[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.A.S.C. No. 113-39]
TRANSITIONING TO AFGHAN SECURITY
LEAD: PROTECTING AFGHAN WOMEN?
__________
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD
APRIL 25, 2013
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
----------
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
80-768 PDF WASHINGTON : 2013
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
MARTHA ROBY, Alabama, Chairman
K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas NIKI TSONGAS, Massachusetts
MO BROOKS, Alabama ROBERT E. ANDREWS, New Jersey
WALTER B. JONES, North Carolina JACKIE SPEIER, California
AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma
Christopher Bright, Professional Staff Member
Paul Lewis, Counsel
Arthur Milikh, Clerk
C O N T E N T S
----------
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF HEARINGS
2013
Page
Hearing:
Thursday, April 25, 2013, Transitioning to Afghan Security Lead:
Protecting Afghan Women?....................................... 1
Appendix:
Thursday, April 25, 2013......................................... 35
----------
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013
TRANSITIONING TO AFGHAN SECURITY LEAD: PROTECTING AFGHAN WOMEN?
STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Roby, Hon. Martha, a Representative from Alabama, Chairman,
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations................... 1
Tsongas, Hon. Niki, a Representative from Massachusetts, Ranking
Member, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations........... 2
WITNESSES
Lockhart, Clare, Director, Institute for State Effectiveness, and
Former Advisor, U.N. and Government of Afghanistan............. 20
Sanok, Stephanie, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Center for
Strategic and International Studies, International Security
Program........................................................ 22
Sedney, David S., Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, U.S. Department of
Defense; and MG Michael H. Shields, USA, Director, Pakistan/
Afghanistan Coordination Cell, J-5, The Joint Staff, U.S.
Department of Defense.......................................... 5
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Lockhart, Clare.............................................. 51
Roby, Hon. Martha............................................ 39
Sanok, Stephanie............................................. 58
Sedney, David S., joint with MG Michael H. Shields........... 43
Tsongas, Hon. Niki........................................... 41
Documents Submitted for the Record:
[There were no Documents submitted.]
Witness Responses to Questions Asked During the Hearing:
Mr. Andrews.................................................. 71
Ms. Duckworth................................................ 72
Mrs. Roby.................................................... 71
Ms. Speier................................................... 71
Ms. Tsongas.................................................. 71
Questions Submitted by Members Post Hearing:
Ms. Duckworth................................................ 75
TRANSITIONING TO AFGHAN SECURITY LEAD: PROTECTING AFGHAN WOMEN?
----------
House of Representatives,
Committee on Armed Services,
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations,
Washington, DC, Thursday, April 25, 2013.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:10 p.m., in
room 2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Martha Roby
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARTHA ROBY, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM
ALABAMA, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
Mrs. Roby. Well, good afternoon. Sorry for the delay. It
always seems that just when we want to get going on a
conversation, they call votes. But it is our constitutional
duty. But glad to be here with you. Good afternoon to each of
you.
I am really glad that I had the opportunity to call this
hearing today about how the United States can ensure the safety
and political freedom of the Afghan women after responsibility
for that security is ceded to the Afghan Government.
And, you know, it is not lost on anybody in this room that
there are a number of important issues that Congress must
consider in connection with Afghanistan: How and when should
the United States responsibly transfer security
responsibilities to the Afghans? What sort of residual U.S.
forces should remain after that time? And what functions these
forces be equipped and prepared to undertake?
But women and girls in Afghanistan have made enormous gains
since the United States and its allies toppled the Taliban
government. And in Afghanistan today, women and girls I have
seen firsthand attending schools and universities. They hold
elected office, they are present in the military and police
forces, and they enjoy many personal freedoms that were
suppressed during the earlier ruthless rule.
And while there have been many important improvements in
safety, security, and rights of women, much more must be done,
and the hard-won rights and progress Afghan women and girls
have realized during the last 11 years must not disappear once
the U.S. reduces its forces in Afghanistan. Those planning the
security transition and determining residual force structures
have got to keep this in mind, and I would suggest my
colleagues here in the House of Representatives should as well.
The safety and security of women in Afghanistan is not a
discrete topic unmoored from the balance of our security
considerations. Rather, the condition of Afghan women is an
important barometer of the success of our efforts. As I say
oftentimes, it is the litmus test as to whether or not we are
winning the war in Afghanistan. And a safer Afghanistan with a
functioning government responsive to its people and
inhospitable to terrorists and extremists is better for all,
men and women, boys and girls.
This is a deeply personal topic to me. I have traveled to
Afghanistan twice. The ranking member Ms. Tsongas was with me
on our first trip, and I am planning on being back there in the
near future. And these have been delegations of female Members
of Congress, a bipartisan codel, where we saw firsthand the
impressiveness of our military's efforts in Afghanistan. And I
witnessed, as well as Ms. Tsongas, the important sacrifices
that are being made by our men and women in uniform.
But the unique part about the trip that the women take to
Afghanistan is that we actually get to sit down and spend time
with Afghan women. We have met with doctors, soldiers, elected
officials, and girls who aspire to be in those very positions,
and all of these women are pursuing lives that were absolutely
unthinkable under the Taliban. We have met with wives and
mothers who have a degree of personal freedom and independence
previously prohibited by the Taliban and others.
And I can tell you the reason this is so personal to me is
because I am a wife and a mother, and I have had the right and
the privilege in this country, this free country, to pursue an
education, career, and public office. And I don't want Afghan
women to face a future where their successes and security is
jeopardized, all while keeping in mind what happens to these
women and these little girls, again, is the litmus test as to
what is really happening in that country, which in turn
translates to the effect that it will have on our national
security here at home. And I fear that if this is the case, if
Afghanistan reverts to the Taliban's control, or a more strict
and oppressive government, these women will absolutely suffer,
and I believe that it will happen virtually overnight.
As the United States continues to work with the Government
of Afghanistan to determine the future size and role of our
forces, the continued promotion and protection of the right of
Afghan women and girls must not be forgotten or pushed aside.
Again, this is an important issue, one that I know Ms.
Tsongas has spent a lot of time on in her time in Congress, one
that we share as a really important discussion that we would
have in this room together. And before introducing our first
panel, I would like to turn to the distinguished ranking member
for any remarks that she may wish to make.
[The prepared statement of Mrs. Roby can be found in the
Appendix on page 39.]
STATEMENT OF HON. NIKI TSONGAS, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM
MASSACHUSETTS, RANKING MEMBER, SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND
INVESTIGATIONS
Ms. Tsongas. Well, thank you, Chairwoman Roby.
I want to echo our chairwoman's remarks. And thank you all
for being here. But I want to echo her remarks about the
importance of this hearing. It is quite timely in a number of
ways. Both our committee and the SASC [Senate Armed Services
Committee] recently heard testimony from General Dunford on our
evolving strategy to draw down from Afghanistan. I have long
supported bringing our troops home from Afghanistan as quickly
as possible, and was in favor of an even more expedited
timeline than the President, but I also believe we must put in
place a plan that does this responsibly and safely, and which
does not sacrifice the vital gains which have been made by
women. I think it is the one true positive that we can point
to.
A 2011 poll found that 86 percent of surveyed Afghan women
were concerned that a Taliban-style government could return
after the withdrawal of the international community. And while
every drawdown requires tradeoffs and tough choices, I
completely agree with what Ms. Lockhart, who will be in our
second panel, said in her testimony that, ``women's rights are
not a tradable good.''
Since becoming a Member of Congress, I have had the honor
of visiting Afghanistan four times, and my last trip was with
Congresswoman Roby. I have been fortunate to visit in
particular with some of our military moms who are serving
there, female soldiers who have children back home. And we will
be going back to Afghanistan soon, and hope to meet again with
Afghan women as well as more military moms.
The ever-increasing participation of women in our military
demonstrates the important contribution women are making to our
efforts in Afghanistan and around the world, but it also stands
in stark contrast to the involvement that Afghan women are able
to have in their country's public life. For a safe, stable, and
secure Afghanistan to emerge, women must be fully included in
Afghan society and government.
Two years ago, we both visited a school where over 1,000
young Afghan girls cycled through each day. It was a remarkable
place. When we asked them, the senior members, those who were
in the senior classes, what they wanted to be when they grew
up, the answers we heard were ``doctor, lawyer, teacher,'' and,
amazingly, working in the press. And we questioned that one.
But the reality was brief exposure to education elevated those
sight lines so quickly that they wanted exactly what our own
daughters would want. These young women felt optimistic about
opportunities that were previously unheard of for women in
Afghanistan.
Ensuring that these young girls continue to have access to
these opportunities is not only good for the future of
Afghanistan, it is good for the United States as well so that
we can help a more peaceful and just future there, and the way
in which we move forward will impact our moral authority around
the globe. We cannot be seen as abandoning those gains.
As we reduce our military presence in Afghanistan, the
United States must be cognizant of how we will ensure that
women continue to have a seat at the table and that the nascent
gains are not abdicated. Progress has been made in some areas.
For example, 27 percent of the Afghan Parliament is female.
However, much more can be done in other areas, such as
recruiting women into the Afghan National Army and police
force, where they are very poorly represented. And I look
forward to hearing your thoughts on that.
In December of last year, just before we considered last
year's defense bill, we were reminded of the tenuous position
of women in Afghanistan when the acting head of women's affairs
in an eastern province was assassinated as she traveled to
work. I worked with other members of the committee for
inclusion in the bill of a provision, section 1233 in that
bill, which requires the Department of Defense to produce a
plan to promote the security of Afghan women and girls as it
withdraws from the country. It would encourage the recruitment
of women as members of the security forces, and requires the
Department of Defense to report back on its progress towards
meeting these goals. I know it is not due quite yet, but I look
forward to receiving it from the Department and hearing from
you any preliminary observations that you can discuss. I look
forward to our discussion.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Tsongas can be found in the
Appendix on page 41.]
Mrs. Roby. Thank you, Representative Tsongas.
I want to recognize that Mrs. Davis is here, and Mr.
Lamborn may be joining us. And before I ask for unanimous
consent, I didn't see you come in, but I do want to point out
that Mrs. Davis has traveled many more times than either one of
us to Afghanistan on this CODEL [Congressional Delegation] with
women, and she offers a unique perspective. And although not a
member of this subcommittee, I wanted to make sure that you
were here to offer your insight because you have worked so hard
on this issue, and we spent a lot of hours on a plane talking
about it. So I am glad you are here.
So therefore I ask unanimous consent that Mrs. Davis and
any other nonsubcommittee members, if any, be allowed to
participate in today's hearing after all the subcommittee
members have had an opportunity to ask questions. Is there
objection?
Without objection, nonsubcommittee members will be
recognized at the appropriate time for 5 minutes.
So today's hearing includes two panels. Our first panel, we
will hear from two representatives of the Department of
Defense. And in our second panel we will receive testimony from
two outside observers.
For the first panel we have Mr. David Sedney. He is the
Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Afghan policy.
Thank you for being here. And Major General Michael H. Shields
is the Director of the Pakistan/Afghanistan Coordination Cell
on the Joint Staff.
I understand, Mr. Sedney, that you have a prepared
statement, but both Mr. Sedney and General Shields will take
questions from Members. So I thank you both for joining us
today, and I look forward to hearing your testimony.
So Mr. Sedney.
STATEMENT OF DAVID S. SEDNEY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF
DEFENSE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN AND CENTRAL ASIA, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; AND MG MICHAEL H. SHIELDS, USA,
DIRECTOR, PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN COORDINATION CELL, J-5, THE
JOINT STAFF, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Mr. Sedney. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman, Ranking
Member Tsongas, members of the subcommittee. It is something
that I value highly, the opportunity to talk to you today on
the issues of security in Afghanistan, security of Afghan
women, and the role of the Department of Defense.
