 Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to the US Institute of Peace. My name is Nancy Lindborg. I'm the president of USIP and I am absolutely delighted to welcome here this afternoon for her first visit to USIP Mrs. Bush. We're very happy to have you here. And I also want to welcome Ambassador Mohib from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Mrs. Mohib. Delighted to have you here with us. And we have many other guests here in the room. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for coming this afternoon. And for those of you who are new to USIP, we are an independent national institute founded by Congress 30 years ago and dedicated to the proposition that peace is possible, peace is practical, and peace is essential for US and international security. And we pursue a vision of a world without violent conflict by working in conflict zones with partners, equipping them with tools, with knowledge, and with training. And there's probably no place where USIP teams have spent more time than in Afghanistan working with civil society and government partners to help make peace possible. So we're delighted to have today a panel discussion to discuss exactly who are some of the powerful women helping to make peace possible in Afghanistan. And I have the distinct privilege of introducing our panelists and our moderator. Let me note that we will have ushers coming down the aisle to collect your question cards for questions after opening remarks. If you have a question, please write down your name, your affiliation, along with your question on the card, and we will make sure that gets on stage. So, first, let me welcome Mrs. Laura Bush, former First Lady of the United States. She has long been an advocate for expanding the rights and the opportunities of women in Afghanistan. She's traveled to more than 76 countries, including two historic solo trips to Afghanistan. And today, as the chair of the Women's Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute, Mrs. Bush continues her work on global health care innovation, empowering women in emerging democracies, education reform, and supporting the men and women who have served in America's military. We also have with us today Ms. Mina Sherzoy, who's a gender activist with more than 25 years of experience in economic development and advocacy. And Ms. Sherzoy has extensive experience in capacity building and NGO development in Afghanistan. She's worked with the Afghan Civil Service Commission and government counterparts to increase women's participation in government. And currently, she serves as Kimanix Afghanistan-based senior gender advisor and is also featured in the wonderful new book that we're here to celebrate by Mrs. Bush. Finally, I'm delighted to introduce Mr. Stephen Hadley, who currently serves as the chair of USIP's board of directors as our wise council and champion. Previously, Steve was the assistant to the president at the national security affairs for four years to then-president George W. Bush. And from January 2001 to 2005, he was assistant to the president and deputy security advisor. Please join me in giving a very warm welcome to our three wonderful guests. We're delighted that all of you can be with us. And of course, Mrs. Bush, we are delighted to have you here at the US Institute of Peace. And delighted with your new book, which is a series and a collection of wonderful stories. And if you haven't read it, you really need to do so. It's a terrific book. What we're going to do this afternoon is we're going to have a conversation among Mrs. Bush, Mina and myself for about 25 minutes or so. And then we're going to have a question and answer period from you. There are cards that have been distributed. Please write your questions on the cards, pass them to the aisles, and there will be runners coming down and getting them and passing them up to me. And we will try to get through as many questions as we can. We'll then at the end turn to our panelists, if you will, and ask for any closing comments. And then we will adjourn promptly at five o'clock. So again, we're delighted that you're all with us here for this wonderful event. I want to start, Mrs. Bush, with you if I might. You have a long history of being a real advocate and champion for Afghan women. You were the first lady to deliver the presidential radio address in November of 2001, and you spoke about the plight challenges and the strength of Afghan women at that time. Why is this such a cause for you? Of all the things you could take on as first lady is a cause. Why was Afghan women so important to you during your tenure as first lady? Well, right after September 11th, when the spotlight turned on Afghanistan, American women, including myself, saw women who were marginalized, who were left out. And the very idea of a government that would forbid half of its population from being educated was shocking to American men and women. But a lot of people started calling me to say, I want to do something. What can I do to help? And one of my best friends from Houston called and said, I used to be so glad I wasn't in your shoes. But she said, now wish I were. I'm jealous because you can do something. And I can't. So right then we formed the US Afghan Women's Council and many American women thought of various projects to support our sisters in Afghanistan. And that was really the beginning of my interest in Afghanistan and the women there. So all the years that we lived at the White House and since I've stayed in contact with many women that I've met through the US Afghan Women's Council or met on my trips to Afghanistan. I wanted to write about them. And you said you wanted to write about them. Why this book in this way, by the way, if you haven't seen it, it has a forward from Mrs. Bush. It's