 Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the US Institute of Peace. My name is Nancy Lindborg. I'm the president here. And we are simply honored to welcome back to US Institute of Peace her Excellency, Mrs. Rula Ghani, the First Lady of Afghanistan. Welcome. Mrs. Ghani has long been an advocate for expanding the rights and opportunities of women in Afghanistan. I think we've just seen an example of that. And as First Lady, Mrs. Ghani has worked to foster peace efforts and notably for women. And in May, she chaired this remarkable international symposium in Kabul that looked at how to revive women's traditional peace-making roles in Afghanistan. And today, we'll have an opportunity to hear more from her on how she and others have worked to empower women as agents of peace in Afghanistan. After her remarks, we'll be joined on stage by Congresswoman Susan Davis, representing California's 53rd Congressional District. And Representative Davis is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, as well as the Education and Workforce Committee. More importantly, as a leader in Congress on Afghan women's issues, she was the founder of the annual Mother's Day Congressional Delegation to Afghanistan and has traveled to Afghanistan every year on Mother's Day for over a decade. And during those visits, she meets with members of our military, our men and women in service. And importantly, she meets with Afghan parliamentarians and local leaders and with Afghan women too. And we'll look forward to hearing your views and experiences on that. And we'll also be joined by USIP Senior Program Officer for Religion and Inclusive Societies, Pawashah Khakhar, who will round out our panel and bring with her years of experience in working on peace and gender issues in Afghanistan. We also, I'm delighted to be able to welcome today here in the audience Ambassador Mohib from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Mrs. Lail Mohib, both of whom have spent much of their careers very committed to building peace in Afghanistan and to empower women to be a part of building that peace. Welcome. For those of you who are new to US Institute of Peace, we are a 34-year-old independent national institute founded and funded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that peace is very possible, that it's very practical, it requires linking study and research with training and applications in conflict zones, and that it is essential for US and global security. So we have worked in Afghanistan probably more vigorously and longer than any of our other programs where we work with local partners, civil society, faith leaders to help support and equip them to manage conflict so that it doesn't become violent and to resolve it when it does. We understand, I think probably as everybody in this room does, that peace is very possible. Afghanistan has made progress, but to truly continue on its peaceful pathway, women need to fully be a part of that. We've already seen enormous gains that Afghan women have made since 2002 with the fall of the Taliban, and we have seen women become increasingly active in governments, civil society, media, business, community leaders, despite significant security challenges, women continue to contribute to peace in Afghanistan, often at great risk to their lives and to those of their families. And there is more work to do, and we're very fortunate to have with us here today a first lady who has made this a personal commitment and brings with her a wonderful quiet wisdom and a great determination. So please join me in welcoming her Excellency, Rula Ghani. Thank you, thank you all for coming today. In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. Distinguished members of the audience, I come to you in peace. As-salamu alaikum. I wanted first to thank Nancy for a wonderful introduction, and to thank USIP for just being there, for providing a platform where people can come and discuss openly problems pertaining to peace. And today my talk is really of run women as peacemakers. And the reason I've suggested to have the documentary that you have seen is because I think images speak very loudly and I wanted you to see for yourself. Those of run women that are supposedly illiterate, feeble, sitting in a corner. I just wanted you to see that there are a good number of them that are articulate, that are ready to discuss, ready to get involved, and that they just need a little bit of encouragement. We are living in a time of global insecurity that confuses us and unsettles us. No corner of the world seems immune to sudden attacks. Is it war? Is it insurgency? Is it freedom to bear arms? Or is it just that weapons are now accessible to everyone and they are ever more deadly? Afghanistan has been in a state of conflict or war for the past four decades. From bloody coup d'etat to resistance to Russian troops, to civil war between Mujahideen, to theocratic dictatorship under the Taliban, to NATO military operations, to an increasingly vicious guerrilla warfare waged by a myriad of armed groups with various degrees on transnational support who seem to have decided to impose their extremist views on the population. The Afghan people have had enough, enough of the insecurity, enough of the uncertainty, enough of the intermittent bouts of extreme violence that keep shaking the country. They long for peace. They long for a normal, predictable life. Yet, at the same time, among themselves, they are still operating under a reign of violence fostered by all these decades of conflict. I realize that last winter, news had come from the center province of war that 29 members of one extended family had been slaughtered overnight. The media had reported that Daesh was responsible. The president, my husband, decided to go and condole with the victim's relatives. And I went with him. What we learned there was that the massacre had been the result of a local feud, with one proponent being the head of a local militia with strong ties to a highly placed official in Kabul. The violent interaction between Afghans is unfortunately still very common. And though the rule of law is slowly gaining ground, we still have a long way to go before people's mentality shifts from a mode of violence and open confrontation to that of peaceful interaction. And the only way to achieve peace in our society or what we can call social peace is by changing the minds and culture of the people and moving from a culture of violence to a culture of peace. The surest way to people's mind is through the soft, yet formidable power of culture. Culture is a strange amalgam of instincts, beliefs, and feelings that so reputiously take a hold of a person as he or she grows within a community. It is past, present, and future wrapped into a sense of belonging, of being part of a whole. Culture is the glue that holds together a people and reflects its deepest convictions. Culture is also the channel through which a people expresses itself. Novels, poems, plays, songs and dances, paintings and sculptures, films, pictures, videos, et cetera. All are outlets that allow the display of a whole range of emotions, disappointments, hurts, aspirations, and hopes. Culture is organic. It may evolve with evolution of historical circumstances, but to be durable, any change to culture needs to come from within. It needs to be owned by its people. Numerous sittings and talks with all the groups that come to see me had indicated the existence of a deep-seated wariness with war, insecurity and destruction. Women in particular complained of additional restrictions to their movements in the provinces because of insecurity, which in turn made it difficult for them to avail themselves of education, health, and other services. It also hampered their efforts to engage in economic activities. In a prevalent atmosphere of violence, they also related numerous instances of domestic abuse and violence. I am a firm believer in women's