First, Madam Chairman, you are exactly right in your focus
on the security issues. The progress that has been achieved in
Afghanistan over the last 11 years, and it is manifold, and
women have been the greatest benefits of that progress, all
rest on the basis of security. We are withdrawing our troops.
Ranking Member Tsongas, as you know, we have withdrawn 33,000
troops over the last 19 months from Afghanistan, and we
continue. And the President said we would withdraw another
34,000 by February of next year. That is possible because the
Afghan security forces are stepping to the fore and taking the
lead in security.
As General Dunford told you, this coming fighting season
will be the opportunity for them to really prove that as they
are fully in the lead. If the Afghan security forces fail, then
the progress of Afghan women will fail as well. Without
security, none of the things that we are talking about will be
possible. Building that security, building the Afghan Security
Forces remains the core mission of the Department of Defense in
Afghanistan, and will continue. And we thank you very much for
the continued support and the funding which the Congress has
appropriated for that effort, because without that, there would
be no progress on Afghan women's issues or other issues in
Afghanistan.
As you said, Madam Chairman, progress in Afghanistan has
been great, and greatest for women. Since 2001, Afghan women's
health, education, political participation have all increased
enormously, in many cases from zero, or less than zero. The
Afghanistan Constitution has language in it that protects the
rights of women, and the Government of Afghanistan, most
recently at the Tokyo Conference, has reaffirmed that the human
rights of its citizens, and particularly the equality of men
and women, will be guaranteed and are guaranteed under the
Afghan Constitution and its international human rights--and
Afghanistan's human rights obligations.
To reduce discrimination and violence against women, the
Afghan Government has enacted laws prohibiting violence against
women, ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination Against Women, and put in place bureaucratic
structures to implement that; however, implementation of these
laws and ending violence against women is an area of great
challenge.
Afghan women still face huge obstacles, huge problems from
violence, from discrimination throughout their society. The
troubles of poverty, illiteracy, weak security, and poor health
continue to afflict women disproportionately, and violence
against women and girls remains a serious problem. As you said,
Madam Chairman, many women; I think you will find the same
percentage or higher when you go back this time.
I talk to Afghan women when I go to Afghanistan, and they
do fear that return of the Taliban; they do believe that they
would immediately lose all the progress they have had. And in
fact, many of the women who have benefited the most from the
progress are the ones who are most at risk. They fear they will
be killed as a result of participating in the opportunities
that we have helped bring them.
Afghan women have made progress in health and education as
well as the political arena. You mentioned the seats in the
National Assembly. You mentioned the seats in the National
Assembly. There are women serving on the High Peace Council.
And women take place in many other areas, such as the Tokyo
Conference I mentioned, loya jirgas [grand council], and the
various conferences about Afghanistan.
In many ways, most importantly at a local level, women are
gaining increased presence and visibility through the National
Solidarity Program, and they constitute 24 percent of the
participants in these local community development councils,
which bring real improvements in the lives of everyday average
Afghan women.
Ensuring that this increased civic political participation
continues and improves is dependent upon an effective rule of
law. An effective rule of law is also dependent upon the
presence of women in the justice system. Women's participation
in the justice system raises awareness and improves
implementation of existing Afghan laws and Afghans'
Constitution.
One area where there has been progress is the recruitment
of female judges. There are now approximately 150 female
judges, up from 50 in 2003. So a big proportional increase, but
still a very small number. This kind of increased participation
helps build towards a more effective rule of law.
The main focus of the Department of Defense's efforts to
support women's security in Afghanistan is through our
participation in ISAF's [International Security Assistance
Force] Afghan National Security Forces development. Improving
the recruitment of women into the Afghan security forces,
improving their status and treatment, and improving the
treatment of civilian women by the Afghan security forces
across the country are a priority for ISAF, the Afghan security
forces, and for us.
Both the ISAF and the Afghan ministries have large numbers
of programs aimed at protecting women's rights and promoting
women in the Afghan security forces. Implementation of a gender
policy within Afghan armed forces is a long-term project,
however. As you mentioned, Madam Chairman, women continue to
face discrimination, even when they enter. You have met with
the women. I am sure you have heard that not only are they
proud to serve, but they still face problems.
Across the Afghan security forces, there are policies and
programs in place that attempt to address harassment and
violence against women, but they depend upon implementation.
Many times that implementation is on the part, almost always on
the part, of men who are not yet fully committed. It remains a
big challenge, but we are there and we are working on it.
We have helped to design and execute educational programs
and to help build those gender-implementation policies that I
mentioned. I would say that support from Afghan leadership is
essential to having this happen, and I would say the political
will is present among the Afghan leaders in some cases.
Additional things that we have done, Congress has funded
the Task Force for Stability Operations in the Department of
Defense budget. On May 25, the task force and the American
University of Afghanistan will open their International Center
for Afghan Women's Economic Development. It will be the first
of its kind to lead and coordinate international and Afghan
public- and private-sector efforts to advance women's roles in
helping to lead Afghanistan's economic stabilization and
growth. TFBSO [Task Force for Business and Stability
Operations] has used money Congress has appropriated to fund a
state-of-the-art facility that has already been built and will
open on the 25th, as I mentioned, on the American University's
campus.
Additionally, over the last 10 years--or actually 8 years--
the Department of Defense has invested approximately $40
million through the Commander's Emergency Response Program to
fund more than 900 projects that specifically target the needs
of women and girls in Afghanistan. More than a third of these
were directly focused on improving the education of women and
girls by repairing and building schools and women's centers,
supplying education materials, and providing gender-appropriate
training programs.
However, as I said, challenges remain. Recruitment of women
for the army, air force, and police continue to fall short of
goals. The primary obstacle for this is very likely family-
related issues, opposition from families. Other impediments,
such as a lack of challenging assignments for females upon
graduation, sexual harassment and violence in the workplace,
and difficulties regarding separate housing, toilet and bathing
facilities, continue to be challenges.
We are closely monitoring the security of the Afghan
population, including in some cases especially women, Afghan
women in transition areas. This transition that is happening in
Afghanistan is a dynamic process. Areas are proceeding on
different timelines. As I mentioned before, the Afghan security
forces are taking the lead. That doesn't mean that we are
leaving, but it means we are in an advise and assist. We have
much less opportunity to directly intervene in those areas, but
we will continue doing that.
I want to stress that our commitment to this remains, our
recognition of the challenges is there, and I look forward to
your questions.
[The joint prepared statement of Mr. Sedney and General
Shields can be found in the Appendix on page 43.]
Mrs. Roby. Thank you so much for your testimony.
And I would like to remind the members of this committee we
have a hard stop time. So if we can all try, and I will try to
lead by example, to stay within our 5 minutes. We have a second
panel right after this, and I know you all have lots of
questions.
I want to start with something that you just said, because
it reminded me, and Ms. Tsongas and Ms. Davis will remember
this, we were at the Embassy, and we were meeting with some of
the women that were both in the Parliament and judges. And one
of the comments that was made is, yes, there are positions for
women available, but not at the highest level. So from a rule-
of-law perspective, you know, these female judges are saying,
yeah, it is great, we are there, we can weigh in; however, when
the final decision is made at the top, there is no women there.
And a lot of what is done at the lower-level courts gets
overturned, and we make no progress. So, I mean, do you want to
add anything to that?
Mr. Sedney. What I would add is that in the case of the
Afghan security forces, in the police and the army, there are
not only women at the enlisted ranks, but also women at the
noncommissioned officer and officer ranks that are beginning to
move up within the army and police systems. There are no senior
officials in the Afghan Ministry of Defense or Ministry of
Interior yet--and they are all people who have come up through
the uniformed ranks--who are women now. However, they are
making progress because they have come in and moved forward.
I was with Secretary Hagel last month when he visited
Afghanistan, visited the noncommissioned officer training
center, and visited a training class for noncommissioned
officers for senior sergeants. In that there were, I believe,
seven Afghan women NCOs [noncommissioned officers] who were
completing the elite-level training course for sergeants. So
they are moving forward through the military.
Mrs. Roby. We are just not there yet. And the problem is
the withdrawal is happening very quickly, and, I mean, I think
that is, you know, my concern. We have had the opportunity to
participate in a shura [consultative council] with women. We
hear from our commanders on the ground. And, General Shields,
you may want to address this. We hear in our last briefing a
year ago we were told, you know, we are ready to turn over some
of these operations to the Afghan security forces to be able to
handle them, but we go into a room with all women, and we are
told exactly the opposite--and some of these women, their
husbands are former Taliban members--please don't leave us, we
are not ready. Can you address that?
General Shields. Madam Chairman, thank you.
I would say right now that ANSF [Afghan National Security
Forces] are in the lead for probably about approximately 80
percent of operations now. We are approaching this period
between now and the summer where we anticipate President Karzai
will announce Milestone 2013, which will coincide with the
tranche 5 piece, and David mentioned the importance of
security. ISAF recognizes that as well, and it is part of the
OPLAN [Operations Plan], the focus on that piece.
From a tactical perspective within ISAF, you may be
familiar with the family support platoon, the cultural support
teams, the female engagement teams. Those are focused outwardly
really at the tactical level, regional command, brigade, and
down.
There is also unofficially an Afghan Hands program, which--
for example, I returned end of October from Afghanistan. I was
responsible for reintegration and had females, males working
the reintegration aspect of the APRP [Afghan Peace and
Reintegration Program] piece. And we had females that were out
at the edge on developing programs. But it is largely tactical,
and it is very slow, as you mentioned.
Mrs. Roby. Right.
General Shields. As we transition from combat to support,
we will see us lifting up, if you will, from kandak [battalion]
eventually to brigade. And our ability to reach out to the
outliers, if you will, will reduce. And so you have a valid
concern.
Mrs. Roby. And the Family Response Unit, that is the Afghan
National Police organization that deals with these
investigation of domestic abuse cases, it is my understanding
that this is possibly going to be canceled? Or can either one
of you respond to that? I mean, this seems to be a very
successful--an opportunity for women to receive what they need
in those circumstances.
General Shields. I don't know about its long-term
viability. So I can get back to you with that, though. I don't
have the answer.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 71.]
Mrs. Roby. Okay. If you can, that would be great.
And, you know, there is evidence, the U.N. [United Nations]
has just come out with the fact that there is increasing
violence against women and girls. And so I hope throughout the
other Members' questioning we can maybe address why that is
happening.
But my time has expired, and I am going to be a good
example, and I will represent the ranking member.
Ms. Tsongas. Thank you.
Can you talk about the recruitment process for bringing
women into the Afghan National Security Forces? Who is in
charge of it? Is it the Afghan Government? Is it a partnership?
Who is in charge of it? How do you recruit, identify potential
recruits into it? And then talk a little bit about, for
example, do women receive equal pay, or is there discrimination
sort of across the security forces in terms of pay?
You have talked about some of the other issues, but I am
basically curious as to who is in charge and how they go about
bringing recruits, female recruits, into the security forces.
When we visited a couple of years ago, we actually visited and
met some pilots, young women pilots, who had been recruited and
were being trained to fly helicopters, and were very excited to
be doing so. But I am just curious as to who is in charge and
how much control we have over that process.
Mr. Sedney. In terms of who is in charge, the Afghan
security forces, both the army and the police, have stood up
recruitment commands over the last 3 years. They didn't have
those before. They are in charge. So the Afghans are in charge
of recruitment. We have provided training, advice, and
assistance, and so we have advisers within those recruitment
commands.
