 My name is Charles Ramsey and I teach history of South Asia at Baylor University and I'm also a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute. And I'm here at USIP today to talk about Afghanistan and to talk about what I observed and what I'm hearing, what I've experienced about religious communities in Afghanistan. I've seen students and people that I've walked with because of their faith, because of deepening understanding of religious texts, of ideas from religious teachers, but also those from the secular studies have engaged in everything from protest to student action and different creative programs such as theater and music. I've seen such a spectrum of activities that were birthed almost without a great plan or great financial motives, but from something that touched their heart. Religion, it's different than history, it's different than economics. It touches something that's very personal and because of that it can tap great potential, potential to do wonderful things, but also more base things, things that touch on fear and on violence. And so it has great potential for good, but when manipulated or used poorly it can bring about great harm as well. And I've seen both. Religious actors will have a central role in the development of what's next in Afghanistan. They've had an outsized role over the past 20 years. We've seen this kind of group of clerics who've received special attention and special opportunities and who have played an outsized role in developments there. But I don't think they're able to carry this forward and so there's confusion about what will be next and who will lead. But one thing is certain to me that religion and the place of religion and the honor of religious actors will be essential in formulating that. And so speaking and engaging religious actors in a way that conveys honor and understanding and empathy is essential. It's important to remember that Taliban does not equal Afghanistan. It does not equal any particular community. It is one expression and one who many Afghans that I interacted with would say have outlived their use. Even the name Taliban by many is kind of outlived its use and so it's time to find something new. And so engaging religious actors I think will be essential in formulating what that new is. I think the pressure right now is on the caretaker government to justify the system that they have. And so far they have not been able to do that. They have fumbled over and again on articulating why women cannot be in school, why women cannot be in the workplace. Religious leaders and actors from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and all their neighboring countries have said what you're doing is not consistent with religious tradition. So how do you justify this and why? So far there has not been a cohesive answer from the Taliban leadership. There just has not. And so that causes us to ask what other factors are at play there because what they're doing is not consistent with their own sources of authority. As we're watching to see that develop I think there's a great opportunity for religious actors who are in the country, people of wisdom and experience, tribal leaders, male and female to speak. And I believe those conversations are happening. I don't believe for a minute that the conversation around the food plates in the evening and around the kitchen table so to speak are not happening. I firmly believe in the agency and the ability of Afghan women in these homes, whether in the village or the city, to speak and to hope for their daughters and for the brothers and sisters to have a future and a success.