importance within the family. Women already assume large responsibilities in the management of the household and the upbringing of children. Acknowledging their contribution is only right and goes a long way towards enhancing their social status. Emphasizing human dignity and mutual respect between men and women, I have encouraged women to seek respect first, first within their own families, and become a more active participant in decision-making. I have also urged them to start an income-generating activity, no matter how small, in order to strengthen their role within the family. Because unfortunately, like anywhere else in the world, the activity, the responsibility of a woman in the household is not being computed. You cannot put a monetary value on it. And because of that, economists and analysts just think it's zero. And it's not true. We have to respect that women do work and do contribute to the economy, even those who stay at home. But how could women play a role in reducing the violence and bringing about peace? In 2016, the opportunity to organize a symposium in Kabul presented itself. Two preceding symposiums for Afghan women had taken place in Washington, DC in 2013 and in Oslo in 2014, both organized by international donors with the participation of members of Afghan civil society. Our office was approached by donors to take part in organizing the Kabul symposium. And we soon took the lead, given our home advantage, and partnered with the Ministry of Women's Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of civil society. In May 2016, we convened around the theme Afghan women and their role in Afghan society. That was very important because the narrative at the time was that Afghan women had no role in Afghan society. And that symposium had to show that actually we have a lot of women that are taking part and doing their best to rebuild the country. More recently, in May 2017, we held a symposium entitled Afghan Women, Messengers of Peace. This time with the additional membership of a deputy chair of the High Peace Council. For those who are more knowledgeable about Afghanistan, it was Mrs. Habiba Sorabi, who's a deputy chair of the High Peace Council. The documentary so was describing what happened during that symposium. This symposium took place over four days and involved about 300 participants, mostly women. Yes, you notice there are men too. We are not exclusive. We welcome men that have something to share with us. And as I said, we strive for mutual respect. So 300 participants, mostly women. They were selected with several criteria in mind. Over a third came for far-flung provinces where insecurity prevails and where they had attempted to initiate peaceful interactions between warring communities. Others had been the victims of terrorist conflagrations, whether in the cities or the provinces. Others were social activists who had focused on training their fellow citizens in conflict resolution. Others still were high civil servants from relevant ministries, such as women's affairs, education, labor and social affairs, information and culture, and rural development. A small group of women from the police and the army were also there, as well as a handful of youth that had championed diversity and inclusion in their own activities. Last but not least were a group of women from a formerly dissident party that had just negotiated with the government its peaceful reentry in Afghanistan. Again, for those who know a little more about Afghanistan, I'm referring to Golbuddin Hikmatiar and his group. Orientation took place the first day. The second day featured three panel discussions with audience participation, and you saw how these women really wanted to tell what they had on their mind. It was an effort to have them stop talking. The third day was dedicated to a workshop on conflict resolution, and the last day, all participants met in nine small working groups to decide on a plan of action. Their reports were then discussed in a plenary session. A list of resolution was then announced at the closing session. It stated the following overarching objectives. One, to establish and promote social peace within families and the role of women in this regard. Two, to promote a sense of responsibility among Afran citizens in the social peace process. No longer will they sit down and wait for peace to fall in their lap. They're going to work for it. Three, to strengthen coordination between governmental and non-governmental organization promoting social peace. And four, to foster relations between women at the regional level in order to promote the culture of peace and coexistence and bring about regional stability. I cannot describe the atmosphere of elation, of feverish determination and of joyful camaraderie that animated the debates. You saw it for yourselves. My fervent hope is that this symposium will mark the beginning of a social movement that will involve all of Afghanistan. Already some follow-up events have taken place in a few provinces. But the most important result is that the women who took part in this four-day brainstorming event had reached the conclusion that yes, they had a significant role to play both within their families, but also within their broader community in standing up to violence in their everyday life and in fostering an environment of peaceful interaction where frictions and disagreements are resolved through deliberation, mediation, and negotiation. After all, Afghanistan is the land of Shuras and Jirghas, isn't it? Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much. I love the vision of they're not gonna wait for it to fall in their laps, they're gonna work for it. That's a good admonition for all of us everywhere. So I'm very pleased to be able to have a conversation now with her Excellency, Mrs. Rula Ghani, Congresswoman Susan Davis, and my USIP colleague, Paul Washa Kakkar, for a discussion on the state of women in Afghanistan. And before we begin, I'd like to welcome those in the audience to submit questions. There are index cards that are being distributed by our staff in the aisles. For those who are watching online, you can join the conversation using hashtag women peacemakers. So please, we'll turn to you, so please join in. So I'd like to begin with you, Congresswoman Davis. You've been a remarkable leader on these issues, traveled for over a decade to Afghanistan. So both from your experiences there and as a leader in Congress, love to hear your views and perspectives. Thank you. Thank you, Nancy. I appreciate that. It really is an honor to be here and especially to be on the stage with Mrs. Ghani. I appreciate it. Thank you. And thank you to all of you for joining us. And initially, I just want to say how impressed I was to watch this video. Because in many ways, one of the things that I became very conscious of when I first went into politics, which was to run for the school board in San Diego, people just assumed that I could go to a debate. They just assumed that I knew what to do. And quite honestly, even though I had participated in helping with elections, I had been active in, many of you may be familiar with the League of Women Voters in the San Diego region, I wasn't used to doing what was being asked of me at that moment. And over the years, I thought about the need, especially for women to have what I would call rehearsal time. And so these kind of, this symposium is really quite remarkable because it's certainly more of that kind of real engagement and testing out the way to influence others that you were training women to do. And that is so impressive because clearly, in order for women to be at the table, and we will argue for them to be at the table, we have a saying that if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. You've got to be there. You've got to be present. And in many ways, we've talked about women in Afghanistan being part of the peace process, but you can't ask people to do that