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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Omar Samad, Susan Safi-Rafiq

Aired December 01, 2001 - 09:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to U.N.-sponsored talks under way in Germany to form a post-Taliban government. The Northern Alliance promises to finalize a list today of candidates to represent them in an interim power-sharing government. The three other groups participating in the summit have already submitted their lists.

Let's talk about life after the Taliban. Joining me from Bonn is Omar Samad of the Afghanistan Information Center, and from Washington, Susan Safi-Rafiq of the Afghan Women's Association International.

Good to see you both.

OMAR SAMAD, AFGHANISTAN INFORMATION CENTER: Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: Omar, let's begin with you, Omar, and talk about the mood there at the Bonn meeting. And are women's voices being heard? And I've seen the videotape, and I really haven't seen that many female faces. How diverse is this crowd?

SAMAD: Well, the mood, first of all, is pretty positive, has been throughout the past five or six days that we've been here in Bonn. There are a total of six Afghan women as part of the four delegations that are attending the conference here. Three of them are what would you -- what you would call permanent delegates as part of the -- two of the delegations, one from the Northern Alliance, representing one woman, and then there are two women representing the Rome, or Loya Jirga, former king's process. And then there are three women as advisers or alternates.

So overall, they have a voice, and they have told us over the past few days that they feel that they have been given the floor and that they are being heard.

PHILLIPS: Now, Susan, what's your reaction to that? I want to -- and since we're focusing on women in post-Taliban government, or the hope thereof, I want you also to touch on what you remember about influential women pre-Taliban days, and what an impact they had.

SUSAN SAFI-RAFIQ, AFGHANISTAN WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL: Yes, we are very positive about the movement right now in Bonn. The young generation of the delegates, they are very much positive. They have already restored the rights that were taken away from the women of Afghanistan by the Taliban. Women have the right to go back to school and go back to their works, and they are a crucial part of the delegations right now in Bonn.

We see the faces of the women. They are at the tables, making decisions and working with the delegations. And you have to realize, there was a system in place, Afghan women did have rights, constitutional rights, from the 1950s and '60s inside Afghanistan. They had the right to vote, to education, to -- and they were a decision-making body of the Afghanistan politics. The system was in place and it was working very well. And that is something that the delegation is realizing, the power of women being included in the decision-making for a future of a (inaudible) secure Afghanistan is very important.

On top of that, women do emphasize on the support of the international peacekeeping forces, and also the United Nations peacekeeping forces for a future secure and stable Afghanistan.

PHILLIPS: Susan, let's talk about, for political stability, how do women -- what is it women offer? And particularly these women, with this past experience and the times they lived out through the very -- the war, what is it specifically you feel that they can contribute that would lead to political stability?

SAFI-RAFIQ: Women are basically nurturing, and not -- they are peacekeepers and not war makers. That is very crucial to the future of Afghanistan. Women need the support of their international counterparts, the international community and the U.N. peacekeeping forces. But they are going to be the nurturing, the peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan. They have proven to be so and to do so in the past.

And we are very optimistic that they will be doing that in the future too.

PHILLIPS: So Omar, how do you restore order in such a chaotic time? Does there need to be a new constitution? Does there need to be women in a very diverse type of new government?

SAMAD: Yes, absolutely. I mean, they are making that very clear here in Bonn, that women have to be involved in the political makeup of the (inaudible) Afghanistan in the future, that they are part of the decision-making bodies that will be set up in the future in Afghanistan, that their voices that have been muffled for almost now a decade or more has to be heard. And the women here have taken a giant step forward after many years of being silenced, and especially under the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

And I think that this is a first step, and there are many more steps ahead for them, and they are making that heard, and everybody's listening to them. There have been many delegations that have come and met with the people here in Bonn from outside the conference venue. There was a delegation from the European Union, and it included Afghan women. There was a delegation of Afghan civil society organizations that came and included women.

So there's a lot of activity outside of the political realm of Bonn going on and including women and for women. PHILLIPS: Omar Samad, Susan Safi-Rafiq, both of you, thank you very much. I know this will be a discussion that we will definitely continue throughout many weeks ahead. Thank you both.

SAFI-RAFIQ: Thank you for having us.

SAMAD: Thank you.

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