a wonderful, real praisey of the tribulations of Afghanistan over the last 25 years. It's wonderfully written. But why this book in this particular way? Well, it's called Voices of Hope. And these are the stories of women in Afghanistan. And because their voices were silenced, I thought it was important for all of us to hear what they have to say. Besides that, I think things have changed since September 11th and things have changed since that first time I've visited Afghanistan. And I wanted people to know that. So I think this is a great way for all of us to learn not only about each of these women and one man, one brave man included his stories, his story, but also for us to learn more about the history of Afghanistan. I think we think we know it all. But their lives really show the history of the last say 40 years of Afghanistan, starting with for many of them when the Soviets came in in 1979. And at that point, some of these women immigrated to Pakistan with their families. Some of them ended up in the United States after that. But nearly all of them went back after September 11th when they could go back. Some lived there the whole time through the years of the Soviet occupation and then the years of the Taliban and are still there. But I think I wanted to tell their stories. I wanted Americans to hear their stories. And I'm thrilled I have this opportunity to tell their stories with this book. You know, you're one of the people in that book. You were born in Afghanistan, came to the United States, spent most of your young adult life in the United States until 9 11, which was traumatic for all of us. And so September 11 2001, you decided to go back to Afghanistan. Tell us about your decision to return to Afghanistan and what you've been doing there, your life there now that you have returned. And first, tell them why you weren't in Afghanistan when the Soviets came in. Yes, I wasn't there. Yes. Well, first of all, I want to thank you and I'm very privileged to be here on the stage with you, Mrs. Bush and Mr. Hadley. And I want to thank USIP as always to putting together such a dynamic event and thanking everybody to be a part of this who are here today. I was young, had just graduated from high school, Tsaruna High School in Kabul. And my father was a diplomat and we were in Czechoslovakia. He was an ambassador at that time. And it just, we heard that the Russians took over, which was a shock. And it came in in such a shock that at first we didn't know, you know, like, okay, they invaded the country. I was so young, I didn't know the meaning of it. Because Afghanistan, I was raised in the golden ages, you know. We didn't think of war. I had never seen a gun before or a tank or anything else. So to me, it was like, okay, there's somebody invaded and they will leave and we will go back. So we slowly immigrated to the United States. Even my father had the attitude that after three years we will go back. And the American ambassador in Germany gave my father, he was going to give him citizenship, green card, everything. He said, no, no, no, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going back in three years. So to make a long story short, we ended up staying for 25 years. The September 11 happened. And when September 11 happened, of course my father was one of the first people that went to Afghanistan. And he was the deputy political foreign minister. So I saw the opportunity, because a lot of people were telling me, don't go, don't go, it's dangerous. But deep inside, all these 25 years, I had such a passion to go back. And I always thought of the Afghan people being there and suffering. And I always thought of having, I mean, thankful and grateful for having all the opportunities that I had in the United States. So how could I reach them? And so there was three of us, three women. One was in Carmel, two, one was in that, I lived in California. So in the Bay Area, so the three of us decided to start doing fund raisings for the Afghan women. And we did fund raisings before too, because I used to do a lot of fund raisings and raise $2,000, $3,000 and send it to the camps. The best I could do. But this time it was different. The fund raising was like the doors had opened. So it's time to go now. Time to go and give. Time to go and help. And take people's hands and whatever the darkness has been in the past, let's overcome that. So that's why I've always wanted to go back, but until September 11th I couldn't, because of the war and the Taliban and what was going on. But after that I decided to go back. Yes. And what was it like when you went back? What was your first reactions? What was the environment after 2001? And then tell us a little bit about the environment now. I think being raised in the golden days, during the golden days of Afghanistan, and then being, I'm really grateful for living in America. And to be honest with you, I cherish my life here. Because America gave me security, peace, serenity, education, opportunities, everything. And I went there actually to be honest with you for three weeks, because I had two daughters. I have two daughters and they were going to college at that time. So I said I'm going for three or four weeks and I'll be back, which I've never returned until today. And so when I went back, one thing that I saw that triggered my heart and my mind at the same time. Because when I landed, they took me, the driver and my cousin, they took me to the American Embassy to register for security reasons. Being an American citizen you had to register. So I got out of the car and everything was done on the street at that time, so it was a bit of time. So I went ahead and started signing the papers and talking to the soldiers and I turned around, this was actually March 14th when I landed there. So I turned