without giving them the tools to be able to make the points and to really integrate into those discussions and not just be treated as someone who's very token. There's a requirement to be there, but they're not going to really allow that interaction. So that's exactly what you've been doing there. If I may, for just a moment, because we have a lot of questions I'm sure is to just bring you up to date a little bit about the Women's Mother's Day Afghanistan trip. It did begin more than 10 years ago The initial idea was to visit with our troops, our female troops particularly, in Afghanistan. We knew there were many, many women serving who were leaving in many cases. They're very, very young children, particularly at this time of year, and that that was not an easy time to be in a very foreign country actually and to be doing, excuse me, the job that they were asked to do. In itself would have been enough of an experience as members of the Armed Services Committee and as women to visit with them. But we also wanted to be certain in this bipartisan group, and there was three women on both Democrats and Republicans to gather the six of us, and but we wanted to get to know the women of Afghanistan. I had been a few years prior to the actual trip, and so the experience of meeting with parliamentarians was very important, and I remember being there in actually the very early days after we'd gone into Afghanistan, and there was another woman with me on this codelle, on this congressional delegation, and we had a chance to talk to women when our male counterparts could not do that. We were able to get information that they hadn't been able to receive and just to really get a feel for where people were. So we wanted to go into a more remote area of Afghanistan. We went to Kulat, it's an area in Zabel province where we had had a provincial reconstruction team. So we needed to have had an experience of the women there who had just recently formed Ashura to have the kind of support to be there. And over the years, quite honestly, we didn't have that support. Meeting with the women there was such an extraordinary experience that I think that's really what kept us going to Afghanistan. And then later when we weren't able to do that, we shifted a lot of our interest. Initially, it was just to get to know the women to understand what their issues were. I remember one of the school masters saying to me that second year we went, at first we had trouble getting students to come to school. After a while, we didn't have enough desks. That was progress and that meant a great deal. There were many problems of women trying to come in to give birth and so there was a need for more midwives and more health providers. Just hearing the women talk about small ways that they had found a way to be empowered. One of the women said to me that she realized that things were changing a little bit at home when she saw her son respecting her daughter more. That there had been a shift and an attitude. After a number of years of having opportunity to go back to Zabal and initially, the women never thought we were gonna come back. We said we would and they weren't sure, but we did and many times we did. As we shifted our interest, we began working harder to understand the roles of the women who were beginning to come into the armed services of Afghanistan. It was a need of course because of the elections to have a chance to make sure that women were not caring anything to the ballot areas and they knew that there was a need also for women to be very much a part of any of the investigations of the women within these areas within the provinces. So we saw that as a great need and being on the Armed Services Committee, we worked very hard to make sure that the women who were coming and just a very small number of them whose families were allowing them to go into the military. You can imagine that they're coming from provinces in many cases where the idea of a family allowing them to come is really a very difficult thing. We felt that if they had reasonable facilities and parents could see that and would know about that that that would begin to attract them. Over the few years that we were there, we even saw integrated classrooms. So the women and the men were learning in some of the classrooms in some of the, with some of the curriculum that they were working with. That was a big change as well. The last few years we've had a chance to meet in Kabul mostly now with women who we've spoken about with economic issues, micro businesses that they're establishing. And Mrs. Ghani has had a very big role in that. And certainly to talk more about the peace process and the ways in which women can be involved. And in the end, I guess the most exciting thing for us recently was to join with the young women who came from the robotics competition and to really introduce them in many ways to our colleagues in the Congress. I can tell you everybody wanted to have a picture with them. And I think they were very symbolic of the changes that we've seen. I look forward to many, many more changes. And I couldn't be more pleased than to have seen this tape. It was, it really is quite remarkable. And I know that it's making a difference. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Davis. And you talk about the peace process. The national unity government has taken some very encouraging measures to bring women into the peace process. You talked about traveling out to the provinces. Mrs. Ghani, are there specific initiatives to enable women to be peace builders and to engage among those who are out in the provinces to engage at the local level? I don't know everything that's happening in Afghanistan and I don't claim to know everything. What I know is that we held the symposium in May. And it was with the very explicit goal of encouraging women to start working for peace, explaining to them that it's small things that they can do at home first with the education of their children. And then between the members of the family, if ever there is a conflict that arises, brothers or between cousins or whatever, to how to resolve issues. This is why we had a whole day that was dedicated to a workshop on conflict resolution. And then the third day was to sit down among themselves and to decide what are the kind of actions they can take. So basically, I know about what the symposium has done and I don't take all the credit, as I said in my speech. My office maybe led the organization but I worked with several ministers and ministries and with the High Peace Council and with several members of civil society. So it was a group effort, a team effort. What I can say is that, yes, the women were really very excited and they were excited to see that they could change things. There was, I mean, even the smallest thing can really help. One thing, one detail, for example, one of the panelists was a psychologist who was a marriage counselor. And he was saying that a lot of counseling he was doing was for marriages that had been forced marriages. And that actually he explained why forced marriages should be avoided because unless there is the consent of both parties to be married to each other, that means that in two, three years, it's going to become turning to conflict between the two men and wife but also between the families because one family will say, you're not taking good care of our daughter, the other family will say, but your daughter does not know how to cook even. You know, all this kind of stupid that can be avoided if when people sit down and try and say, okay, let's marry, it's time to marry our son. Okay, the mother can, should, not only the mother, the aunt, the sister should be able to say, let's find somebody he will get along with. Let's ask him, maybe he knows somebody that he wants to marry. Or, and then ask the girl, are you willing to live with that man? And this is something that is enshrined in the Holy Quran. It does say that