December 8th, 2024
Dear friends,
I’ve only just realized that we didn’t send out a newsletter in November. The October newsletter came out very late. At that time, we were already preparing for our trip to Afghanistan, which we set off on November 10. Once you’re in Afghanistan, people think: “Well, he should be able to report something now.” But a lot of what you experience and learn, you first want to put into an overall picture, which still has to be formed. In short, the November newsletter fell by the wayside. I am sorry.
Now we are about to go home. It’s time to take stock. I’ll start with the environment of our activities, with the policies of the Afghan government, i.e. the Taliban.
The assessment that the Taliban leadership is divided is certainly correct: important Taliban leaders have spoken out in favor of better school and academic education for all young people – including women and girls – and constructive cooperation with other countries. On the other hand, there is Emir Haibatullah, who resides in Kandahar. He is the head of state of Afghanistan.
Since his appointment, several weeks after the Taliban seized power, he has taken the population, as well as the other Taliban leaders, by surprise with decrees that restrict the education of women and girls in a brutal and absurd manner. He only allows girls an elementary education. But he also insists on strict gender segregation in public spaces. Women are only allowed to be examined by female doctors. However, these will no longer exist in the foreseeable future, as they are not allowed to be trained.
At the beginning of December, the Emir struck again and banned the training of midwives, nurses and female dentists. The decree was written in unbearable diction. It concluded that no questions or discussions were allowed.
The other Taliban leaders reacted cautiously. They advocate national reconciliation, including with former opponents of the war, and equal treatment of ethnic groups. It is understandable that many people have not yet been able to internalize these principles, which are unusually far-sighted and peaceful for Afghanistan. But their insightful approach should also prevent most Taliban leaders from reacting spontaneously and rashly to the Emir’s orders. They realize that direct confrontation in the face of the head of state’s stubbornness would most likely lead to the collapse of Taliban rule, chaos and civil war. Nobody in Afghanistan wants that.
The Minister of Defense and the Minister of the Interior prefer not to use their powers. They are building up additional personal militias and waiting. The Emir – no matter how important or insignificant he was before his appointment – is now also a religious authority. He has established influence in the religious police and the secret service. The clergy determines the thinking of large sections of the population. They presumably hope to gain advantages and more power by backing the emir.
This stalemate has prevailed for three years, during which the Emir has surprised the world with ever new anti-women and generally misanthropic decrees. For example, friendships between believers and non-believers are forbidden. For the past three years, developments have been moving in a reactionary direction. So far, people have been reassured: “This will soon be over. The new beginning will be announced – probably on New Year’s Day, on National Day, at the end of the vacations, …” In the meantime, however, even the greatest optimists are losing their good mood.
Countries like Germany are staying out of it. They are distancing themselves from the “inhuman regime” and thus also from the people who live under it. That’s how comfortable and morally elevated feminist foreign policy is. In my opinion, on closer inspection, it would have been possible to exert a beneficial influence on the balance of power in the Taliban leadership. But this would probably have required the consent of big brother. And he still has to come to terms with the fact that he has once again lost a war.
During the first few weeks of our stay in Afghanistan, we prepared for filming OFARIN’s activities. We wanted to show how successful we are in our schools and in planting tens of thousands of walnut trees. For the most part, even the ideas and planning come from our Afghan employees. The implementation is professionally organized. That is a pleasure. It would have been worth capturing and presenting this ideal development work on film. But the lady who was filming surprised us by only filming girls‘ classes, lady-teachers and -trainers. OFARIN also had no opportunity to explain to the public why we support the host government through our activities despite their inhumane policies. Of course, we had hoped that the film would put our work in the right light and get more people interested in OFARIN. Nothing came of it. We will have to decide in advance with future film partners what should be shown. Nevertheless, we wish the film that has now been made, every success.
So, now we could actually have something positive to say. And, indeed, we are satisfied with our activities, precisely with what our Afghan employees are doing. But there is still a lot to complete and sort out before we leave. What’s more, our son – and not only he – has advised me not to write newsletters that are longer than two pages. I want to stick to that.
The things that have not yet been reported on will make up a second December newsletter. We will send it out from home as soon as possible. So, there will be two December newsletters to make up for the fact that there was no November newsletter.
Kind regards,
Peter Schwittek