around, I saw this 10-year-old boy or 9-year-old boy in a raggedy clothes, barefoot, and it was kind of chilly. And he was polishing my cousin's shoes for a dollar. I just saw that and I totally freaked out right there. Because I started thinking how I was raised. When I was 10 years old, my nieces, my daughters, my family, my parents, my friends, kids, when they are 10 years old, they're in another world. They're not, even when they grow older, as parents, we ask them to polish our shoes. They never polish my shoes, even now. Even now I ask them. But that broke my heart right there. So what I did, the next thing I did was after a week, after studying everything, I went to my, I called my daughters. I said, look, there are people here. I have been around. There are girls that haven't been to school. They're your age. They can't even write their name. So I know you need me. I'm your mother. I'll always be there for you. But do you mind if I can stay here for a few years and help and take care of these girls and guide them in a system in whatever way I can? So they were so supportive. And I always tease them. I said, no, no, you just wanted to get rid of an nagging mom. But they said, no. We knew your passion. We heard you on the phone. And when we have time, we will come and help you. So I'm really appreciative of that. Yes. Otherwise, I couldn't have been there. And a word about the situation now? The situation now has changed. As we all know, we say through the newspapers. I just came back on Wednesday. Things have changed in Afghanistan drastically. If you look at it from 14, 15 years ago, when you look at women empowerment, education, health, clinics, hospitals, the judiciary system, I mean, everything is not 100% perfect. But at least the seeds have been planted there. Let's put it this way. The only thing that's really a barrier to development of any country or anything you do in life is security. The insecurity and corruption. Two things. Like, for example, violation against women. I'll give you an example of that. First of all, there is just a system in Afghanistan. We have a lot of good laws. But there is no way of enforcing it. Enforcing it in the mean because of the corruptions get in the way. So what I saw this time, I was there for three months. I went again for three weeks. I ended up for three months. So the security situation has really deteriorated. And I know a lot of businesses are closing. A lot of people are becoming unemployed. So this kind of situation adds to the insecurity as well. Because when something happens, when something goes wrong, you don't know it was the Talib, it was Dahish, it was the thief, it was the person who was hungry, you don't know who did it. So right now that's where things are, the security situation. But even though, let's put it this way, the security situation has deteriorated, but we keep pushing. Thank you. We don't stop. Thank you. Ms. Bush, you've went to Afghanistan in 2005, then again 2006, 2008. Can you talk a little bit about those trips, what you learned, some of the insights you had, and perhaps some of the women that you met during those trips, some of them probably show up in your in your book now? Once I went to Bamiyan province and met the female governor there. And Bamiyan is the province that had the two huge towering six-century Buddhas that were carved into niches in the mountain wall. And I knew what they look like from photographs, but by the time I went they'd been destroyed and they were just rubble at the bottom of these two huge niches that had been there since the sixth century, but then destroyed by the Taliban. So there was this contrast between the ancient civilization of Afghanistan with these old Buddhas that had been destroyed, and then the idea that there was a female governor, which was the newer thing, newer since September 11th, and I remember coming to see her and what that was like and how thrilled I was to be there and see her, but then also this big symbol of the destruction of the ancient palimony really of Afghanistan. And did you meet some of the women at that time that are in your book now? I met most of the women that are in the book here in the U.S. through various things. Here Rosy and John who's here, let's see where the there she is over there and others whose stories are Mina obviously whose story is here. I've read, when I've been on the book to her, I've read from Mina's story the what she just told us, the story of seeing the little boy without shoes polishing the shoes of someone else and how that struck her and that picture stayed in her mind and led her to want to spend so much time there. So I've formed a lot of friendships with women in Afghanistan and it's been really, I mean and some of them are in here, some of the women in this book I don't know, but there are a few of them here as well today. I'd like to go back to something you started. There's a lot of intermittent press coverage here about Afghanistan, most of it bad, you know security's getting bad, Taliban are on the move and all the rest and I think we don't often appreciate how far the country has come and you started to talk a little bit about that. Could you say a little bit more about what has really been accomplished here in the last 14 years or so? Like I said earlier, we have accomplished a lot from 15 years ago, we didn't have girls going to school, we didn't have clinics for women, we didn't have women ministers, we didn't have women in parliament, so I can go on and on, especially business women, women advocates, the first year when I was there, let me explain it to you this way, when I first went there I was looking for women that they're doing the handicraft and the carpet weaving and all that, so I was looking for them all over the place and you couldn't find