marriage cannot be done or, I don't know. Successful? Successful unless the two parties agree. So it's not like it's asking for something that's not part of our culture. So basically it opened their eyes. They realized that they had the means of trying that these small steps were still, if ever all the people took those steps, it will amount to something. So I'm sure what I realized is that when we got these women that came from the far-flung provinces, was that women were already working as peacemakers. It is in their nature. They're not, they don't have access to weapons, to arms and all this. They're not going to wage war. They're not going to go and kill somebody. Some of them might be pushed to do that with a kitchen knife. But I mean, women usually try to find a way to mediate and to calm down the situation. So the symposium was just not necessarily putting ideas in these women's minds. As much as telling them, you already know this. Why don't you work into, why don't you create networks of support? Why don't you work all together for that? Because peace is really very important. And I was intrigued with, during your comments, you talked about this need for a culture shift. And both of you have spoken about the tools that go along with fostering a culture shift. And I'm wondering, are there plans, ideas to bring teaching of conflict resolution, conflict transformation, you know, peace building into the curricula of schools and universities? Yes, last year we, there is this one organization that has been doing mediation for a long time from the time of the refugees in the camps in Pakistan. And I came across this person, like I come across anybody who comes to see me. And I found out that he had a very good system of curriculum, peace curriculum in the schools. And I was able, I'm talking about my experience. I was able to convince the minister of education to have a pilot program in 200 schools in Ford district. I was also able to have him do a workshop for police women to how to mediate in a conflict between domestic conflicts, between members of the same family. And 25 women attended this workshop. And it was really heartwarming. I received so many letters from these women telling me, well, for the first time I have been told what it is that I'm supposed to be doing, you know? So these are the things that I have tried to help. It's not much. I know that some embassies have had mediation workshop and I know that there has been also efforts of curriculum. I think Palwasha knows more about it. I think it was in Herat that there is a curriculum. In Nangahar too. So there has been efforts. What you find out in Afghanistan is that there are a lot of things that are happening, but they are not kind of being linked together. And what I try to do is bring everybody together and let's talk and let's find out how we can because if we are together, we're stronger and we can really achieve much more. And Palwasha, let's bring you in on that. You've worked a lot with Afghan women at the local level on peace initiatives. Tell us how that's working. What's working? Well also to talk about the curriculum a little bit. USIP, we've been doing peace curriculum at university level as well to try and build this culture of peace on university campuses. And so Kabul, Herat and Nangahar have been some of our programs and pilot programs and that's slowly expanding. And it's not just teaching peace curriculum, but it's also supporting peace clubs and that culture of peace on the campus. And considering the work that I've done, actually I first wanted to say an honor to be on this panel with the first lady as representative of Susan Davis. And it's really, I feel very honored and very much out of place with these wonderful great figures here. I was privileged and the first lady, thank you so much for inviting me to the past two symposiums to attend and see the hundreds of women who've attended from the provinces, local women who have taken initiatives who are amazing leaders in their own right at the local level who've come to these symposiums. And it just shows how much resilience these women have at the local level and how much willpower they have to change society and capacity that they have that's really untapped. And one of the things that you raise is that they've been doing this work but it's that realization that these symposiums help them see. The other thing to mention is the last symposium that I think was so empowering for these women was that as they presented their ideas, as they presented their recommendations, the president himself was sitting there and listening to them. And after they presented, he reflected back on what they had said. And that was, you could just see in the faces of these women how much that made a difference to them. They felt empowered by that, that they could actually make a change. My own work, I guess from, I would say from my childhood, I've been intrigued by the stories my grandmother had told me of women who had been able to resolve conflicts, who've been able to go into situations from before the time of the war where they had these amazing roles, not just as part of Jerica's and Shura's, but as women who would go to the enemy side and have that role, traditional role, that's called Manawati in the Pashtun Wali context, where they go and they actually mediate conflict so that they can cross those lines, as women they can cross those lines and they're honored and respected. These are things that came up throughout my work and my research. They've constantly been something that has always sparked my interest. And so whenever I had seen examples of these women that have taken initiative to do conflict resolution, it's been amazing. With the community development councils that in Afghanistan now we have at every village level, women are participating in them and they're doing conflict resolution work. It's not just development work. The research that I did in the field, I was able to witness some of this work that they were able to do between families, not just within their own families, but between families. And now more recently looking at women at the local level and what they've been able to do in terms of negotiating with armed and certain actors, with the Taliban at the local level, it's been very fascinating. You see local women who have religious knowledge that are comfortable speaking and negotiating with the Taliban, whether they're illiterate or illiterate. We see religious women doing this, we see them working with traditional networks doing this and then women in the peace councils, the provincial peace councils and the high peace council. Those that have some religious knowledge have the comfortability of speaking within a religious context. They feel much more empowered and comfortable to speak to the Taliban within this. So this is something also very interesting as we're looking at the role of religion within this context of peace and negotiation and religious influence within that. So both at the local level we're seeing there's just incredible stories. I don't even know where to begin of women who've actually gone to the Taliban as a delegation and said, we need you to leave this checkpoint because our families from our villages can't go and cultivate their land and they were able to convince them to leave. There were examples of women who have within families, within their social networks, have been encouraged to go and resolve conflicts to make sure that the girls' schools stay open where the Taliban have tried to close them. So there's many, many examples of this that women are doing at the local level. Thanks, Pawasha. And so I want to go back to you, Representative Davis. You've been going for over a decade. You've been able to meet in many instances with some of the same women over that period. What changes have you seen? I mean, Pawasha just described some of these ways in which women are finding their voice. I think the