'US makes mockery of Afghan democracy'
New York, June 19: The United States is making a mockery of democracy and the war on terrorism by supporting corrupt Afghan lawmakers who are criminals and warlords, said an outspoken female Afghan politician, who was removed from parliament.
Malalai Joya, 29, was effectively expelled last month when the lower house of parliament voted to suspend her for the remaining 3 1/2 years of her term after she described the legislative body as ''worse than a stable'' during an interview.
Washington ''supports the same enemies, who are mentally like the Taliban. ... They brought them back into power,'' soft-spoken Joya told Reuters in an interview during her first visit to the United States.
''This is the wrong policy. Do not support fundamentalist warlords,'' she said. ''Every day for the people of Afghanistan is September 11. Please pressure your government to change this policy, it is a mockery of democracy, it is a mockery of the war on terror.'' The United States invaded Afghanistan after the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks on New York and Washington to oust the Taliban government after if failed to surrender Osama bin Laden, leader of the Islamist al Qaeda network.
Afghanistan has been fractured by rival warlords since the Soviet Union pulled out in 1989 and its lower house of parliament, elected in 2005, is full of ex-warlords and former militia leaders along with suspected drug dealers.
'Rape
Her'
Dressed
in
a
grey
pinstriped
suit
with
her
dark
hair
pulled
back
in
a
ponytail
and
sitting
in
the
New
York
offices
of
Human
Rights
Watch,
Joya
said
the
parliament
had
kicked
her
out
so
she
could
no
longer
oppose
and
expose
their
actions.
''Many, many times they insulted me, even inside of the parliament they threw water at me and they threatened me with death, and one of them shouted, 'Take her and rape her,''' she said. ''They turned off my microphone.
''This is a completely non-democratic parliament, they stand up against the constitution and they do non-democratic acts,'' she said ahead of the screening of a documentary about her 2005 election campaign at the Human Rights Watch film festival.
One such act was a proposal in the lower house of parliament for a blanket amnesty for those who committed war crimes over nearly 30 years of conflict. She asked, ''How can criminals forgive themselves?'' Joya said the Afghan people had been hopeful the US-led invasion ''would bring democracy for them and security for them and many more things like that, but unfortunately we are looking at a worse situation than the Taliban period.'' Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion and, while a threatened spring offensive by insurgents has not materialized, violence has continued through suicide bombings and other attacks.
Despite death threats, Joya vowed to fight on for her people and to stand in the next election.
''I will continue more and more with my struggle because most of my people are with me,'' she said.
Reuters
Related Stories
Afghanistan
roadside
bomb
kills
3
coalition
soldiers
>