them, even in burqas on the streets, so I ran into this mullah and I kept asking, I just want to see like 10 or 15 women that I could work with and I could talk to and maybe I could teach them some days for economic empowerment purposes. He said okay why don't you come on a Friday and I will go ahead and show you the 15 and 20 women so you can work with them. I kind of didn't tell anybody where I was going because I know if I tell my dad I was going to this mosque, he will send 10 guards with me or he won't let me go, so I was afraid, but I did go with my friends and to be honest with you, I walked into that mosque, I had, I saw hundreds, hundreds of women with burqas sitting there and they were back, was facing me when I entered and I stood there, I said you got to be kidding me, what am I going to do with these hundreds and hundreds of women? So I stood there, I pretty much give them a message and talk to them saying that I'm here to help, I'm here to empower them so that they're not needy, they are not a charity case anymore because I'm very against becoming a charity case for the Afghan women, so you have to learn, you have to work and earn your money in order to raise your children, help your family and husband and everyone. So I lived there, that's what encouraged me to put together an NGO, so I put together an NGO for widows especially and I registered over 10,000 women and in six years then we did an assessment and to be honest in 10,000 women I had only 56 literate women, that's only high school I'm talking, high school which is, some of them were 8th grade, 9th grade so they were called literate and so this is what happened and then I was able to get you know funds from different institutions, donors and I did the capacity building and tailoring, sewing and English and literacy and computer classes as we started expanding but looking today you see a lot of Afghan women out there, this is what I'm trying to compare, at that, on that time you know you couldn't find anybody but now you find hundreds and thousands of women out there even in the provinces or in Kabul and on media for example you see them on television, the journalists, the teachers, I mean they're all over the place so it's not that difficult to find Afghan women now, thank God. One of the things in Mrs. Bush's forward there are some very nice statistics showing the progress on health and education, one that struck me I think at teenage girls now 36 percent literacy, 37 percent of the teachers in Afghanistan are now women so really remarkable progress and Mrs. Bush I know one of the things at the Institute and the Presidential Library you have been very instrumental in the women's initiative at the Bush Institute continuing the work you started as First Lady, what kinds of activities are going on in that project within the Bush Institute? Well at the Bush Institute we've had four classes of women fellowships, two from Egypt and two from Tunisia, we began with those two countries because they were the first and most active in the Arab Spring countries, we bring women all from the same country for a fellowship so that when they go home they have each other and they can introduce each other to their colleagues and their families and their friends and thereby broaden their networks, there's an SMU professor who did research that shows that your network is as important as your education level to your success and in societies where women are inside more they didn't have the chance to build the kind of networks that we as American women do so we've had now four classes, two Egyptian classes and two Tunisian fellows and we'll do another group this year of Egyptian fellows and our idea is just to continue to focus on these two so when they go home they really have a broad network now with the two groups and and and everybody else they've introduced each other to so that's one of the things that we're working on as part of our women's initiative, we have a women's health initiative, we in Africa we've added the testing and treatment for cervical cancer which is the leading cause of cancer death among African women to the PEPFAR platform, the AIDS platform that was set up when George was president, the president's emergency plan for age relief that's all across African outs really helped Africans build a health infrastructure with PEPFAR money treating the age to start with but now adding the testing and treatment for cervical cancer to to that so that's our global health initiative which of course is focused on women as well we have a First Ladies initiative we began with conferences in Africa with African First Ladies to talk about how they can use their roles in their countries while their husbands are head of state to work on issues that are important to them we've tried to match them with NGOs or corporations that are active in their countries and then talked about good governance the one African woman said well I know the government paid for your clothes and we said no they didn't Melanva there happened to be there she immediately said no they did not thinking about Mrs Clinton but but we do talk about good governance and the ways that First Ladies can help and now we broaden that to more than just African First Ladies we have a First Ladies initiative with First Ladies from all around the world what else here's charity she's the head of our women's initiative at the Bush Institute oh and then of course that US Afghan Women's Council we just which we just came from a meeting of here so African I mean Afghan First Ladies are part of our projects as well and working with Afghan women and that's obvious I mean that's what this book is and that's why we're here today and one of the things I thought is nice is it really is a I was honored had the privilege of sitting in on