symposia that Mrs. Ghani has engaged and has done that. Have you seen changes over your decade of travel? Absolutely. I think a lot of it is really in the assertiveness. And we were even hearing earlier today that women will be prepared and want to move forward with some programs and may not always get the support that they want. But getting in the fight is very important. And I think a few years ago, my guess is that they might not have furthered sort of their needs. And I think that's really important that they do that. And the way that they'll be successful is very much what Pawasha was saying about the way your husband, president, listened to them and then acted on what they said. And whether you're working with young people or anybody in your community, you have to be willing to do that. That doesn't mean that they get everything they want, but it does mean that you acknowledge and try and move forward with them and correct whatever deficiencies if there are any and really listen to what they have to say and that you're totally acting on their insights. We can improve because of that. And I think in the years that we were going into Colotte, we really did see those changes, mostly because of the assertiveness. In fact, what we heard from a lot of the women was, they were worried about what are you gonna do? Are you gonna abandon us? Are you gonna stay? Are you gonna be involved? And so it was very important for us to let people know that to the extent that we were there for them and we wanted to have their back, we were gonna translate our experiences to not only the generals who we had an opportunity to meet with, but our colleagues as well. And I think that that role that we were able to play in meeting with the chairman of the Armed Services committees to really expand a little bit of the knowledge that we had gained and the experience we had. I'm not suggesting that we were converting everybody, but what we needed to let them know is that this isn't just because we're being nice to the women. Now and then I felt like people were kind of patting me or the others on the head. It's very nice that you do this. It's a good thing that you do this. No, we were doing it because it was nice that we did it. We were doing it because our American security depended on it and the future for the region depended on it. And that's why really we were there. And I was just so impressed to learn that expanding that regionally is gonna be important because this is kind of the next step. Obviously there are women in the region who have been allies and at times their country's not such good allies that have also been developing their skills. And together that can be so powerful. The extent to which you can do that across country lines. So that's a new opportunity I think to look forward to and to the extent that we could be helpful with that is wonderful but honestly I think they don't need our help because they're gonna be able to do that very much on their own and be assertive with the women as well because they want to be sure that they're listened to and even as women we don't always listen to each other as well as we should so. Thank you for underscoring that it's not a nice to do but it's a must do because as I think most of us here know the research increasingly shows that inclusion of women in peace processes ensures greater more sustained success. And so we have a whole raft of questions. They're grouped but here's one that I think builds on what all three of you were saying and ask, you know in many areas of Afghanistan, particularly rural Afghanistan, communities very much rely on the traditional Shuras and the Jurgos that you spoke about Mrs. Ghani to resolve disputes. And traditionally these are only men. So the question is are there ways that women can participate more in traditional dispute resolution mechanisms and should they? I think that there's a. I'll let you talk about it, you know more about it but I think yes there are ways but I'll let you talk about it. So actually traditionally women have been a part of the Jurgos and Shuras in Afghanistan and that's something that is not well understood. There have been some anthropological studies from the 1970s that documented some of this and we have seen throughout the war even the fact that some of these women were commanders at the local level because they had this background of being part of the Jurgos and the Shuras. This culture has been slowly revived and part of the revival of this has come through the community development councils and the election of women in the community development councils. So it has been something that had existed prior to the war and it's something that through the war definitely the fabric was broken and you didn't see it as much. You didn't hear about it as much. There were other ways that women were taking but now it's something that is slowly regaining more and more significance. I think what's interesting to me is when I was at a conference, USIP through one of the programs I had on women's rights and Islamic constitutionalism we brought together women from Afghanistan, Libya and Egypt and we had a woman who was also a tribal leader and a parliamentarian and the participants from Egypt and Libya were just astounded, they were like, we don't have women tribal leaders in our countries that does not exist and they couldn't believe that in Afghanistan exists but we have a history of that. That there are women who have been tribal leaders and they are women that are tribal leaders right now who do mediate conflict and are a part of the Jurgos and Shuras. And what does that mean in terms of building that culture I think that's yet to see how we will do that but these initiatives to have the community development councils and women participating in community development councils have really stepped up that and brought women to the foray so that they're now taking more and more decisions at the local level. Well and that leads us to the next question. You spoke a little bit about culture and of course this was a part of your remarks and so to you Mrs. Ghani starting at the family level how do you encourage men to see women as peace builders? I think there is a lot of misconception about the attitude of men towards women in Afghanistan. Yes there are some who are really very misogynist and you have them all over the world in every society. Sorry to be so frank but I'll give you an example that speaks volume. There is a hotline that's called 6464 that you can call if you have a problem at home and it's anonymous and you can consult with them and the purpose of this hotline is to help resolve conflicts before they become too huge and I was sitting with the young woman who kind of organized this NGO which is house in the ministry of women's affairs. So it's not something that's totally kind of floating by itself independently. She was saying that 70% of the calls are initiated by male members by either the father, the brother, the son of the victim and it is because they want to make sure that this service is really a serious service that it is anonymous that it's not going to create more problems and what is good and once they are reassured they put the woman on the phone and then she can take it from there. What is good about this service is that it has two molas, one that's Xi'an, one is that's Sunni so that if ever they have questions regarding what does the religion tradition says about the situation they can give informed. So basically, men are not necessarily against women in Afghanistan although they've been portrayed like this. I think every father loves his daughter, I mean that's everywhere in the world and they're keen on helping their daughters. What shall I add? I mean there are so many questions maybe we can move to something else. Here's a good next step on that and this comes from Allison Black with the US Air Force who's here with us. And the question is what change in attitude