The targets and goals that have been set for recruitment of
women at the enlisted and officer levels are set at the
ministerial level, and the recruitment command's task is to
implement those. So they do go out and have efforts to
affirmatively recruit women; however, those recruits, as I said
in my statement, those goals are not being met right now. It is
very hard right now to recruit women into the Afghan forces,
and our advisers who work with the Afghans who are doing that
say that the biggest obstacle is family pressures.
That said, there are a number of efforts under way to try
and increase the pool that is considered among Afghan women.
And what I understand anecdotally--and we will certainly ask
when you are on your trip of people who are really fully up to
date on this can do that--younger Afghan women are showing a
greater and greater interest in joining both the army and the
police as they have come up through the educational system over
the last 12 years.
I hope that is a good enough answer. If it is not, we can
get some more information for you. You asked about the Afghans
who are in charge.
Ms. Tsongas. Equality of pay.
Mr. Sedney. Equality of pay. Yes, pay in the Afghan
military is based upon your rank and position. There are not
separate pay scales for men and women in the Afghan Army.
Ms. Tsongas. And the turnover rate. Do you have any sense
of----
Mr. Sedney. I do not. We will get back to you on the
attrition rate of females versus males.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 71.]
Ms. Tsongas. Well, you would think if that many women have
had access, greater numbers of women have had access to
education, and we have been there long enough actually to see
people from the earliest of years into graduating, that you are
right, it reinforces the notion that there would be a bigger
pool of potential candidates who have an interest.
I am also curious, as we have drawn down our end strength,
and we have transitioned portions of the country to control of
the Afghan National Security Forces, how we are monitoring the
impact on women and girls so that we are able to compare before
and after and maybe get engaged when we see alarming things
taking place.
Mr. Sedney. Well, both our continuing advice and assist
force and on the intelligence side, we monitor the full range
of goals that we have for Afghan security forces, including
both the performance of women in the security forces and their
treatment of women. However, it should not come as any surprise
as we have fewer forces, our ability to do that monitoring is
degraded. So we are working with our colleagues in the
Intelligence Community to try and come up with ways so that we
can maintain a higher level of awareness as we have fewer
people and fewer organizations to do that monitoring.
So that is a challenge, one that we will identify in the
next iteration of our 1230 report to the Congress. We are not
giving up on it, though. We have a program to try and address
it, but we don't have all the answers on that monitoring issue
yet.
Ms. Tsongas. I think it would be important to make sure
that there is not a big drop in the numbers of young girls
going to school, that access to health care facilities is not
dramatically changed, the access to employment opportunities.
We have met with women who, across a broad range of
opportunities, become engaged in bringing income into their
households. So it would not simply be about what is happening
within the security forces, but for us to have a strong sense
of really how well the security forces are working, it is
really about how women continue to be integrated into a broad
range of--the broad range of society in Afghanistan. And are
there such metrics in place, such--are we monitoring that at
all?
Mr. Sedney. Yes, we are monitoring what is happening with
respect to women and the Afghan population as a whole in terms
of issues of education, health, and access to employment. We
will continue to be reporting on that in the 1230 report, which
Congress has mandated we do. But again, the adequacy of our
collection efforts as we withdraw our forces and have less
resources is a challenge.
Ms. Tsongas. Is there a way we can ask the Afghan National
Security Forces to monitor this so that they can respond?
Mr. Sedney. We do. That is a big part of how we are doing
that. But we have to then validate what they are collecting
actually is accurate. And that is a big part of the challenge:
How do you monitor what they report is accurate?
Ms. Tsongas. Thank you.
Mrs. Roby. Mr. Scott.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
And as you know, this is a cultural issue that has been
existing in that part of the world for a long time. I can tell
you when I came home from Afghanistan on a CODEL that we took
and I showed my wife the pictures, the first thing she noticed
was that there were no little girls in the picture. There were
little boys and other young men from 5 all the way up to
midteens in the pictures, but no little girls. And so that is a
cultural issue that I know we have to work through, and we are
trying to work through there, that starts at birth and has gone
on for generations, centuries, really.
I guess my question, as we transition out of there, the
mechanisms that are in place now for us to, if you will, track
the progress that is being made with regard to women's rights
and the ability of women to succeed in that country from
childhood on through military service and into political
careers, when we transition out, is that going to become an
ISAF responsibility and priority that they are going to track,
or is that something that we as the U.S. are going to continue
to track? Or is that something that we are going to be subject
to the Afghanistan Government to reporting on?
Mr. Sedney. I would say that, first of all, it will be the
Afghan Government that has the primary responsibility for this.
And the standards are actually set not on the military side,
they are set on the civilian side. And in the Tokyo meeting I
mentioned in my testimony, where donor countries and
Afghanistan agreed on what is called the Tokyo Mutual
Accountability Framework, it set out standards across the
board, from education, health, effective use of donor money,
and just about every conceivable range of development areas
they set out standards and they set out requirements based on
which Afghanistan would receive future development funding.
Now, the responsibility in the U.S. Government for
following that is our colleagues at the Department of State and
USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development]. We
contribute to that, we contribute to the monitoring, but the
lead in the U.S. Government on that is those agencies. And the
responsibility is with the Afghan Government, but, because of
the commitments, the billions of dollars of aid that were
committed by the international community to Afghanistan, is
conditioned on their meeting the goals that were set forward in
that Mutual Accountability Framework.
Mr. Scott. Somebody has got to collect the data, and that
may be a better question. Who is going to collect the data
necessary for those reports?
And, General, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I saw that--
--
Mr. Sedney. The data will be collected by the Afghans, but
that will be facilitated by the existing programs throughout
the Afghan Government.
But going back to the point that I mentioned to Ranking
Member Tsongas, validating what the Afghans collect is a
challenge, but it is one that we and the international
colleagues are very much aware of, and that the ability to do
that will be reduced as we withdraw our military forces and our
international colleagues reduce their military forces. And that
is a challenge we are still looking at how we are going to do.
Mr. Scott. You got to my point. That was the auditing of
the data. And you used the word ``validating,'' same thing.
General.
General Shields. Thank you. As we draw down to 34K in
February of 2014 and we continue on the glide slope, ISAF will
engaged at the ministerial level as well as institutional. So
that level of engagement will continue.
One point I wanted to make to the Ranking Member Tsongas,
and David mentioned it, it is not only a data quality issue, it
is a lack of data issue, right, because we know that the
reporting, it is not the same in every area. Certainly there is
considerations in the east that might not be present, let's
say, in Herat or in ``MeS'' [Mazar-e-Sharif]. It makes it more
challenging. And you mentioned the cultural challenge that is
prevalent.
So it isn't just the data quality and the reporting
quality, it is a potential lack of reporting at all from the
cultural challenges that are presented.
Mr. Scott. Madam Chair, I will yield the remainder of my
time.
Mrs. Roby. Thank you.
Mr. Andrews.
Mr. Andrews. Thank you, Madam Chair.
This is really an important subject. Thank you for the
attentions that you are paying to it.
I think one of the best ways to assure the fair and good
treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan is to try to
increase the power and influence that Afghan women have over
various institutions within that country. They are ultimately
going to be the guardians of this principle. And the numbers
from the Afghan military and police are paltry and
discouraging: 379 women in the Armed Forces and 1,455 in the
national police according to our research.
But I would caution us not to be unduly pessimistic about
that. Another army waited 172 years before commissioning its
first women officers and 194 years before a woman became a
general officer. That is the United States Army. Now, since
then women have certainly increased their standing and
importance and status in the United States Army, for which we
are very grateful, and for which our country has been very well
served.
Here is the question I am asking: Do we have a program
where our women in the Armed Forces are given a special
responsibility to help train Afghan women? The premise of my
question is a woman who has risen to lofty positions in the
U.S. military has to have something pretty special about her,
because she has come through an institution that, frankly, over
the years has not been all that hospitable to traditional women
leadership. So a woman who makes it in the U.S. military by
definition, I think, is a strong and capable woman.
Do we have an institutionalized program where some of those
women are employed to work with Afghan women not just in the
military, but in other aspects of Afghan society?
Mr. Sedney. Representative Andrews, just one comment on the
figures. I think our figures are a little different, but they
don't actually detract from your point about that they are very
low.
Mr. Andrews. They are still pretty paltry.
Mr. Sedney. They are very paltry. But we will get you the
figures we have.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 71.]
Mr. Sedney. I don't want to get into a dispute about small
numbers. But your point is correct. I don't have any
information on what role the factors you talk to may play in
assignments in the U.S. Army. I will have to defer that either
to my colleague or to a later answer.
General Shields. We will get you an answer. In my time in
IJC [ISAF Joint Command], I wasn't aware of an
institutionalized program to do that, but we had women who were
doing it. So we can get back with you, sir.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 71.]
Mr. Andrews. I offer this as a hypothesis. I don't know
whether it would work, but I think it is worth some thought.
And I think we certainly ought to talk to women leaders in our
Armed Forces. We should talk to people in Afghanistan. We
should talk about the cultural differences.
But it just strikes me that we have in our midst a really
invaluable resource that might help Afghan women learn the
ropes in a very tough environment. And it is U.S. military
women who have learned the ropes in a very tough environment.
So I guess, with the chairwoman's permission, if we could ask
if the witnesses could get back to us about their thoughts
about this issue, you know, as to whether this would be a
viable proposal, and, if so, how it might be implemented, and
how we as members of the subcommittee and full committee might
make that happen.
Did you want to add something or----
General Shields. I was just reinforcing. I think the issue
of institutional we need to get back with you on. But, for
instance, MTMA has about a seven-member team that does do that.
We do have the female engagement team program as well. But as
far as institutionalized perhaps at the ministerial or
institutional level, I am not aware of it, and we will get back
to you, sir.
Mr. Andrews. Madam Chair, I was just saying before I yield
back that with your permission, maybe the committee could ask
the witnesses to evaluate this idea of women in our Armed
Forces being given some special institutional role to help the
Afghan women.
Mrs. Roby. Absolutely. And I was going to tell you--I mean,
this is your time, so if you have another question----
Mr. Andrews. No, I am going to yield back to you when we
are done.
Mrs. Roby. Okay. So on our last trip--and I am going to get
Jamie on the Committee staff to provide you with the specific
information--and it may not be an institutional program, but it
was certainly something that was being applied in certain
provinces, particularly when we met with these women and had
the shura, there were--because the women cannot be in a room
alone with men, there were female officers that were assigned
to working with this specific group of women in this province.
And I know Mrs. Davis has actually met with some of these women
on multiple occasions, the Afghan women. But our military
personnel, the women that have been working with them, had been
working with them for an extended amount of time, working
through some of the issues that we are talking about here
today. So I don't know if it has a name or if it is a specific
program, but I know that it is happening because we saw it
firsthand.
But absolutely, I would like to continue to work with DOD
[Department of Defense] and this Committee in particular as we
return to Afghanistan to see if any of these things are being
put in place, because I think that, Mr. Andrews, you make a
very good point that we have the resources in place already,
why not use them?
Mr. Andrews. And the hearing itself is evidence that good
leadership from women can be a successful event. So thank you
very much, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Roby. Ms. Speier.
Ms. Speier. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for your testimony here this afternoon.
I want to start by reading from the Small Wars Journal an
article by Vanita Datta that has been provided to all the
Members.
``July 2012 on a hillside in Afghanistan's Parwan
Province--the sentence of death for adultery is read out. A
bearded man aims a rifle and fires nine bullets--claiming the
life of a still, squatting figure in a blue burqa. This,
accompanied by cheers of men, ringing the hill side, brings
home a stark reality of the defenselessness and the oppression
of women in Afghanistan. We learn later that Najiba was the
woman in the blue burqa.''