the meeting today it is a bipartisan effort I mean this is one area where Republicans and Democrats have worked together and I thought it was interesting that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote a nice blurb on the back of the book and I think it it continues to be a bipartisan effort here by the American people by the Congress and that's a wonderful thing mean I'd like to go back to you if I might and just ask you what is the sort of the frame of mind the spirit of Afghan women today what are they thinking about what are their their hopes particularly the young women who have who have seen such a change in their lives what's you know when you talk to them what's their frame of mind today what are their hopes what are their fears the frame of mind of Afghan women like I said earlier it has changed through the time of the first of the passport in the past 14 years they're not the same Afghan woman that they were 14 years ago they have come a long way they are they have learned their rights in every way and they're still learning I'm not saying if the whole country knows all the women they know their rights but they're still right learning and the other thing is they have learned how to advocate and their spirit is high all the time one thing I found about young women no matter if it was the golden ages of Honest on or the bad days or it doesn't matter where they are how they are how bad it is they have a high spirit they're very brave they're very courageous and they have the strong inner hope that it keeps them going all the time I have seen women that has really been through a lot of hardship and it just surprises me that how she comes to work the next day with a smile on her face and still you don't know what she has been through and it's that mask that she wears I call it it's that mask that she wears in order to look strong to move on and to and convince her children and her family it's okay that everything would be fine and of course just like everybody else Afghan women are like the like the other women in the in the world we're not any different than the Afghan women it is just the differences what kind of opportunities are given to them and what kind of opportunities are given to us that's the difference and the insecurity also plays a major role for them so Afghan women and overall they're in high spirits and their dream is to be just like everybody else a normal mother normal wife normal citizen and they just want to live just like everybody else even though like I said things are really getting rough these days but I don't know if you have seen the news and all that how they're pushing on the Farhanda case they're going they're advocating they're all over the place just one example so nothing stops them we're going to turn shortly to some questions from the audience I have a lots of good questions we'll try to get through as many of them we can I'd like to have a question really for each and both of you before we do that one is sort of unbalance are you hopeful for the future of Afghanistan and what can we the international community and we as Americans do to try to sustain the gains that have been made this bush could I start with you I am hopeful and I'm hopeful partly because what mean is said because I do know the spirits or in the strength of Afghan women and I think that's comes across in the book and in the stories of the women that are interviewed in the book so that makes me hopeful and I also think that the whole international community we in the United States as well as the whole international community needs to continue to do whatever we can to support women in Afghanistan and support the Afghan people we need to help them build an economy so people can have jobs so people can make money so that people can be become independent and those are the things that we need to continue to do but I also was heartened that President Obama chose to keep our troops there I think we need to keep the troops there we need to make sure that they had that Afghanistan has the security to be able to build the stability to form their government and continue to work on what they're working on I know Mrs. Ghani the new first lady of Afghanistan is very effective she's a member of our US Afghan women's council that met earlier today and sent a message to us she's hoping to build a women's university with women professors so that still when the traditional fathers don't want their daughters to go to university because of going with men or having men professors that there'd be an option for women and I think that's a good way that Americans could support her and that is to try to help in that way as she builds this women's university but obviously the most important thing is the security and our troops can help on that Mina same question to you are you hopeful and and what should we be doing I acknowledge Mrs. Bush and I agree because without security security is a number thing number one thing without security you cannot move forward everything starts collapsing around you and and we don't want the international community to leave as well we have started something as the international community and we have to continue and make it really solidify you know make it happen and make and show the world that you know we were there not 15 or 20 or 30 years and it happened you just don't want to leave a country in chaos when it's in chaos and that shows the failure on the international community so we have to continue what we're doing and we have to really pour more money into development than the military I'm sorry it's just if we have capable people and if people have food on a table and they have jobs why would you need military this is a question for me because I'm not a politician but I'm an activist so that's what comes