and actions do you see in the men of Afghanistan toward women in positions of authority? And Congresswoman Davis, you spoke about seeing women entering the military so she's specifically asking women in the military and the police for example and are they seen as credible by their male counterparts? I can try and take that briefly because I think it's a mixed picture so far but really when you think about it the program is in infancy. Think about how young it is that women are going into law enforcement and in the military in Afghanistan. Perhaps that was back in the 70s but I think today it's more unusual and it takes some very strong and creative and obviously highly motivated women to do that because it's difficult. One of the things that probably shocked those of us who were visiting with them is the fact that in many cases the women have to change their clothes when they go outside. They dress in street clothes, come into work, change for whatever job it is that they're doing on the forces and then change back in order to go home because that keeps them safer to be in street clothes and that's sort of like heartbreaking to hear that but on the other hand we know that as the face of law enforcement changes in Afghanistan and they see women engaged and doing their job and certainly in the military then that respect grows just as it does in this country. We're not where we should be in this country when it comes to those issues but I think that we're certainly a lot further along than we were in the days when women were coming in and now we even see women breaking some barriers here as well. One of the things that I think we need to be really conscious about is that the women who are growing in those roles we need to give them as much responsibility as is possible and that they feel comfortable and wanting to do. What worries me and I think this is still a problem is that they're asking women to be in roles maybe answering phones which could be very important but at the same time that they're kind of pushing them aside and not having them really reach their potential and their ability to do whatever it is. I think we know that women are widely in intelligence operations throughout the world for their countries. Afghani women should be in those positions as well. We know that when it comes to going into families and talking to, excuse me, about families about what happened the day before what are a lot of times that American women learn was that they could reach the women in ways different than the men could that were barring down the doors and really making people very anxious and upset when the women would come in they would be able to calm that situation and that's a very important role that our women play and in the same way the Afghani women can play that and we've had the delightful opportunity of meeting with a number of the women in law enforcement and as well I know Mrs. Ghani does and so that's a new face and that's gonna change it's gonna change a lot of things I think in the country. If I may add just one detail is that we're pushing for a greater qualifications for women I mean providing them with the opportunity to take classes in mediation skills, in knowledge of the law, of the tradition so that they can have the skills that are required when they're faced with the situation and also the other thing that's more practical it's one of my pet peeves I always want that there should be two or three women in the same team, never one woman alone. Three is good because if one of them is sick or there is a rotation there's always two so that in the beginning they need to create some kind of some kind of weight that cannot be dismissed easily. We tend to call that critical mass. Yeah, critical mass. And that is true for the women in the military as well. Can I add also two points just very quickly that the amazing thing also that's happened is that there's been great reform in the sector to make sure that if there is any sexual harassment against these women that those people are prosecuted and those stronger reforms have, we've seen that that is starting to slowly make a difference and that hadn't been taken seriously so I think what women's rights activists have been pushing for now, Ministry of Interior has taken those reforms forward. So we have a series of questions that are about women and economic opportunities. One from, and forgive me, I can't quite read everyone's handwriting but Nadim Haik and one from Jackie Gaspard from Women for Afghan Women. And the questions are, what are the kind of job opportunities? So it builds on women going into the military and police but what are the opportunities that are opening up for women in government, for opportunities to be entrepreneurs and is there a way to create greater incentives for corporations to train and hire more women into the workplace? Do you want to take that, Mrs. Gunn? One assumption I would like to kind of dismiss is that we are a country, apparently the census now is 34 million. We are a country of 34 million people. The government, no matter how large it will become, will never be able to absorb all the working age people into its faults. So it is often people want to join the government because there are some rules and regulations that say guarantee the job and you have some privileges. So it is really very sought after but there is no way, we already have a bloated bureaucracy. There is no way that we can resolve the problem of jobs through the government. What we are having is that we are trying to train people in various different kinds of fields and to encourage people to start on their own, especially when they're young. When you're young, you don't already have a family. You can start with $200, open an ice cream shop, for example. You can make some money and then slowly, slowly, you can, I've had actually one lady come to me and tell me that she started with borrowed 10,000 afs, which is about what, $150. She started, she borrowed 10,000 afs. She went to the wholesale market, bought a lot of things and came back to her neighborhood and started selling it door to door. And she made the profit. She was able to repay her loan and then started the process again. Eventually, within three or four years, she had built two NGOs, one school and her dream actually, it's really very sweet. She wants a factory to produce macaroni, I mean pasta. But she was very clear about what she was doing and she was finding the way because she came from a very modest background. So basically, I think the way to go economically is to encourage all the young people to look around you. We are, in one way, we are a country at war, but we also are a country where the economic foundation of this country are being really built very soundly and very systematically. So eventually, if we manage to get some peace, we are going to be having a very flourishing country. Afghanistan has a lot of resources, be it in agriculture, in industry, in commerce, in trade, but so many countries, we could have so many trade exchanges and already the government has created the possibilities for people to trade with countries that were before inaccessible. There is, for example, a whole plan with China who is sending us goods on a railway. We are going to be sending them back our marble. We have beautiful marble and in a train marble is not, I mean the weight of the marble does not figure as much as in different ways. So I really feel what we need to concentrate on is to concentrate on encouraging people to start businesses and it's okay to fail. This is something that people who are in business schools always say. It's okay to fail, you learn from your experience and then you start again. And I don't know if this satisfies the economists in Mr. Ohak, but it's definitely something that the government is pursuing at the same time they're pursuing peace negotiations. And talking about peace, let me just make one very important distinction. I