The U.N. records for 2012 show that there were 300 women
killed in Afghanistan in 2012, and 560 injured, a 20-percent
increase over 2011. So, we are there, and this is happening.
What is going to happen when we are not there? And I guess my
overriding question is that, without stealing the thunder of
one of our witnesses on our second panel, Ms. Sanok, her
comment is, ``Most incidents are not linked to insurgent
violence in this nation. Rather, attacks are linked to domestic
violence, tradition, culture of the country. Because this is a
problem within Afghan society, it will be difficult, if not
impossible, for U.S. or other international forces to address
it adequately.''
I am really concerned about these women. I think everyone
on this panel is very concerned about these women. I would love
to see our Afghan forces be more representative of the women in
the country. I don't know that it is going to happen. I don't
know what you are going to do in the next 9 months is going to
change that number of 1,500 to 3,000. But I think there is
something we can do, and that is to create a refugee status for
any Afghan woman who wants to leave the country and is seeking
asylum in our country, and that we should put in place now a
procedure whereby they can be informed of that opportunity and
be granted that opportunity so that we can at least save the
lives of those who are not so embedded in the culture and want
to find a way to free themselves of what I believe will become,
without a question, more oppressive than what is going on right
now under our noses with us there present.
Your comments.
Mr. Sedney. Thank you, Representative Speier. I share your
concerns, we at the Department of Defense do, and I know that
our men and women in uniform who have served in Afghanistan
share them as well.
A couple of comments. I am familiar with the U.N. report
that you mentioned; however, in discussing that with people who
are familiar with the statistics, yes, there is an increase in
reported violence against women, but that increase in reports
came about primarily because of greater emphasis on getting the
reporting.
I would agree that the number of unreported incidents of
violence against women is much greater than those that are
reported. The reason that there was a greater number in
particular areas, including Herat, there were strong efforts to
get more women to report violence, and efforts by the police to
accept those reports, because there is a problem both in
getting reports and having the authorities being willing to
accept them.
So therefore, I do not agree that there was an increase--
with the statistics, because there are no reliable statistics
on overall violence against women that it increased while we
were there. In fact, repeatedly anecdotally talking to Afghan
women over the 11 years that I have been working on
Afghanistan, they say that violence has been a problem, as you
said, continues to be a problem, comes out of a host of social,
cultural, historical factors, but they universally say that
things were worse before.
Ms. Speier. I don't dispute that.
Mr. Sedney. And they say it is getting better. So
preserving those gains and keeping in place the prospect of
increasing those, I think, is very important.
Ms. Speier. I guess that is my problem. I think we are
whistling in the wind if we think that once we recede from that
country, that we are going to be able to have as much of an
impact or more of an impact than we have right now. And while I
think there has been less violence, it has not done away with
it. And, you know, we can dispute the numbers, but whether it
is, you know, an increase of 20 percent or 10 percent or not an
increase, 300 deaths and 560 injured is a very painful
statistic, I think.
Mr. Sedney. It is a painful statistic, and unfortunately
the reality----
Ms. Speier. My time is already almost up. I want to get to
this asylum issue and whether we are doing anything to try and
create that opportunity for women.
Mr. Sedney. Again, that is a question I will raise with my
colleagues at the Department of State, which is charged with
asylum policy issues. I apologize for not being able to comment
on it. But I will definitely talk to my colleagues at the
Department of State this afternoon and mention this, as I am
sure they will hear about it in the news as well.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 71.]
Ms. Speier. Thank you.
Mrs. Roby. Thank you.
Ms. Duckworth.
Ms. Duckworth. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I share my colleague Ms. Speier's fears, and I am sure the
fears of every Member of this committee, that once we leave,
with the potential resurgence of the Taliban, that the Afghan
women have the most to lose.
So my question is what are we doing to make sure that we
have enough Afghan women trained in the national police and the
national army to protect the women who are playing such an
important role in stabilizing insecure areas, and that these
women do have someone that they can go report instances of
abuse and violence to?
And specifically what I would like to know is, you know,
one of the things about putting women in these roles is that
they have to have real roles, and they have to be in real
leadership positions. That means they have to have some rank on
them. If you put in an Afghan policewoman or a security force
woman, and she has got to report to a man who is abusing her,
or she is experiencing sexual harassment in her own workplace,
she is not going to be effective. So what are we doing to make
sure that the real women leaders of the Afghan women's security
forces and police actually have the power behind their
positions and, perhaps more importantly, the funding that is
dedicated specifically to them that will not be taken away?
Mr. Sedney. What we have been doing is to preserve those
gains from the women's--first of all, building the Afghan
security forces overall, because without overall security in
the country, there won't be security for women either.
Secondly, on the specific issues relating to women, we have
put in place programs first to build into the Afghan Ministry
of Defense and Ministry of Interior recruiting plans, personnel
plans, goals for women at every level, from the entry level up
through the NCO and officer level. And we have worked with them
in their recruiting efforts to help them, because this really
has to be an Afghan task, to recruit women, train women, and
put them into positions where they can do that.
As I mentioned earlier in the statement, those efforts are
not where we would like them to be. They are not where many of
our Afghan colleagues, male and female, would like them to be.
They are about in some cases 30, 40, 50 percent short of the
goals that the Afghans themselves set for them.
The obstacles to Afghan women both joining the military and
the police and remaining in the military and police are myriad
both in their own families and in the institutions they are in,
just as you described. There has been progress. It has been
very paltry progress, as Representative Andrews pointed out,
but it is significant percentagewise, but still too small
numerically.
You asked about guarantees. I am sorry, Representative
Duckworth, there is no guarantee here. There are, I think,
prospects for it, and that prospects are going to depend upon
our continued commitment, our continued funding, as you
mentioned, but most of all on the success of the Afghan
security forces themselves to provide a basis for that.
Ms. Duckworth. I am not sure that I am asking for a
guarantee. I just want to know what strong mechanisms are in
place other than general improvement of the Afghan National
Security Forces.
Let's talk about the funding issue. What would prevent you
from actually--in the funding that we provide to help them as
they are developing and growing, that we have funds that are
specifically set aside specifically to be used for the
recruiting, retention, and the support of Afghan women in the
security forces and the police forces, and that we put a woman
in charge of those funds at the very highest levels of their
military and police leadership?
Mr. Sedney. In my experience in dealing with this for a
number of years, the issue of funds, availability of funds, has
not been a problem. The issues are the cultural, social,
political practices and beliefs of the people, and that is
something that changes as they change.
The effort to have goals set by the Ministry of Defense and
Ministry of Interior set for the number of women in the forces,
number of women officers, and getting that to be a priority in
recruiting, that was something that was an effort by us and by
our international colleagues, because I will say that our
international colleagues, other countries, have similar strong
policies in this area. It took a lot of work. It has been
successful.
I think in the area of policies and priorities and in
funding, that is--and other countries are actually providing
funding in this area as well--that is not the problem. The
problem is the overall situation in society.
Again, the progress is there in percentagewise basis, but
it is just really hard. Our ability to help does depend on the
number of people that we have who are there to help, the number
of overall forces we have, the ability of our forces to assist
at different levels in the Afghan military, and that, of
course, is declining.
Ms. Duckworth. Madam Chair, I am over time, but I would
like to request that the witness answer my question on the
putting females at the very highest levels of the Afghan
security forces and having them control the dollars in writing.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 72.]
Mrs. Roby. No objection to that. And please provide that.
And Mrs. Davis.
Mrs. Davis. Thank you, Madam Chair.
And thank you for being here. I am sorry I am going to have
to leave for a little bit, but I am really looking forward to
the second panel as well.
To Congresswoman Duckworth's point, I believe we were
trying to fence off somewhere in the neighborhood of about $85
million to dedicate towards the development of women within the
police and within the Afghan National Army. And I recognize, as
you all do, that it is one thing to have the money dedicated;
it is another to have people coming forward.
I think there is a recognition that the best recruiters are
going to be those women who have established themselves within
the services, and I certainly would be hopeful that they would
also be willing to do that and interested in doing that.
And the other piece, and I think that my colleague
mentioned this, Mr. Andrews, that not just our women who are in
the military and the police department, but also in neighbors
who have faced some similar obstacles from the women in
Afghanistan. And perhaps that is an area that we haven't
developed as well as we should. So I think working with ISAF
and some of our partners, that is something that we certainly
can ask from them, I would think, as we move on out and they
have the commitment as well.
I wonder if you could just very quickly, you know, we have
really grappled with this, because we know that there are
cultural issues, imposing our own values, all those things. But
the reality is that we are talking about human needs here, and
I don't think that anyone believes that children should be
abused and killed, and women throughout the country for that
matter, without people speaking out. And one of the things that
I have found that is a little difficult is that when we have
traveled, we know that talking about women even with our own
military--and there have been a number of people that have been
so committed to this, and I really appreciate that--but as if
this is sort of the nice thing to do, but not the important
thing to do in terms of governance for Afghanistan. And I just
would like to see that as we move forward, reports are
important, and I think we need to have data, even though
sometimes getting that data is difficult, but the other issue
is the visibility.
If we can continue as we are asked publicly about what is
happening and how things--whether we are maintaining the
progress that has been made, we can really move to these issues
and talk about them very publicly and encourage our colleagues
as well. What do you think? I mean, there are certain things--
we don't have a lot of leverage here, right, in changing some
of the actions on the ground, but where is it that we might
have some?
Mr. Sedney. I will ask my colleague General Shields to
comment, as well, Representative Davis.
First of all, on the issue of funding and fencing off
funding, I am firstly going to be very cautious about that when
we are also facing major cuts to our overall budget,
specifically cuts to the Afghan security forces. So in the end
you can fence off all you want, but if there is no money, there
is no money.
So I am very concerned about the funding for the Afghan
security forces, appreciate what Congress has done, but the
recent actions to cut funding do put this overall enterprise,
including the issue of women, at risk. And if you don't have
overall security, it won't matter how much money you set aside
for women, because if the whole country falls apart because the
security forces don't work, as Madam Chairman said, then those
things won't make any difference.
On your second part about leverage, I think we have a huge
amount of leverage actually. And a big part of it actually is
what a number of your colleagues mentioned earlier about the
interaction of our forces, both men and women, with the Afghan
military; the training that people come here for and receive;
their exposure to a military, which, regardless what the past
was, is today a really a model for not just Afghanistan, but
many other militaries in terms of the integration of men and
women.
Mrs. Davis. May I ask, are we seeing that also in the
police?
Mr. Sedney. We see it less in the police because we have
less training. Our military doesn't do policing. So we can
bring Afghan military into our military schooling; we don't
have a national police force. I think our international
colleagues that do have national police forces, Germany, France
and others, the training they have given to the police provides
some of that modeling and leverage.
Mrs. Davis. All right. I am glad to hear you say that. We
just need to work with it more.
Ms. Roby. Thank you so much.
And, gentlemen, thank you so much for your testimony today
and your willingness to answer our questions. And I should have
said this at the outset, on behalf of my family, I want to tell
you thank you for your service to our country, and thank you
for the many sacrifices that you have made in your career, but
also as it relates to our military personnel and our men and
women in uniform in Afghanistan. So thank you for that. Thank
you for being here today.
And I will excuse our first panel, and I will invite our
second panel to come to the witness table. And as they are
getting seated, I will introduce the witnesses.
Mrs. Clare Lockhart is cofounder and director of the
Institute for State Effectiveness. Among other related
activities, the institute is a nongovernment organization that
advises on the political development of nascent countries. The
institute has been involved in helping to devise and implement
many policies in Afghanistan following the expulsion of the
Taliban. Then and previously when working when United Nations
and the World Bank, Mrs. Lockhart lived in Afghanistan. So
thank you for being here.