to me all the time so for me first comes the development yes we do have to train the police to a limit we do have to train our military because of our neighbors but if you have good citizens and if you don't have hungry citizens who can be bought by your neighbors or by any politician or anybody I mean you will have a stable country but unfortunately for the past 14-15 years yes a lot of money has been poured but it hasn't really been poured into the real real development side of it it has been a lot into the military and police which has not been very effective either so even now the money a lot of the money has been allocated to the defense and military but I think if we could just add to that and add more money to development to develop people to give them jobs to create jobs the other thing that has happened with the trainings we train but we don't follow we can train all we want there should be a follow-up program maybe up to a year not short term but long term yeah we can do the trainings a month, two months or then everybody leaves okay so many women were trained and so many men and okay big pictures and done but we have to follow up if this person really found a job if this training was effective if it wasn't effective then what should we do to make it effective because we have already spent a lot of money and we want to see the a result that's successful to everybody to the donor to the Afghan people to everyone so that's where I'm coming from I don't want anybody to leave but to get more money added to the development side of it good and food is a security issue as well in fact they think that one of the reasons the Taliban and the that was that little boys were put in these madrasas but their parents put them there because they were hungry and they got fed so their food ends up being a security issue as well I want to I've been reading this one part of the book that I think fits what what we're talking about right now in the rest of the world we live in a very fast-paced life we want everything to happen in front of our eyes we don't think about the future we don't invest in the future unfortunately and that needs to change I'm sure other nations have gone through this societal change probably hundreds of years ago I think it'll happen in Afghanistan we just have to be patient and not give up because once you give up you have to start from scratch all over again right here this talking about the the non-security side and an issue that's very dear to the heart of USIP this is a question from Barbara from PAE for both of you the US government is implementing the largest rule of law program of its kind in the world in Afghanistan what should be its focus in the next five to 10 years particularly as it pertains to women and girls Mina do you want to take a shot at that one? sure good luck like I mentioned earlier the rule of law we have laws we have many laws needs to be enforced we have to learn how to enforce laws and how to use laws I remember I did have a in my NGO for two months I had a training for women lawyers this was probably 10 years ago and it was very interesting for me to find out that one of the lawyers she was being abused by her husband at home but then she would get out and go to court and try to defend everybody else so when I found that out I sat her down I said if you cannot defend yourself how can you defend others she started crying she goes even when I'm standing there trying to defend others I'm not making it because the judges that are there they have already been paid or they're stronger than me or the one who's across the table from me the other judge the opponent I mean the lawyer is stronger than me and I always get defeated this is why I need this training we need to really focus on women and judges and the attorneys starting from the university that's where we need to start working maybe the second and third year of the law university to start kind of practicing with them and advocating for them and teaching them how to defend themselves first in the house if you cannot defend yourself within your home within your own circle then you cannot defend yourself outside or defend anybody else and I also know lawyers and attorneys in Afghanistan that are women let me tell you they're very tough but there's just a few there are in that many and I think we need to really tap and focus on the younger generation that are going to be the next lawyers because the lawyers that are there from the past maybe 45 or 50 at that age I'm not trying to discriminate or anything it's really hard for them to change their way of work and their way of implementation and attitude and all but one thing we can focus on is the younger generation and teach them to really be the real lawyer to be in that court to win to go with an attitude that I can win so that's what I think good job thank you next question don't ask such a hard one yeah yeah they're all hard one of the ones they're sort of two that are related one comes from Marissa Ensor of Georgetown University and is a question for Mina I'd like to first ask this one Ed for really again for both of you this is from Lalit Keja of the Pajwa Afghan News I probably mispronounced that I apologize there's been on and off again talks peace talks with the Taliban on again off again uncertain how it would go do the women Ms. Bush that you work with and some of the women in the book that you know and have talked to and Mina for you as well are there fears about the peace process and fears of a peace agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban for what it will mean for women for what it will mean for the progress that women have achieved since 2001 will you go ahead I mean it depends on the way you give up if you to make peace with the Taliban I thought the latest I read