Carol Mann

Dear Cynthia Cockburn
I  have been following the exchanges on various lists and I am writing to you about Afghanistan,. First, I need to introduce myself for you to see where I’m coming  from. I am a scholar and activist based in Paris, specialized in the issue of Afghan women in war. Although affiliated with SOAS, [...]

The Afghan Wolesi Jirga is in the midst of voting for the cabinet ministers.
Three women had been incluuded: Palwasha Hassan was announced as nominee for Minister of Women’s Affairs (MoWA,  Suraya Dalil, as   Minister  of  Public Health and Amina Afzalirk  for Social Affairs/Martyred and Disabled. The first two were rejected. Through our friends at [...]

Human Rights Watch  published a report last December on women’s condition in Afghanistan. it is worse than appalling. Eight years and nearly nine billion dollars later, the situation for women in rural areas that dominate the country has barely evolved. Furthermore, in the past four years or so, in many cases, any progress acheived has [...]

Human Rights watch has just published an appalling report about the condition of women after eight years of NATO + US presence. One of the main reasons may well be the persistence of customary law, reinforced by reactionary politics.
This is an a brief article I wrote about the subject which just appeared in the Japan [...]

The more I think of these extra 30 000 troops trundling into Afghanistan, soon to be followed I fear by other NATO conscripts, the more I think that this is definitely the wrong thing to do. Afghanistan needs all the help it can get in terms of aid and reconstruction, yes, absolutely but I really [...]

So President Obama has decided in favour of increasing military involvement in Afghanistan. Like everyone else, I am just wondering why.  What are these unfortunate boys going to do? Sit in the desert and growl in itchy uniforms toting heavy guns? They are unlikely to impress anyone with this new inefficient show of force- except [...]

The plane has landed at Kandahar airport on my way back to Paris via Dubai. As good a place as any to start this report about my latest trip. Welcome to Kandahar International Airport, it says. A stop-over to Dubai from Kabul. Somehow, one does n’t exactly feel that welcome. Could it be the [...]

In the midst of the election/re-run turmoil, far from Kabul, I began to  realize how little this meant in provincial Afghanistan, in the province of Farah where I spent the best part of a week, with Zala to work on our Women and Children’s Centre. This extremely remote province is set in a harsh desert. [...]

A few days ago, I was invited by my friend Mary-Ann who has been valiantly conducting reconstruction projects in Kabul for over seven years. There’s an exceptionally courageous woman if ever there was one. She kindly invited me to stay over, even gave me her bed which has an adjoining bathroom. A bathtub, a [...]