am encouraging women to work for social peace in Afghanistan. I have no illusions that they can enter into negotiation with this country or that country. This is not their role, but they can already foster an atmosphere in Afghanistan that would be an atmosphere of positive interaction among people and the more united we are, the quicker we can really rebuild our country. Well, here's an interesting question. You'd mentioned some of the regional aspects and building on what you just said. The question is across the border in Pakistan, we face somewhat similar issues. How can we start a debate at the grassroots level that's led not by the elite, but by women who are very familiar at the local level with the vulnerability of their children and others in their communities to fundamentalist recruiting? And this comes from Farida Haq. Yes, extremist recruiting is unfortunately the main of our existence because it's a very vicious and very targeted process through which some of the extremist group just kind of descend upon families and take away their children that are anywhere between the age of eight and 12 or 14 to brainwash them and to have them. Little parenthesis, you see a lot of unaccompanied minors migrating to Europe. And I was always wondering why and how come young people are being sent on their own? Are they free? Actually, it is their families that push them to flee because they know that they have come to age and that they will have a knock on the door one day and they will have to join one of these extremist group. So anyway, so this is really a big problems we have. It is something that is common for some of our neighbors, neighboring countries. What I know is that I know of the existence of several attempts to have conferences. I know of one conference of Sahar, I don't know, South Asian Human Rights Conference that has participants from all of South Asia and I think Iran too. And so they had a meeting in Kabul maybe about a year ago. I know that just a few months ago there was a youth conference among South Asian youth and it was also in Kabul and it was really very well organized. I don't know if there is somebody in the audience, is Lima in the audience or not? Yes, there she is. One of the organizers is right there and she can tell you more afterwards. If you want to stand up, I can see you there. She was one of the organizers of that conference which had I think about 60 participants from the region. So yes, there are efforts. As I said earlier, there is a lot that is happening, good things that are happening. Just have to bring it all together so that it gets critical less. Well, I think you just answered also what are some of the areas of non-traditional diplomacy to engage stakeholders such as women and youth. So whoever asked that question, this is a good resource for you. So social media, what are the ways in which social media is being used to empower particularly the younger generation of women to build peace in a social way but also to engage in peace process? I have my problems with social media. I should not be the one answering this question. Because during the campaign, before anything was decided, they wrote all sorts of, I don't know, imaginary things, imaginary facts. What do they call them? Alternative facts, fake news, whatever. They wrote a lot of things that were not true. And lots of journalists wanted to come and get my reaction, what do you think? And I said, listen, as long as I'm a private citizen, I'm not answering any of these questions. If ever I become a First Lady, I will answer them. And when I became First Lady, my first interview in Dari was to the national RTA, TV and radio station. And it was four in one hour and I think I debunked all the fake news. And that was it. If you can do that in one hour, good job. That's well done. No, no, it was things like I didn't know the language. I never lived in Afghanistan. I mean, these kind of things where you can very easily prove that it's not true. I don't read social media. I don't have a Facebook account, but my office has, in my office, a list of all the activities. It's basically in Dari and Pashto because it's really directed at the Afghan audience. I also have a website that sometimes doesn't get updated very quickly. I'm sorry. We have other important things to do. And as I'm mentioning websites, there is a website, affanwomensymposium.if, I think. And this is where you can get some more information about the symposium. You can get a much longer version of the documentary. You can read the resolution. You can see pictures. You can hear speeches also. I would just say, Washington probably knows. I mean, the really important thing is to engage the young people in whatever it is that you think you wanna be doing and to get their inputs because they're obviously gonna have a much fuller understanding of it all. I think in Afghanistan, we have this amazing boom of social media because of the 3G, 4G networks that are now existing in smartphones. So in places where there's no internet wire, there hadn't been phones before, now there's access to phones, mobile phones, and there's access to social media. And women have been playing a really important role in this, and we're seeing more women are visible because they don't have to put their face up. It can be anonymous. We're seeing that visibility and that more, that there's that social engagement that happens in that sphere. Of course, there is this big problem, as the First Lady mentioned, about hate speech. And there's a lot that needs to be done in that area on hate speech. That awareness needs to be brought more into that. And that's one of the problems. But we do see this more visibility of women and really more engagement, that social arena. And when I was in Kabul recently, my colleagues were commenting. They're saying, well, now we're the older generation, the younger generation of women. They are on social media so much more and they represent themselves. And they don't have the same kind of restrictions that we feel we have on ourselves in terms of expressing themselves on social media. Which that is something we're encouraging and that you can see is a really big culture shift. If the younger generation is feeling much more freer to express themselves and show where they are and what they're doing, that seems to be a really positive shift for women. So here are two related questions, tough questions. One is, what's the effort underway to stop the honor killings and to stop the violence against minority groups? And then there's a related question that is, as an Afghan-American, how can I support Afghan women and girls who face domestic violence? Or cultural barriers, are there resources for them? I'll take it. I'm specialist of tough questions. Okay, as in any society, the important thing is to improve the economic situation of people. A lot of the forced marriages, for example, are due out of poverty. Somebody wants to marry, he cannot pay for the dowry of his intended, but he has a son and he will arrange for a Badal marriage, an exchange marriage. Or there has been a kind of confrontation between two families and in order to calm down, a daughter might be given as a bud. So there are a lot of situation where it is poverty, it is the lack of economic resources that gets people to these kind of lost resort solutions. So basically by trying to increase the economic prosperity of Afghanistan, because the country can be prosperous. It was prosperous in its way before the beginning of all these things. Working to build a strong economy in Afghanistan can answer these questions. In the meantime, raising the awareness of women, letting them understand that what is the problem that happens if ever you agree to a forced marriage? I'm talking about forced marriage because this is something that has been a lot discussed a lot. It's really the women we can start by making people more aware of the consequences of certain decisions. It's