Mrs. Stephanie Sanok--I want to make sure I said that
correctly--is the deputy director of the International Security
Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Her research interests include U.S. Government stabilization
and reconstruction efforts and transitions of postconflict
responsibilities. From 2005 to 2008, Ms. Sanok was a
professional staff member on this committee. So thank you for
being here as well.
So, Ms. Lockhart, I will begin with you.
STATEMENT OF CLARE LOCKHART, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR STATE
EFFECTIVENESS, AND FORMER ADVISOR, U.N. AND GOVERNMENT OF
AFGHANISTAN
Ms. Lockhart. Thank you for the opportunity to testify
today.
The factors and conditions that will protect Afghan women
are to large degree the same as those which will protect any
Afghan citizen, man, woman, or child, in the post-2014 era, and
line the resilience of the state across the security and
nonsecurity institutions that can protect its citizens from
threats. And the goal here is emphatically not Switzerland--
Afghanistan will be a developing country for a very long time
to come--but the provision of basic protections and services
that citizens anywhere in the world can and should reasonably
expect.
It emerges again and again in interviews with Afghan women
that their top concern is their uncertainty as to what will
happen post-2014. The more that they can understand the world
in general and the U.S. in particular will not abandon
Afghanistan again to a civil war and a vacuum, likely to be
filled by warlordism and extremism, but will keep to its
commitments, including in a partnership agreement to
Afghanistan's fundamental security, the more confidence
citizens will have, and the more that they will work in their
own ways to secure that future.
The media has exhibited something of a bias towards
reporting the negative trends rather than the opportunities in
Afghanistan, and it goes without saying that the challenges
have been enormous and the lost opportunities to get things
right at dramatically lower costs in blood and treasure tragic.
Afghanistan in its early recovery was going in the right
direction after 2001, but some inexpensive measures were
ignored, leading to unwinding of the fragile gains.
However, real gains, as you have recognized, have been made
over the last decade, and the society has changed beyond
recognition. Figures about children in school, improvements in
health, self-run coverage are well known. Less obvious are the
attitudinal shifts as a new generation who have grown up in
relative peace and freedom have come of age, large numbers of
whom are passionately engaged in creating a future Afghanistan
marked by tolerance, accountability in governance, and
opportunity for men and women in this generation.
And contrary to popular perception outside of Afghanistan,
equal rights for women does enjoy considerable support within
Afghanistan. Asia Foundation, surveying Afghan people in 2012,
documented that 83 percent of respondents, men and women,
believed equal rights under the law regardless of gender to be
important, and 87 percent of respondents agreed that women
should have equal opportunities to men in education. So I think
there is perhaps more progress than we think.
Looking forward, security for Afghan women to exercise
their fundamental rights and protect these hard-won gains will
rest first and foremost on the fundamental pillar of security.
Can the Afghan State defend its citizens from the threat to
state survival and to its citizens, and those threats being the
insurgency, criminality, and forms of terrorism and extremism,
as well as external threats from neighbors and political
instability.
The capability of the Afghan forces is fundamental to
meeting these threats. The Afghan forces are moving in the
right direction in encouraging roles, encouraging ways,
continuing a commitment to support these forces, and perhaps
considering the option of further resources held in reserve for
use if certain contingencies arise will be really the critical
security to a bridge--a bridge to a time when Afghanistan can
secure itself.
Security for women is also important to be considered in
the sense of human security, and here I would highlight two
things: First, the professionalization of security forces. So,
attention to the ethos, spirit, and standards of ethics and
integrity so that the men serving respect women; and second,
continued attention to the decriminalization of the state. The
last decade has coincided with the increase in power, wealth,
and autonomy of moneylords, warlords, or strongmen, and
continuing to focus on decriminalization of the state and
society will be essential for the protection of women.
As is widely acknowledged, security itself is determined to
a considerable degree by the political process, and a political
process can be well designed or counterproductive to peace and
stability. I think there is a risk that a rush to cut a deal
could represent several steps backwards for peace and
stability. And this is where, as I wrote in testimony, that
women's rights may be considered--there's a risk that they may
be considered a tradable good.
A very wise Afghan leader from the South once said that
Afghanistan is like any other society: We have 4 percent thugs,
1 percent extremists, and 95 percent ordinary people. And the
problem comes when the foreigners try to cut a deal between the
4 percent and the 1 percent over the heads of the 95 percent.
And he said, the sooner you realize that it is actually the 95
percent who are your best allies and the best chance of
realizing peace and security for you and for us, the more
stable and secure we all will be.
And I think with that very much in mind, I think we are at
something of a crossroads, and the type of political process to
be pursued as transition, as withdrawal takes place is of
fundamental importance. And here I think three pillars of a
political process are important: First, attention to the
succession. What type of regime will come after President
Karzai's regime in 2014 is critical, and, therefore, attention
both to the process and the outcomes of election is the first
priority. The second is a dialogue within, between Afghan
citizens, something of a national dialogue, on how they agree
to be governed within the same political entity. And then the
third component is attention to Pakistan, and really an ask of
Pakistan that they cease interference in the internal affairs
of their neighbor.
Lastly, and finally, and also important, programs in the
social and economic area can play an enormous role. As you have
recognized, women have made enormous strides in their role and
status: more than 25 percent of seats in Parliament; 140,000
women have been elected and have served on community
development councils through the National Solidarity Program,
which Congress was itself instrumental in ensuring the
commitments from the administration to support.
Continuing to support these types of programs that will
underpin these opportunities will be essential for preserving
the gains. The how-to of implementation matters. We know, it is
widely acknowledged, that much aid expenditure has been badly
designed and delivered. Lessons must be learned.
But there are programs that work at scale and can work for
considerably less resources than those that have been expended,
and I will mention just briefly three of these. First, the
National Solidarity Program that operates now over more than
30,000 villages and provides in the rural areas opportunities
for women to participate, to make decisions, and have seen
remarkable improvements across health, education, and other
indicators.
Second, education of both girls and boys, the foundation
for creating equality of opportunity. We see millions of
children in primary school, but secondary, tertiary, vocational
sectors have been woefully neglected. And there is still no map
that I know of that can show us how many health workers,
accountants, engineers the country has or are needed, and there
is still time to produce that.
And then, finally, economic opportunity. Women have
traditionally gained empowerment in many traditional societies
in the economic space through opportunities to work in, to own
their own businesses, and to participate in the economy.
In closing, Afghanistan has made considerable progress
despite many wrong turnings and setbacks. The institutions are
taking root. The next generation is preparing to lead and
manage the country. Providing the commitments and confidence to
make transition work is the course of action most likely to
meet the security interests of citizens of both countries.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lockhart can be found in the
Appendix on page 51.]
Ms. Roby. Thank you.
Ms. Sanok.
STATEMENT OF STEPHANIE SANOK, DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND SENIOR
FELLOW, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES,
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM
Ms. Sanok. Madam Chairman, Ranking Member Tsongas, other
members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to
discuss the protection of Afghan women and girls. It is a
little disconcerting to be on this side of the table, but I
thank you for the opportunity to be here. I would ask that my
written statement be entered into the record, and, in the
interest of time, just offer a few brief opening remarks based
on my research into gender-based violence in Afghanistan.
So this issue is not a new one. For more than a decade,
many Afghan Government officials and local community leaders
have worked alongside U.S. and international partners on key
reforms to help safeguard women's rights, opportunities, and
security, and it is certainly true that circumstances for women
in Afghanistan--education, employment, voting rights, political
participation--have improved since 2001. But I would like to
focus my testimony on the physical security of Afghan women and
girls as a necessary condition for allowing them to pursue
those other opportunities.
Over the course of the last few years, I have made several
trips to Afghanistan, and I have spoken to many women who own
or run businesses in that country. To a one, they have all
indicated their desire to leave before December 2014. They cite
implications, what they see coming across in terms of losing
educational and employment opportunities, but their top reason
they cite for leaving is physical security.
So let us take a look at what physical security has looked
like in Afghanistan. We may talk about 20-percent increases,
10-percent increases in violence, but if we can just stick to
the numbers of reported incidents. Late last year, the United
Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan released an updated
critique of Afghan efforts to protect Afghan women and girls
using data from 22 provinces from October 2011 to September
2012. In that yearlong timeframe, battery and laceration was
the most prevalent type of case reported with some 896
complaints; 95 ``honor killings'' were registered; almost 200
incidents of rape were registered or filed; forced self-
immolation and forced underage bought or exchange marriages
were also prevalent. These types of incidents are, of course,
are underreported, mostly due to cultural and social norms,
customary and religious beliefs, and threats to life.
What is abundantly clear is that there is a problem.
Victims don't trust the police, prosecutors, or departments of
women's affairs in the provinces. There is a lack of shelters,
civil society organizations, and women's rights organizations.
And there is a lack of knowledge about their legal protections
and their mechanisms.
On the other side of the equation, there is also evidence
that police, prosecutors, and courts lack transparency and
accountability. They purposely delay processing cases, they
misplace evidence on purpose, and fail to conduct adequate
investigations.
Finally, part of the underlying problem is the cumbersome,
nonstandardized process for submitting a complaint. This
process, which can refer victims to offices that simply don't
have jurisdiction, may result in referral after referral,
bouncing victims around to multiple offices over a protracted
and certainly disheartening period of time.
Regarding security and access to justice, the most
promising U.S. Government programs address the systemic rule-
of-law issues, and we heard Secretary Sedney refer to these.
These programs aim to increase involvement of women as police
officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, other
positions along the spectrum of justice. But to reinforce the
positive steps that have been made, the U.S. Government,
international community, and Afghan leaders may want to focus
increased attention on capability- and capacity-building to
help mitigate discrimination against women, address
bureaucratic hindrances, and persuade victims to access the
justice system.
In my opinion, programs should emphasize outreach, working
with civil society and local leaders to raise awareness of
options available to victims and of the potential consequences
for perpetrators. As my colleague Ms. Lockhart has mentioned,
outreach efforts should include work with Afghan men and boys.
In my opinion, we need to use terms that resonate with them to
develop greater sensitivity as to why this is a real and
preventable problem that will hurt all elements of Afghan
society going forward and prevent a peaceful, stable
Afghanistan. I think a lot of our programs to date have really
focused on educating women. I think we are really in a good
opportunity to educate the men and boys about why this is an
issue as well.
In addition, and this I know sounds incredibly sexy and
something you all want to do, but the programs need to reform
bureaucratic processes. Whether you clarify jurisdiction,
streamline documentation, improve custody of evidence, it is
these day-to-day bureaucratic problems that are forcing women
to abandon their complaints because they are getting bounced
around from office to office.
As Representative Speier noted, I believe this is a problem
within the Afghan society that is difficult, if not impossible,
for U.S. or international military forces to address. For
example, there is a field manual for counterinsurgency under
which we are operating in Afghanistan right now, and that field
manual emphasizes cultural sensitivity whereas our soldiers
need to be sensitive to their culture. And I agree with that,
but there needs to be a balance between--there is an inherent
tension between observing their culture and excusing some awful
practices that are occurring within that culture. How do you
balance that tension? Is that the right field manual under
which to operate going forward? And I would be happy to discuss
the implications of the situation on a ``residual U.S. force''
going forward after 2014.
But with that, I would like to conclude my remarks and open
myself up to questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Sanok can be found in the
Appendix on page 58.]
Ms. Roby. Thank you so much. And, again, thank you to both
of you for being here.
And there is so much that I want to say and ask. And I am
going to try to, again, be a good example because we have to
end at 3:45. So I want every Member that is here to have an
opportunity to ask their questions.
