AFGHANISTAN: Female Afghan Candidates, Voters Defy Taliban Threats

Standing up to Taliban death threats, a record number of women participated in Afghan parliamentary elections September 18.

“I am happy that Afghan women are becoming interested in politics day by day,” Fatana Gilani, head of the Afghan Women's Association, told Central Asia Online. “I am optimistic for the future of women in Afghanistan.”

Out of 2,446 total candidates running for 249 seats in the lower house, Olasi Jirga, 385 are women. There are 68 seats reserved for women.

“It would be premature to discuss the number of female participants in parliamentary elections ... but based on our preliminary information, a significant number of women voted in Balkh, Herat and Khost provinces,” Jandad Speenghar, CEO of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan told Central Asia Online.

Women advance in society after Taliban fall

Women have struggled to strengthen their role in society since the Taliban's fall in 2001.

Some progress has been dramatic: hundreds of women are running for seats in parliament, just nine years since they were banned by the Taliban from attending school.

“I am running in elections to prove women can do anything men do," Kabul parliamentary candidate Nafisa Selay Wardak said. “I hope I can get enough votes ... and will try my best to do something positive."

Before the elections, the Taliban issued threats and killed some candidates and campaign volunteers. The Taliban opposes elections on principle but particularly despises the election of female officials.

Five campaign workers serving candidate Fauzia Gilani were killed in Herat province in August.

One Kabul resident, Nasrin Khadimi, expressed her appreciation for women's bravery in participating in the elections.

“It was such a great day for me when I went to vote for my favourite candidate, who was a woman,” said Khadimi, 23. “Once again Afghan women proved that they want peace in the country, not to live in darkness."

Women voters outnumber men in some areas

Khadimi praises Afghan forces' efforts to protect their fellow citizens, especially women.

“I realised that good security, better work by IEC (Independent Election Commission) employees and, most of all, participation by important women raise the popularity of voting,” she added. “I am proud to be an Afghan girl."

In some districts of southern province of Khost, officials found that apparently more women than men voted. The finding resembles data from last year's presidential elections: in some areas outside Taliban control, women accounted for nearly 60% of voters.

“I appreciate women's participation in Khost, but I hope they're not a part of some fraud,” Khost Governor Abdul Jabar Naiemi told reporters September 19.

Women ran for parliament or voted against a backdrop of concern that the government may strike a peace deal with the Taliban that sacrifices women's rights. The UN reported at the end of 2009 that violence against women had reached its highest incidence since the Taliban's ouster.