is they left the table the Taliban have they come back or do you know as anybody know here they have left the Taliban have left the table recently I think in the last couple of days Andrew Wilder and Scott Kinney Hekmatiar who's one of the folks has indicated that he is willing to participate in the Afghan peace process query whether that will have an impact on the Taliban so it's I think it's still on again off again but the question is really are there some anxieties sure there are of course there is a lot of anxiety especially among women through this peace process and if you look at the whole picture the overall picture if you have in the peace council the peace council that was created years ago when you have 70 men and five women or six women how do you arrive at peace because there was five or six women that were selected they also cater to whatever that 65 or 70 men are saying so women are in minority and women are scared of course they are they're in anxiety and that like again they're fighting this in every way they can and they are so they don't get sacrificed you know during the peace process so they give you know they like during the Taliban times how women were secluded from everything and they don't want that to happen again because we have gained so much for the past 14 years and there is no way we will sacrifice that no way it doesn't matter what I mean I could I could tell you this because I come from I always have these gatherings these women and when they come from these meetings you should see their faces say over my dead body that was there that's how they speak there is no way I'm going to give up what I've gained in 14 years and politicians I'm sorry would sacrifice my right to the Taliban in order to bring peace that is not peace at the end of the day we are isolating half of the population so I don't think it will happen it is just an ongoing thing there is a lot more involved to it than the women it is what our neighbour country is asking for they're asking for a lot of things that Afghan people are not going to give up so that's my understanding of the peace council we've talked a lot about women and girls and the important role they have in Afghan society in the important role now in peace building one of the things that came up in the meeting earlier today was related to this question unsigned as you will how important do you think efforts are to reach men and boys in addition to women and girls if we are to change the culture and values of the society well that has to be done for sure reach men and boys I said earlier in the U.S. Afghan women's council meeting that one of my friends said to me I don't know why you're working with the women it's the men that need the work and there are efforts and we did hear that in the meeting earlier to work with men to talk or boys especially to talk about peace and conflict resolution and all of those other things but I think what happened is these boys weren't parented the ones that are grown up now that are the terrorist or the Taliban they didn't have parents who taught them how to be men and taught them how to mother and dad that taught them how to live instead they were sent to these madrasas and they were brainwashed and they were not taught how to get along with people and that's what a family a good family does a mother and a father and that has teached all the children the boys and the girls how to get along with other people and that other people's lives matter too Nina I agree with you Mrs. Bush but there's one thing and being in Afghanistan for the past 14 years that I've recognized yes we first have to work with the boys with the men because if the men and the boys are brought up pro women then we don't have to exactly do anything else any problems and in the meantime what has war done to these men we have to look at it this way and I cannot blame them most of the time it's because that boy that was born 30 years ago he was born during the war and you have to be protective of the women and children and the girls during the war so he was then the Taliban came so that was like an icing on the cake for this whole thing the mentality so that boy has been raised with that type of a mentality protect your woman don't show your woman don't show the girl and right now we are going through a social change and it's going to take time it's going to take probably another generation or two for men to come out and say yeah it's okay for really in a very normal way that we're doing it here you know it's okay if my daughter goes to work it's okay if my daughter goes to the movies it's okay if my daughter does this or that or my wife right now you see these challenges it's because of the war the war has brainwashed the men in Afghanistan and that generation is still there and it's going to be there for another maybe 30 years but it's going to take a long time maybe two or three generations so you could really see the change this is a related question from Mira Ayazi who's a student at George Mason University it's a little long but it's a good one as a first generation afghan-american I've been raised to learn how to balance my afghan heritage with my western surroundings given that Afghanistan has a patriarchal structured society what clashes or conflicts have you seen arise as a result of the resistance to women's equality that some may view as a western idea rather than an afghan idea and how have you seen balance created with tradition and this so-called western idea of women's equality and empowerment okay go ahead this beginning to be like jeopardy yeah exactly well the first thing that's very common it's the word gender the word gender in Afghanistan I mean the gender is equality empowerment between men and women and all of that I mean we know what it means it includes