We have had some extraordinary experiences ourselves, some
of the members of the subcommittee, in Afghanistan, including
the rule-of-law issues, going to a prison where the women who
were the very victims themselves of the things that you have
talked about are actually the ones locked up with their
children because their husband, in turn, accused them of a
crime, and they didn't have an opportunity in that courtroom to
defend themselves through the processes of law that exist in
Afghanistan. And we saw that firsthand.
But I wanted to ask Ms. Lockhart first, how great are these
risks? I mean, let us try to quantify it. How great is the risk
that these Afghan women are going to lose their rights once
we--that they have gotten since we have been there, but once we
leave?
Ms. Lockhart. Thank you for the question. I think the risks
are grave. And to put them in an order, I think the risk to the
stability, which could then result in some form of collapse or
anarchy, is actually that the succession, the 2014 political
transition, is not handled appropriately. And therefore my
recommendation that the elections process is a moment of the
greatest risk to the country, and, therefore, the stability is
very severe.
Many of my Afghan friends, both men and women, think that
actually the risk of return of an extreme form of government is
perhaps less than many might think just because the society has
changed so fundamentally. But I do think the risk is still
there. I also think the opportunities are there, and many of
you have cited these. I think that the media has tended to
report much more in the negative and to ignore the real
opportunities, that the country is ready to govern itself and
to secure itself with continued commitment.
Ms. Roby. I mean, I think that is great to hear. I have
been much more pessimistic in my experiences in what I have
heard, and looking forward to returning and gaining more
experience. But as you know, when we go, we don't get to stay
very long, and so that is why we are drawing from your
experiences.
What do you think the warning signs are that we need to
look for, and once we see them, how does the United States
respond based on our drawdown? Ms. Lockhart, you can go, and
then, Ms. Sanok, I have a question for you as well.
Ms. Lockhart. I think, as your colleagues have also
recognized, many of the warning signals are already there. And
I think we are seeing this in increased numbers of applications
for asylum at the moment, and it is to do with the lack of
confidence in the future because of the extent of the
uncertainty as to what 2014 means.
So, I think we can see it through applications--those
trying to leave the country, we can see an incidence of
violence in particular parts of the country. But I think the
real test will come as transition takes place, as the election
takes place, so we won't know until 2014, which, again, is why
I would recommend some kind of contingencies to be put in place
through that very critical time, through 2014 and 2015. And if
some reserve capabilities or commitments can be made, this
could make a critical difference to that continued confidence.
Mrs. Roby. Absolutely, and I hear what you are saying, and
I am hopeful that others will hear it as well, because I think
it is vital to the success in protecting these women, but also,
as I have indicated on several occasions, is a litmus test to
our success there as well, protecting our own national
security. But I am deeply troubled by what might lay ahead,
and, you know, we have a--I mean, I feel that we have a
responsibility to continue to monitor this very, very closely
and be on top of it.
Ms. Sanok, what do you think, based on your experience,
what the critical elements of any future transition plan should
be so that we can ensure that these women's rights are
sustained as we leave?
Ms. Sanok. I think it has been covered today quite a bit,
the importance of integrating women at every level of the
justice system and the rule of law system so whether they are
Afghan National Security Police, if they are in the legal
system both as prosecutors and defense attorneys, as judges,
because when you do appeal cases, or you do have someone who
has been accused counteraccusing and then not having the
resources to defend yourself, as a woman it really is a problem
in referring the cases to higher courts where there are no
women present.
I think from a transition plan from the Department of
Defense perspective, they do have to do a lot better at
recruitment and retention of women throughout the ranks. And I
say that because they are not even at 50 percent of what their
goal was, and their goal was about 3,000 women in the Afghan
National Security Forces, I believe--I would have to check my
number--and they are at less than half of that.
Mrs. Roby. We are not even close, right?
Ms. Sanok. And when you look at the roles that the women in
Afghan National Security Forces are playing, and they are
cooks, they are administrative support. They are not on the
front line. They are not like the female engagement teams that
are predominantly U.S. and coalition forces out there talking
to the people. They are behind the scenes, and I think I that
is a real problem. So from a transition plan perspective, I
think doing a much better job of recruiting, placing, and
retaining people along the spectrum of the justice system is--
--
Mrs. Roby. It is very important. Thank you.
And I have gone over, so I will now turn to the ranking
member.
Ms. Tsongas. Thank you. And before we come to the end, I
just want to thank you for creating the opportunity for this
hearing, because I think it has been--it is so important, and
we appreciate it very much, your testimony.
I sort of have a sort of laundry list of issues. You know,
one is I do think the recruitment and retention issue is very
important. And as Congresswoman Davis said, there was a fund
set aside to help encourage that. I am sorry that Mr. Sedney
has left us, because he suggested that it is an ``either/or.''
In reality, I think it is a ``both/and.'' And you can't cut out
the funding to recruit women and expect that you are going to
have better luck at the long-term security of the country. It
is not an ``either/or.'' That is just a comment.
And I appreciate also Congresswoman Speier's--all of our
concerns, really, as to what is going to happen, and that at
the very least we should look for broader asylum opportunities
for women, Afghan women. But the great reality is that there
are many, many women in the country who will never know, never
have the opportunity, never have the resources, never be able
to take advantage of it. So we have to remain, I think, very
mindful of that, as I know we all do.
I have always been struck when we have been there, you
know, that there is a very engaged community of women, very
polished, very educated, taking great advantage of the
opportunities that have developed. But then that is not the
great bulk of women in Afghanistan. And yet we have met some
remarkable women, very impoverished, who have taken great--
taken advantage of the microlending, for example, to have
modest, modest businesses. And I did happen to see a program on
PBS [Public Broadcasting System] talking about in Pakistan
similar efforts, where you have microlending that women take
advantage of; they have these small businesses that bring
resources into the family. It cuts down on domestic violence
because the pressures on the family unit are relieved by women
being able to be part of supporting a family. So I think we
have seen some of the positive outcomes through our investments
there.
I wanted to ask you a question, though, and that is as we
proceed to drawing down and seek through a peace process,
perhaps, that I echoed your comments about women's rights are
not a tradable good, and I want to know what you would see as
the alarm bells, where you would see--if women are not at the
table as part of the process, if you don't see people standing
up strongly enough for some of the gains, what would you see as
real alarm bells? And what should we in Congress and the
international community do to push back on that? I ask that of
both of you.
Ms. Sanok. I will take a first crack at it.
The real alarm bells for me, it goes down back to the
number of incidents being reported. Now, a dip in reported
incidents doesn't mean that it is not happening, it just means
that there are fewer reports. And so peeling that back a little
bit, making sure that cases that are coming forward are being
prosecuted, and if all of a sudden a great percentage of the
cases or the complaints are being dropped, whether through
coercion or incompetence or actual malice on behalf of the
court system or the prosecution, I think it is worth watching.
The number of women on the streets walking around, feeling
safe enough to walk around outside of their home, it is not
significant now, but if it goes down, I think that is a good
indicator of a greater loss of freedom.
I think another key indicator for me would be I am not
hearing the women's voices; when CODELs stop, what happens?
There will be vastly fewer CODELs after 2014. And so who are
those women going to talk to? Who will they get support from?
So I think there need to be a couple of forums that are more
enduring and aren't necessarily tied to, you know, Mrs. Davis
is visiting, or Representative Roby is visiting, or
Representative Tsongas is visiting to make sure that something
is a little bit more enduring, because I think not hearing the
voices is the number one indicator for me.
Ms. Lockhart. I agree with others who say that increasingly
I think it is going to be harder to have the data across the
country to know what is going on, and therefore the warnings
are going to be harder to detect.
Having said that, I think there are organizations, National
Solidarity Program is one, Human Rights Commission is another,
which are collecting data. So we can continue to pay attention
to them and watch the trends very, very closely.
And in terms of what kind of responses that Congress might
take to protect them, especially as some of these warning bells
appear, I think actually continued support to some of these
program that will continue to be able to operate across the
country will be important.
I think second, thinking in terms of scenarios ahead of
time, I think we could imagine three or four very different
outcomes post-2014, and be prepared to think through what kind
of responses we might be prepared to put into place.
I think perhaps reframing our language so it is not talk of
leaving, but it is talk of a different type of commitment to
the country as reflected in the Strategic Partnership Agreement
that has already been signed, because there will continue to be
some form of commitment, and I think if Afghans hear the
language of leaving, it heightens concerns even more than might
be warranted. And then I think it is continuing. I mean, in
South Korea, in Germany, troops have been kept for many
decades. Is there a case for continued commitment, including
some form of troop presence, not in a combat role and not in a
way that is vulnerable to the loss of life in the future, but
some form of commitment?
Mrs. Roby. Thank you. And I was just going to make one
comment before I got to Mr. Scott.
I remember early on, in our first trip 2 years ago--my
first trip 2 years ago, hearing Mrs. Davis and Ms. Edwards, who
went very early on, about not seeing one female on their first
trip, and the stark differences of where we are now. So I find
it interesting that you use that as a warning sign.
Mr. Scott.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I will be very brief
with this so that the other Members have time to speak as well.
And I, again, will go back to the one trip that I have had
to Afghanistan so far. And I remember through the whole trip
there was only one little girl that we saw. And obviously over
there one of the things that you give the children is a pen to
reinstill the value of education and other things, and I
remember quite well that we gave her a pen, and it was promptly
taken from her. And so we gave her another one, and it was
promptly taken from her. We gave her another one, and I don't
think that one was taken until probably after we left.
But there is a cultural issue there. I was glad to hear Ms.
Sanok talk about the fact that it is not just the women, it is
the boys and especially the younger ones that we have got to
work with to change that culture.
So thank you for being here today. And I will yield the
remainder of my time so that other Members can ask their
questions.
Mrs. Roby. Thank you, Mr. Scott.
Ms. Speier.
Ms. Speier. Thank you to both of you for your participation
this afternoon.
I am concerned about to whom our foreign aid, to whom our
support should go once we do leave when we want to make sure
that money gets to women's programs, women and children's
programs, health programs in Afghanistan, a country that you
certainly know has been plagued with a great deal of fraud and
abuse.
Ms. Lockhart. I think it is necessary to pay close
attention, as you are, to parsing between those programs that
work and those programs that don't. There are many programs
that do work. Some of them have been managed by USAID. Others
of them, and some of the greatest successes, have actually been
had through the World Bank.
The World Bank moved early on, in early 2002, to set up the
Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund and a set of national
programs, which are countrywide programs that reach across the
country. One of these USAID joined with. It is the National
Health Program that has shown remarkable successes. It has held
up actually regionally, or even globally, as one of the great
successes. And I think this one, in terms of basic healthcare
access, is one of those that is well managed and deserves
continued support. The second is the National Solidarity
Program, and the third is the Education Program. And these
three are managed through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust
Fund. It has policy engagements of the ministries, but it is
NGOs [non-governmental organization] that do the
implementation.
Ms. Sanok. I can briefly answer this question. I was
looking through the USAID Web site earlier today and noticed
that there are four gender and participant training programs,
23 education programs, and 32 health programs. I was looking
specifically for things dealing with everyday life involving
women and girls. And I think you have to be careful with USAID
programs because they do send out large grants, and then you
are not quite sure who the subcontractors or who the
subgrantees are.
I, too, am very concerned about who is actually receiving
the money and where exactly it is going, and I would encourage
you in your congressional oversight role to really peel back
the onion a bit on who are the implementing partners--the World
Bank is excellent, Asia Development Bank is excellent, the Asia
Foundation is also quite good; but to talk to the USAID a
little bit about they are going to have an enduring presence in
this country. One, I agree with Ms. Lockhart, it does need to
be made clear to the Afghans that we are not leaving at the end
of the 2014, although the troop presence will be drastically
reduced. But really take a look at some of the USAID
implementing partners and understand who their partners are,
and I think it would be a little bit shocking.