a long process. It does not happen overnight. Changing minds of people is not an easy thing. And but we are working in the right directions, I think. I would just say on the sexual violence piece, for one thing, I think I wouldn't ever presume to be able to find solutions from one perspective with that. It's the perspective of the community that solves the problems. And I think when they're engaged and they're gonna have come up with the kinds of solutions of things that are important, what we have found is helpful is having sort of institutional change so that you have safety nets in place for people, so that you have safe places for women to go, that you have a well-trained, really well-trained, and we didn't do this very well, even in the military initially, that really can be helpful and know how to navigate the legal system in a way that really is fair. It's fair for the accused as well as the accuser, where we're changing our language a little bit with that these days. But I think importantly that the institution, that the infrastructure is there, and whatever that is that fits the community best is probably what's going to work. I do remember one of the times we were speaking with one of the women about a woman, and I think in this case, may have even been a family matter, and we said something about her going to the police, and I remember she spoke up right away. She said, go to the police. She said, why would she go to the police? The policeman is gonna rape her. And so that was like, oh, okay, not from a perspective that one is sort of automatically knee-jurking, but it's something that has to be done at the local level with the local input and really given the length of time to train people properly. So when they are interacting, that it means something. What I want to add to this is that I got married 43 years ago, so I know Afghanistan from before. And at that time, women were really respected. When people talked about Namus, which they often raise when there are these kind of questions, but now it is used as a concept, oh, I have to protect women, so I have to put her in the corner and she does not have to go anywhere. At the time, Namus was to really take care of the women, respect them, and help them. And what I want to achieve eventually is to reach back that situation that women are considered valuable members of the family, not just objects that somebody else should not take or abuse or whatever. It's really a different attitude. And, but again, it's changing the minds of people. Kalasha. Prior to joining USIP, I had worked on some projects really where we were engaging the religious leaders on this. And so it was working exactly what Representative Davis, who we're talking about is creating that enabling environment. So it's not just working with the women to understand their rights, but working with the whole community, with the religious leaders, with the elders in the community, what we call the male gatekeepers in the community, to really understand what are women's rights, both from within the Afghan legal context, but also from a Sharia perspective from within Islamic law, to understand those and what are their responsibilities to protect women's rights in that context. And that seemed to be making a lot of headway because it's creating that enabling environment. And some communities where we're seeing, where women were the only ones that are being educated, it was causing problems that we were seeing increased rates of suicide, unfortunately, because there was no place for them to access their rights. But it's where you create that enabling environment that that can happen. And of course, there are some small pockets where we've been able to do that, but security situations have really damaged some of that. But it's really working within those communities with the leaders, as you were saying, both the religious and the community leaders and creating that enabling environment. So the women also understand their rights, but also them the community understand. So we just have time for a couple final questions. And there's a series of questions for you, Congressman Davis, and it's really about the U.S.-Afghan relationship. As we look at America's longest war, we have a new foreign policy that's been articulated. What are your best hopes for Afghan-U.S. ties? I believe strongly that we have started a history of trying to realize, I think, the best of those ties that we can for our countries. And that is going to take continuing engagement for a long time. I think that's part of the commitment that we need to make, not in a surge kind of mentality, but in sort of a long extended period of time to understand what the needs are and how we can best work together. Right now, we are seeing some shift in policy in terms of a much more aggressive air war and also more, I think the training piece, but also more engagement on the ground, actually, if we're realistic about what's happening. I hope that that's a short period of time, but we know that that training is necessary and until we have the kind of development among the mid-level forces and leadership, you're not gonna be able to realize that. So I felt for some time that that has to be our role here. And it is moving along. You know, sometimes there are some, a lot of a few steps back as well when we see some cases, whether there's corruption cases within the service, whatever that is, it certainly erodes the ability of troops to have confidence in their leaders. I think that's changing. That's very important. And so that's why we, I think we need to keep focused on the goals of trying to work within the relationship so that the Afghan people have the ability to take over those responsibilities fully at a time that they're absolutely ready to do that. And as a leader in Congress on Afghan women's issues, what's your message from Congress to the women of Afghanistan? Well, we're behind you. We want you to be successful. We want your country to be successful. And we want your children to have a bright future. This is gonna answer this however you like as your final comments. But the question is, how are you continuing to work with so much violence? What sustains you? What motivates you? There is, I read this in a waiting room, a doctor's waiting room in a magazine. So I don't know what the source is, but I remember it stuck to me. It says, when you're on the road, don't look at the obstacles because you might not see the road. So violence is the obstacles. And yes, every violence shakes us. Every loss of life is something that saddens us a lot. We have learned to move on. The next day we wake up and we go and do, it gives us actually more determination because the answer to all this violence is to create a country that is really strong, that has a very strong society that is unified and that is working very steadily for unity, for peace and for prosperity to all, access of everybody to all the services. So, yeah, I don't get terrorized. I don't want to give in to the terrorists. So I'm known not to worry when I hear an explosion. The first time the person downstairs came brushing to see how it was doing. And I was carrying on, I was typing and he said, didn't you hear the explosion? I said, yes, where was it? I mean, I was cognizant, I knew what was happening, but you need to carry on. You need to carry on. That's the only way you can stop the violence. So I want to thank all three of our panelists today. We're greatly honored to have with us her excellency, the first lady of Afghanistan, Rula Ghani. We're also absolutely delighted to take you away from what I know as a busy schedule on the Hill, representative Susan Davis and Pawasha, thank you for the dedication that you bring to these issues here at USIP and back in Afghanistan. Thank you, everybody, for joining us and for your questions. And we will all be buoyed by looking at the road, not the obstacles. Thank you. Thank you for two, our panel.