male and female but when you talk about gender in Afghanistan they all think women they think it's a western thing to have equal rights of women while to be honest with you in this long we do have equal rights for women there are rights for women there are good rights for women and what happened in the beginning when we all first went everybody went in without doing their homework everybody brought in the western ideas and unloaded in Afghanistan without thinking what is the culture what is the acceptance of all of these things how would people take this so when we started all these gender trainings it didn't go very well so you had to rename these things and really let people know what it really means and as an Afghan American when I've been there I've watched they would perceive you as an Afghan no problem but later in the day they would say okay you're here I know you're helping me I know you did this for me but you know what you have a passport you're going to leave you have that option and I always tell them yes I have that option but I'm here no matter what and that's one of the reasons these are all the perceptions because Afghan people they really have to trust you and I don't blame them for not trusting anybody because to be honest everybody has come in and invaded and left and ruined and took so they don't trust anybody and it has to do with the war and the way they have been treated and now for the past 14 years yes thanks to international community thanks to all the donors they have been there they have pushed issues for women like for example politically to be in the senate to be in the parliament to be in the government I mean the four ministers so it has been the four and push as well not only the government but still they have these doubts until you overcome those doubts with the western issues they will doubt the western issues anything you put forward they will think twice whether okay whether it comes from Germany it comes from Egypt it comes from America it doesn't matter as long as it's from a foreign entity they think twice they think they just don't want to go for anything anymore they'll think twice and say yes or no thank you very much we regrettably have come to the end of our time I want to thank all those who submitted questions and my apologies to those who submitted questions we didn't get to I'd like to turn to our panelists and just ask if you'd like a last word before Nancy comes up well I'd like to introduce the women who are in this book would you all stand the women who come that are in the book and I also want to say I think we've left to bleak of a picture it's not as bad as we made it sound today it is important that we all stay involved as Americans in Afghanistan it's important that we keep our troops there and to try to give Afghans the security and the space of security as they continue to build their country and for all the international community to continue to do the things they're doing in our meeting earlier with the U.S. and Afghan women's council one of the things we thought is so many non-profits have gone in maybe we ought to figure out how to get some for-profits in Afghanistan so they can see if we can be employed and make money and try to figure out ways to help develop the country so that the Afghan government can stand up and be the ones that take care of things in Afghanistan I just want to add something to all of this when I saw the book Mrs. Bush I'm really honored as always to be around you thank you and I'm thankful to the U.S. Afghan women council and they have been done an incredible job when I saw the book it reminded me it took me back to 14 years ago so I want to read something to you I just don't want to mess up the honorable Mrs. Bush I would like to thank you on behalf of Afghan men and women for all the work you have supported and cared and the care you have given the Afghan women and children you even went to Balmian I do remember those days I gave my first lobbying speech in Chicago in 2004 in front of 400 American businessmen and women I had to convince many leaders with my speech to believe in Afghan women's capacity and to fund for the projects after a long speech I ended with the following sentence with a lot of hope this is what the Afghan woman says still after her pain she says I feel like the thunder the dark days in this storm is left the sun is out now I just started blooming like a rose this rose needs tender love and care to fully bloom I do not want to die again Mrs. Bush through your leadership you have played a major role in watering these seeds by building capacity and today you have recognized a few of the blooming flowers in your book because 14 years ago it was not possible and I thank you from my heart thank you Nina thank you very much it's so so sweet thank you very much thanks everybody thank you Steve appreciate you on behalf of all of us here today and on behalf of US Institute of Peace I want to thank Mrs. Laura Bush Ms. Mina Shorzoi and of course Mr. Steve Hadley our chair thank you for reminding us that after 37 years of war it will take a long time maybe generational to fully emerge from that conflict but that there are extraordinary signs of progress and much hope and so thank you for your collective passion and inspiration this afternoon as we look at the pathway forward Mrs. Bush a special thanks for you for what you've done for Afghan women and women around the world with your work at the Bush Institute and thank you for bringing these beautiful powerful stories to all of us with your wonderful new book Voices of Hope and it's been an honor to host everybody here today I want to ask everybody to please stay seated while the panel departs the stage and please join me in one more round of thanks and applause for our wonderful panel