Ms. Speier. Well, actually I am all too familiar with how
shocking the wastefulness has been in Afghanistan. The SIGAR
[Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction] just
presented to the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, of
which I am a member, and then did a policy briefing to the
Watchdog Caucus, and it is abominable, it is abominable what
has gone on, and it has gone on under our noses. And we have
done nothing to those subcontractors or those contractors that
have abused the power and the money. They continue to get
contracts, and oftentimes they are U.S. contractors. So you
make a very good point.
We just had a celebration last week to give the
Congressional Gold Medal to Muhammad Yunus, who, as you know,
is recognized for the microfinancing. And I believe, Ms.
Lockhart, you might have been--or maybe it was you, Ms. Sanok,
who talked about microfinancing for women in Afghanistan. He
pointed out that since he undertook his effort, where he gave
something like $27 out to 40 women in Bangladesh, that program
has expanded to just an astronomical--100 million people across
the planet with $40 billion worth of money, something like
that. It was amazing.
So in terms of microfinancing, what has your experience
been in those efforts in Afghanistan, particularly to women?
Ms. Sanok. In my experience it has been very positive.
Microlending and microfinance, whether it is a $25 loan, a $50
loan, when I talk to--they call them AWOBs, Afghan women-owned
businesses. It has been very successful. To a one, I believe
they have all been repaid, and I think that is a fantastic
return, and reinvesting into the system.
Mrs. Roby. Thank you.
Ms. Duckworth.
Ms. Duckworth. Thank you. Acknowledging that political
transition and the security transition are inextricably linked,
I would like to talk a little bit about the upcoming elections
and what each of you see as some potential dangers, whether it
is security, whether it is women not being able to stand for
elections, or perhaps women not feeling safe enough to come out
to vote. I want to make sure that women are participating in
that political process so that their voices can be heard. Could
you speak to those issues?
Ms. Lockhart. Certainly. And also to reflect very much
Representative Speier's concern over contractor oversight. I
very much welcome and admire efforts to continue oversight and
accountability because it has been a very shocking shortfall.
On the issue of elections, I think two parts to this. One
is the process. And tragically in the 2009 elections,
sufficient attention was not paid to the preparations necessary
for a minimally free and fair election, and, therefore, we saw
the massive fraud and abuse of that process and failure to
provide for women's access.
I think there is enough time, starting now, to make those
preparations, and goes across the gamut from civic education
arrangements to transportation; in short, minimizing the fraud.
And there are ways to do that. A group of Afghan political
parties have come together to make recommendations. I think
those recommendations are good and can and should be followed.
The other part of this is the outcome part, and I think
there is a possibility that we might see something of a unity
team, a group of actors come together with a reform agenda for
the country. And if that happens, I think then the outlook for
the country could improve quite dramatically. If it doesn't,
and we see the kind of splintered field that we saw last time,
or a failure of the parties to agree on a minimum set of rules
of the game, then the risks will be much higher. So continued
attention to this process as it moves forward will be critical.
Ms. Sanok. I agree with Ms. Lockhart that this is a--there
is plenty of time in the lead-up to this election to take some
steps necessary to better ensure that it is a free and fair
election. Will it be completely free and fair? Probably not.
I do think that this is an election period where you will
have still significant U.S. troop presence motivating folks to
vote. So I have fewer concerns about this upcoming election
than I will about the election when we are not there. So I
agree wholeheartedly with everything that Ms. Lockhart has laid
out.
Ms. Duckworth. Would either of you be comfortable talking
about women standing for election in Afghanistan and what the
likelihood of them actually being recruited and standing for
real positions? You talked a little bit, Ms. Sanok, about, you
know, making sure they are involved in the judicial system.
What about the legislative system?
Ms. Sanok. Because there are a certain number of seats set
aside for women, I think there is an interest on everyone's
part to fill those seats, and so I think there is going to be
some recruitment to find women to fill those seats. Now, who is
doing the recruiting and who is pushing them is going to be
interesting to watch, what kind of women will be filling those
seats.
So from a participatory perspective, I think there will be
women in the Parliament going forward, at least in this
upcoming election. Beyond that, what kind of person and what
kind of principled stances will she take is open to real
examination.
Ms. Lockhart. I agree very much. Because the Constitution
reserves 25 percent of those seats for women, I think we
certainly will see an active number of--well, a considerable
number of women very engaged in the political process and its
acceptance more in the urban than the rural areas.
I think on the other side, women in senior positions in the
armed forces and in government across the administrative
positions, in the judiciary, is extremely important, and this
is where both Congress and the administration, I think, can
do--already do, but can continue to do a lot to encourage that
those positions are kept and expanded.
I had an experience of working closely with a female
Director of Treasury for the Afghan Government and the Director
of Budget for the entire Afghan Government. They had problems
in the first few days establishing authority with the men who
worked for them, but once they had, they were extremely
effective professionals and had no problem. But it was getting
them into position in the first place, and this is where I
think the U.S. Government can do an enormous amount to ensure
they continue to have access to those roles.
Ms. Duckworth. How do you feel about the safety of these
women once they are in these roles? You know, I am worried that
those two women that you mentioned, for example, they have
established their authorities. After U.S. forces are gone in
2014, I want to be sure that they are safe, because safety and
security, these women need to be able to continue to go to
work, and I have real fears that they will be subject to
attacks.
Ms. Sanok. The State Department has programs in place for
judicial security. I think similar programs should be in place
for women in positions of influence and power. And so if I were
talking to State Department people, I would encourage them to
not only take judicial security very seriously, but also the
security of women, again, in these particular positions.
Ms. Duckworth. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Roby. Thank you.
Mrs. Davis.
Mrs. Davis. Thank you. Thanks for being here. I am sorry I
missed your comments earlier, but I wondered if you could
comment. We have had an opportunity to meet with a number of
Parliamentarians; in fact, there are certainly have been
Parliamentarians who have come here as well. And it is always
interesting to me because they are seeking our support to help
with the kind of issues that, you know, we--we are--we kind of
seek help from one another, networking, how do I influence
other people, et cetera.
Whether it is through the State Department or NGOs, how can
we best work with existing organizations that are there?
Obviously, we are not going to be there on the ground, but in
the future, that might be helpful. Is there a role, and how
might we be communicating in some way? What do you think they
need?
Ms. Lockhart. I do believe that the kind of Congress-to-
Parliament exchanges and other kind of civic-to-civic, people-
to-people programs can play an enormous role if we look at the
way that cities have been twinned, schools have been twinned,
and the work that Spirit of America has been doing. Perhaps to
find increased ways to link veterans, U.S. veterans, who have
served within Afghanistan to the areas and families that they
encountered over the coming years would be, again, an enormous
way to keep the commitments and solidarity between the nations
enduring.
Ms. Sanok. I would echo that. A Parliamentary exchange, I
think, is very appropriate in this particular respect.
I would also say that there are some programs being run
through the embassy, small grant programs, to encourage women's
voices and gender equality. It is not as institutionalized as I
think it probably should be, because, again, as we draw down in
forces, and we shift to a more State Department-heavy, USAID-
heavy presence, we really need to use the power of those
organizations to institutionalize things that are a lot more
enduring than anything I have seen on the table right now.
Mrs. Davis. Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate that.
We were very aware that meeting only with Parliamentarians
was not going to give us a very good picture of women in
Afghanistan either, and that is why we went into a more rural
area. We spent time in Qalat over a number of years and really
saw a lot of progress. So if we sound like we haven't, we have
seen great progress, and I think that may be why the level of
frustration continues to be high fearing that those gains could
be lost.
Can you give a sense, I mean, do you think there is a 50-
percent chance that the gains might not be lost and that will
continue, and that we might 2 or 3 years down the line see that
some of these really exceptional people that we have had a
chance to meet are able to carry on, or they have been stymied
and stopped or maybe something worse? What chance do you give
it?
Ms. Lockhart. I would find it very hard to put a number on
it, but I think if the political process is not one that trades
away the gains, but is one that seeks to shore up the 95
percent as great allies of this Nation with the right kind of
building blocks of the political process; and if this, at much,
much, much reduced cost and commitment than the one that we
have seen, but if there is some continued commitment sufficient
to ensure the confidence of the Afghan nation that it can
secure its own people, if those two conditions hold, then I am
confident in the future security of women. But those are two
``ifs.''
Ms. Sanok. They are two very big ``ifs.'' I think, again, I
go back to the women that I have talked to who have run or been
involved in or owned businesses, and, again, to a one, they all
indicated their intent to leave, which--talk about a brain
drain and kind of a confidence drain in the country.
I disagree with what Secretary Sedney said earlier. I think
we are losing leverage. So now is the time to put into place
institutions and more enduring exchanges and contracts to be
able to keep track, to monitor, to make sure that you have the
relationships moving forward so that all is not lost.
Mrs. Davis. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Roby. Well, thank you. And to both of you, I think
there are so many takeaways from today's hearing. I look
forward to getting back to Afghanistan shortly, and several
members of this subcommittee women will be on that CODEL, and I
think then we will have some comparative information based on
our own experience.
But what you have presented here today, Ms. Lockhart, I
appreciate your being positive, much more positive than I have
been in some of my words lately. I again remain deeply
concerned about this. It is my hope that in having this hearing
today and coming back to this issue time and time again that we
can draw others' attention to how critical this area is for the
success of this country to be able to secure itself, but also
for our national security interests at home and all of the
service and sacrifice of our military, our men and women in
uniform who have been the partners alongside people like you,
to ensuring that these women do have--or have all the gains
that they have.
And so we really appreciate you taking the time to be here,
and look forward to continuing this conversation whether in the
committee room or not, outside.
So thank you again, and thank you to all of the Members for
being here. With that, we will be adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:53 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
=======================================================================
A P P E N D I X
April 25, 2013
=======================================================================
PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
April 25, 2013
=======================================================================
Statement of Hon. Martha Roby
Chairman, House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Hearing on
Transitioning to Afghan Security Lead:
Protecting Afghan Women?
April 25, 2013
Good Afternoon. I am delighted to convene this hearing on
how the United States can ensure the safety and political
freedom of Afghan women after responsibility for security is
ceded to the Afghan government.
There are many important issues Congress must consider in
connection with Afghanistan: How and when should the United
States responsibly transfer security responsibilities to the
Afghans? What sort of residual U.S. forces should remain after
that time? What functions must these forces be equipped and
prepared to undertake?
Women and girls in Afghanistan have made enormous gains
since the United States and its allies toppled the Taliban
government. In Afghanistan today, women and girls attend
schools and universities, they hold elected office, they are
present in the military and police forces, and they enjoy many
personal freedoms that were suppressed during the earlier
ruthless rule.
While there have been many important improvements in the
safety, security, and rights of women, more must be done. The
hard-won rights and progress Afghan women and girls have
realized during the last 11 years must not disappear once the
U.S. reduces its forces in Afghanistan. Those planning the
security transition and determining residual force structures
must keep this in mind.
The safety and security of women in Afghanistan is not a
discrete topic unmoored from the balance of our security
considerations. Rather, the condition of Afghan women is an
important barometer of the success of our efforts. A safer
Afghanistan with a functioning government responsive to its
people and inhospitable to terrorists and extremists is better
for all: for men and women, boys and girls.
