Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been described as the world’s most dangerous country for women. Violence against women (VAW) takes many forms, and has complex and deep roots in the patriarchal culture of the Afghan society. One form of VAW is denying them access to food.

Responsible Democracy: The richness of Afghanistan in natural resources has great potential for conflict. Since 2012, the Heinrich Böll Foundation therefore moved deliberately in this politically sensitive terrain.

The relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan is still fragile. Our project “Regional civil society engagement in green dialogs” seeks to shift the discussion from its primer focus on security aspects to shared interests by managing natural resources equitably.

With a backlog of more than 350,000 asylum applications, Germany is under pressure to speed up the asylum process. But efforts to quickly process Syrian refugees shortchange Afghanis and others.

The research project highlights the national level parliaments and critically reviews quota designs, practices and experiences of women parliamentarians on both quota seats as well as general seats. A delegation of women parliamentarians, together with civil society activists from Afghanistan and Pakistan, went on a visit to Berlin and Brussels to discuss the first key findings.

Afghan Women have had a long journey in terms of their rights and socio-political participation since the Taliban downfall in 2001. As Afghanistan has just entered into a new decade of transformation, the main questions related to women, peace and security remain: What has been built to ensure women’s protection and participation over the last decade? And what strategic approach could consolidate gender equality in the decade to come?

Current Afghan politicians must allow and help young politicians to assume better roles in the country’s political system so that we can move towards an ideal society with modern politics.

I will struggle for social justice using all of my physical and mental capacity. It actually does not matter whether you are alone or in a group, but what is important is how you manage and structure your energy.

The tribal mindset still rules the society but the youths have proved their abilities at both national and international levels decreasing the level influence of patriarchy. 

Keeping in view a particular structure—is actually not erasing the previous generation of politicians. But the objective is to pay more attention to young people, and the experiences of successful politicians must be used in that regard.

Young people are an energetic portion of a society. They can get involved in political activism. They can also contribute to the fight against corruption, insecurity, and factors such as nepotism to establish a better government.

The main victims in the fight to reach peace and security are young people. Nonetheless, in government decision making, the role of young politicians is negligible; this shows what the government’s motivations actually are.

Why leaving Afghanistan might be the preferred choice for the young and restless.

Natural resources should be a major contributor to development in some of the countries that need it most. And yet, in some of world’s poorest and most fragile states, they bring just the opposite.

This year’s election is not the first fraudulent election the country has experienced. An assess of the structure of power and the behavior of Afghanistan's elites vis-à-vis democratic forms of power.

Zahir Athari was born in Daikundi province. After his village was devastated by the civil war he left his birthplace. He studied journalism and works with Afghan refugees in Norway. He spoke to us about the biggest challenge facing politics in Afghanistan.

Manizha Ramiz studies psychology at Kabul University and works for Education TV.  We spoke to her about the situation für young politicians in Afghanistan and why today's generation doesn't accept some political parties.

Development projects and construction work around military bases make up an overwhelmingly large part of Afghanistan’s economy. With foreign troops withdrawing and declining aid, the country is looking for its future economic path.

Afghanistan has a new mining law that aims to tap the potentially lucrative sector to fund the country's post-war development. Critics say, it falls short of international standards and could encourage further conflict and corruption.

Humaira Saqeeb was born in Kabul in 1982, during her school years she was a refugee. Today she is editor-in-chief of the "Women News Agency" and member of the “Women Political Participation Committee”. We talked to her about the ongoing violence against women in Afghanistan.