huge that they need support not as a charity but a way that enabled them that this poverty and economic decline doesn't sustain in the way it is for years so they need support that helped them to come out of the current sort of tragic and very crisis economic downfall thank you quick thank you I think she covered everything about the humanitarian assistance and the human rights I just heard yesterday that Zebulon Mojahed announced that we are going to contribute or to pay salaries to women beggars but why you're not paying why you are paying salary why you're not creating a source a meaningful source to to to work and then to create a job opportunity for those women to work it's not sustainable that you're paying salaries to women beggars so women are facing lots of challenges as she said from human humanitarian assistance that they are not part but one thing because you're in hurry I know that I would just like to mention about the coordination among the donors is also very much important and also coordination among the different platforms like I have been personally involved with UN agencies what EU with OIC and then they are just listening to us they are just they want to listen up everybody knows what's the problem but unfortunately there is no one inch differences like in movement of Taliban they are not changing what they were they were sticked from the beginning but we would like to see some some changes also and then US government through this mechanism they should pressurize Taliban they have the leverage the financial leverage the political leverage the economic leverage so they have to pressurize a little bit Taliban in terms of women's movement girls education protection of civil society organization these things thank you okay thank you so I think I know that there are questions in the audience I'm sorry we don't have more time the secretary is here so I just want to turn to him because he has an incredibly busy schedule so I'm quite grateful that he's here it's a testament to how committed he is to this issue that he has he has managed to make it to our event today thank you good afternoon everyone first let me say it is always a particular pleasure to visit our neighbors at the US Institute of Peace Lee's thank you so much for for hosting us wonderful to be here and Rina to you to our special envoy to the team working with you to the many others who were involved with today's launch I'm grateful for all you've done to bring all of us together today but for the work that's being done every day that I'll have a chance to talk about over the next few minutes but to our colleagues across the entire US government civil society thank you as well for supporting equality reporting opportunity for women and girls across Afghanistan and a special thanks to the extraordinary panelists that we've had today I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to speak with you directly shortly but as you all know they've served in Afghanistan in different ways from different roles but there is one thread that runs throughout their public service each each has helped to strengthen the rights of Afghan women and girls as well as members of other vulnerable groups for decades today they represent many others across Afghanistan and around the world who've dedicated their lives to this deeply vital and deeply honorable mission as the panelists made clear we meet at a difficult time for afghan women and girls since the Taliban took over a year ago they reversed a great deal of the openness and progress that had been made over the previous decades they've silenced civil society and journalists in march they banned independent international media like Voice of America from airing in afghanistan they continue to intimidate and censor afghan media outlets they've stifled the free practice of religion for muslims and non-muslims alike perhaps most notably they failed to respect the human rights of women and girls instead under the Taliban women and girls have largely been erased from public life as a report released yesterday by mc international showed the Taliban have systematically restricted women and girls rights to free movement decimated the system supporting domestic violence victims and contributed to surging rates of child early and forced marriage the Taliban's decision to ban girls from attending secondary schools a decision that happened while some girls were literally walking to school and others were already sitting at their desks it was a reversal of commitments they made to the afghan people and to the world for 314 days and counting the girls of afghanistan have sat at home while their brothers and cousins have been receiving educations it's a terrible terrible waste it's especially difficult to accept because we all remember how different it was not so very long ago prior to the Taliban's takeover thousands of women across afghanistan held public office from the village level right up to the national level women entered professions previously closed to them they started businesses they were doctors nurses scientists artists and women didn't just study at schools across afghanistan they ran them these gains weren't felt only by women and girls as we've seen again and again throughout history from country to country when equality and opportunity increase for one group of people they tend to increase for other groups as well as the rights of women and girls in afghanistan were strengthened we saw members of various ethnic and religious communities as our as hindus Sikhs Sufis take more prominent roles in afghan public life afghans with disabilities did as well the LGBTQI plus community found ways to build a community so the changes in afghanistan during the past year have been painful for so many we continue to urge the Taliban to reverse their decision on girls education to make good on their commitment to the afghan people to allow girls to learn the evidence is overwhelming investing in girls education uh women's political inclusion it leads to stronger economies it leads to healthier individuals and families it leads to more stable more resilient societies these are the things that people have had of afghanistan want for their futures that's why so many members of afghan society men and women rural and urban dwellers religious scholars people across religions and cultural backgrounds have all all called for the Taliban to let women and girls go to school again the united states will continue to amplify these voices and do all that we can to support progress for afghan women girls and other at-risk populations uh earlier this year we joined partners across the international community including the organization of Islamic cooperation cutter turkey pakistan the european union and others urging the Taliban to let girls go back to school last month we supported a human rights council urgent debate that allowed us to hear directly from afghan women uh leaders we co-sponsored a resolution that will allow us to hear from them again this coming september and as we help enable their voices to be heard others will hear them as well over the past year we've continued our partnerships with afghan civil society groups working on issues of equality inclusion opportunity for women religious and ethnic communities and other at-risk populations and critically with today's launch of the u.s afghan consultative mechanism we are taking these relationships to the next level that's why i'm so pleased about today um it's going to make it easier for afghan civil society groups to communicate and collaborate with american policymakers across a whole range of shared priorities from supporting income generating activities for afghan women to strategizing ways to help afghan human rights monitors safely document abuses to devising new methods to promote religious freedom what we want to do is to make our partnerships with afghan civil society more effective more rigorous more productive more purposeful and that's what this new initiative is all about so let me simply share my profound appreciation for our american civil society partners who do critical work to support women leaders and civil society organizations in afghanistan and for afghan partners for sharing your perspectives for sharing your recommendations what's remarkable to me and i think to so many of us is how even in the face of threats violence intimidation the women and girls of afghanistan and other vulnerable targeted people have simply refused to back down these groups have never stopped believing in a brighter future for their country they're determined to do all they can to make that future real the women have taken to the streets to protest for their rights are one such group in december when members of the afghan national security forces were targeted despite the taliban supposed amnesty women protested in january when female public servants were dismissed from their jobs women protested in march when the taliban institute needed directing women to cover their faces in public and to only leave home when quote necessary women protested many of them said that they will never never stop raising their voices the work we've done here today will ensure that we and people around the world continue to hear them continue to listen to them as we work together for a more stable peaceful prosperous and free future for afghanistan and for every afghan man and woman thank you very much thank you all for joining us today