This is a deeply personal topic. I have travelled to
Afghanistan twice. I have been part of two delegations of
female Members of Congress who have visited to see firsthand
our military's impressive efforts in Afghanistan. I have seen
the sacrifices they have made.
I have also met many Afghan women on these trips. They were
doctors, soldiers, and elected officials and girls who aspired
to these and other positions. All were pursuing lives that were
unthinkable under the Taliban. I have also met wives and
mothers who have a degree of personal freedom and independence
prohibited by the Taliban and others.
I am a wife and mother who has had the right and privilege
to pursue an education, career, and elected office. I do not
want Afghan women to face a future where their successes and
security is jeopardized. I fear this would be the case if
Afghanistan reverts to the Taliban's control, or a more strict
and oppressive government otherwise takes root there.
As the United States continues to work with the government
of Afghanistan to determine the future size and role of our
forces there, the continued promotion and protection of the
right of Afghan women and girls must not be forgotten nor
pushed aside as a bargaining chip.
Statement of Hon. Niki Tsongas
Ranking Member, House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Hearing on
Transitioning to Afghan Security Lead:
Protecting Afghan Women?
April 25, 2013
Good afternoon, Secretary Sedney, General Shields, Ms.
Sanok, and Ms. Lockhart. Thank you for appearing before our
Subcommittee today. I look forward to your testimony and
appreciate your experience.
I want to echo Chairman Roby's remarks about the importance
of this hearing. It is quite timely in a number of ways. Both
our Committee and the SASC recently heard testimony from
General Dunford on our evolving strategy to draw down from
Afghanistan. I have long supported bringing our troops home
from Afghanistan as quickly as possible, and was in favor of an
even more expedited timeline than the President. But, I also
believe we must put in place a plan that does this responsibly
and safely, and which does not sacrifice the vital gains which
have been made by women. A 2011 poll found that 86% of surveyed
Afghan women were concerned that a Taliban-style government
could return after the withdrawal of the international
community.
While every drawdown requires tradeoffs and tough choices,
I completely agree with what Ms. Lockhart said in her
testimony, that ``women's rights are not a tradable good.''
Since becoming a member of Congress, I have had the honor
of visiting Afghanistan four times. I have been fortunate to
visit, in particular, with some of our ``military moms''
serving in Afghanistan, female soldiers who have children back
home. Congresswoman Roby and I are going back to Afghanistan
soon and hope to meet with Afghanistan women as well as more
``military moms.'' The ever-increasing participation of women
in our military demonstrates the important contributions women
are making to our efforts in Afghanistan and around the world.
It also stands in stark contrast to the involvement that Afghan
women are able to have in their country's public life. For a
safe, stable, and secure Afghanistan to emerge, women must be
fully included in Afghan society and government.
Two years ago, I visited a school where over one thousand
young Afghan girls cycled through each day. When we asked them
what they wanted to be when they grew up, the answers we heard
were ``doctor, lawyer, teacher.'' These young women felt
optimistic about opportunities that were previously unheard of
for women in Afghanistan. Ensuring that these young girls
continue to have access to these opportunities is not only good
for the future of Afghanistan, it is good for the United
States, as well, so that we can help ensure a more peaceful and
just future there, and the way in which we move forward will
impact our moral authority around the globe.
As we reduce our military presence in Afghanistan, the U.S.
must be cognizant of how we will ensure that women continue to
have a seat at the table and that the nascent gains are not
abdicated. Progress has been made in some areas. For example,
27% of the Afghan parliament is female. However, much more can
be done in other areas, such as recruiting women into the
Afghan National Army and police force, where they are very
poorly represented. In December of last year, just before we
considered last year's Defense Bill, we were reminded of the
tenuous position of women in Afghanistan when the acting head
of women's affairs in an eastern province was assassinated as
she traveled to work.
I worked for inclusion in the bill of a provision, Section
1233, in that bill, which requires the Department of Defense to
produce a plan to promote the security of Afghan women and
girls as it withdraws from the country. It would encourage the
recruitment of women as members of the Security Forces and
requires the Department of Defense to report back on its
progress towards meeting these goals. I know it is not due
quite yet, but I look forward to receiving it from the
Department and any preliminary observations you can discuss.
I look forward to our discussion.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
=======================================================================
WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING
THE HEARING
April 25, 2013
=======================================================================
RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MRS. ROBY
General Shields. The Family Response Unit (FRU) program is an
Afghan Ministry of Interior program and is not being eliminated. Over
300 Afghan personnel remain assigned in all 34 provinces and large
districts. Currently, 22 contractors provide advisory support to the
FRU program. Due to drawdown limitations affecting the contractors'
security, logistics resupply, and effective FRU mentor auditing/
oversight, NTM-A decided to de-scope the advisory contract. However,
the FRU program will remain an active Ministry of Interior Program.
[See page 9.]
______
RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MS. TSONGAS
Mr. Sedney. NTM-A has no data from the MOI or MOD on attrition by
gender. The ministries measure attrition as a percentage of the entire
force, and do not break this data out according to gender. [See page
10.]
______
RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. ANDREWS
Mr. Sedney. The number of Women in the Afghan National Security
Forces is as follows:
Afghan National Army: 416 (as of April 18th, 2013).
Afghan National Police: 1521 (as of April 18th, 2013).
Afghan Air Force: 44 (as of April 18th, 2013). [See page 13.]
Mr. Sedney. There is no specific program within our Armed Forces
currently that focuses solely on female service members training/
mentoring Afghan women. However, there are a number of key and
successful partnerships and programs currently ongoing that facilitate
direct mentoring of Afghan women at the strategic and tactical level.
Currently at the strategic level there are advisors at the Ministry
of Defense, Afghan Defense University, the Female Training Battalion at
Kabul Military Training Center, and the Ministry of Interior. These
positions are staffed through NATO Training Mission Afghanistan (NTM-
A), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and Non-Governmental
Organizations. The DOD AFPAK Hands program specifically contributes
female program members to serve as advisors/mentors in a number of
Afghan Ministries.
Most recently UNDP launched a mentorship pilot program that is
functioning in 4 provinces (Jalalabad, Herat, Kabul, and Mazar-e-
Sharif). The program is supported by a consortium of members to
include, Afghanistan Public Policy Research Organization (APPRO),
Afghan Women's Skills Development Center (AWSDC), Justice for All,
Medical Afghanistan, and Women for Afghan Women (all Afghan
organizations funded by NTM-A). This program was developed to
facilitate professional growth and to address issues faced by female
members of the Afghan National Police. At the tactical level, Female
Engagement Teams (FET) continue to support operations with a secondary
effect of providing mentorship and assistance to Afghan women, both
within and outside of the Afghan National Security Forces. The
relationships developed by this support element and the issues they
have identified have helped focus regional efforts in the development
of feasible women's assistance programs. Members of the FET are
identified by their individual services. [See page 13.]
______
RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MS. SPEIER
Mr. Sedney. We have passed your concerns on the State Department,
the U.S. Government lead for asylum-related issues, and asked that the
appropriate official take appropriate action on your proposal. [See
page 16.]
______
RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MS. DUCKWORTH
Mr. Sedney. As discussed earlier in my testimony, and in the
previous 1230 Report on Stability and Security in Afghanistan, the
United States promotes the recruitment and rights of women in the ANSF
through several programs.
U.S. activities in Afghanistan do not, however, include the hiring
and firing of ANSF personnel, or authority over the ranks and positions
of individuals within the ANSF. Afghanistan is a sovereign country, and
the United States does not have the legal authority to interfere
directly in their military personnel decisions. ISAF does often advise
the ANSF on personnel matters. However, to impose upon the Afghans to
``put females at the highest levels'' of the ANSF would be an
unprecedented level of interference in their internal personnel
decisions. This type of interference would likely generate a strong
negative reaction from leaders across the ANSF.
Authority in the ANSF is based more upon personal contacts and
informal networks than it is in many Western nations. A woman who had
been ``put'' in a position at the highest levels of the ANSF as a
result of U.S. pressure would likely be resented and treated poorly,
and would have little real authority. This could do significant harm to
the cause of promoting women within the ANSF. The current ISAF mission
is ending in 2014, and it is unlikely that women who have been ``put''
into high office within the ANSF would be able to retain their status
after this time. [See page 17.]
?
=======================================================================
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS POST HEARING
April 25, 2013
=======================================================================
QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MS. DUCKWORTH
Ms. Duckworth. What are U.S. forces doing to provide necessary
support to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to:
increase recruitment of women in the ANSF;
ensure female mentors for women in the ANSF;
monitor how women are assigned and utilized by their
superiors in the districts and provinces; and
address the institutional barriers to recruitment and
retention (such as lack of sex-segregated facilities, pervasive
sexual harassment, etc.)?
Acknowledging that the political transition and the security
transition are inextricably linked--can you explain how U.S.-led
Coalition Forces are working with the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan on security preparations for the upcoming
presidential election (currently scheduled for April 2014)?
Specifically, what is being done to increase the number of female
security personnel capable of staffing women's voting stations?
Mr. Sedney. Improving the recruitment of women into the ANSF, their
status and treatment within the ANSF, and the ANSF's treatment of
female civilians across the country is important to the Department of
Defense. However, recruitment of women into the ANSF will remain a
serious challenge, given Afghanistan's history, culture, and society.
The U.S. has many efforts to increase the number of women in the ANSF,
mainly through the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan's (NTM-A) Afghan
National Security Force (ANSF) training and advising programs. ISAF has
Gender Advisors, who educate personnel, ensure that women's rights and
security are factored into decisions, and coordinates the gender-
related efforts of their subcommands and external international
organizations, NGOs, and governmental organizations.
As a result, gender training is now in place across much of the
ANSF, harassment and violence against women in the ANSF are being
addressed, educational projects for women are being established, and
political will is present in certain areas.
NTM-A promotes female recruitment and gender integration in its
interactions with the ANSF. To help increase the recruitment of women
into the Afghan National Army (ANA), and safeguard women's rights, the
Afghan Ministry of Defense (MOD), with assistance from NTM-A, has begun
to stand up the Directorate of Human Rights and Gender Integration
(HR&GI). The MOD assigned a Major General as the director and an Afghan
Air Force (AAF) Colonel to the deputy position; both are actively
working to improve the rights of women and to increase the
Directorate's manning authorization from five to 36 positions. The
number of women taking the test for acceptance into the National
Military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA) increased from 47 to 97 in the
last six months. The Afghan Ministry of Interior (MOI) also conducted a
recruiting campaign for Special Operations Forces and received 34
female applicants, and accepted seven.
The recruitment and retention of women in the ANA and ANP is also
an element of the U.S.-Afghanistan Bilateral Commission's Democracy and
Shared Values Working Group. The Embassy, in coordination with ISAF,
also regularly engages the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MOI, and
MOD on this issue to emphasize the importance of women in the ANSF.
As women graduate from ANA and ANP training courses, NTM-A advisors
are helping to find female graduates appropriate assignments. NTM-A
Gender Integration Officers conduct site visits of ANA and ANP
recruiting and training centers, analyzing assignments for ANSF women.
Female ANSF recruits have previously faced problems getting uniforms
and boots that fit, but this issue has subsequently been resolved
without additional funding. NTM-A advisors worked with the ANA and ANP
Chief of Logistics to advise on planning, projecting, and ordering
smaller sizes for the female recruits through the same system male
uniforms are ordered.
With robust assistance from NTM-A advisors, the MOD is working to
establish courses on women's history, gender-based customs, and gender-
based harassment for ANSF personnel. The objective of this effort is to
have the Afghans develop these courses based on historical values,
Qur'an passages, and cultural context.
ISAF, MOD, and MOI have a large number of personnel and programs
aimed at protecting women's rights and promoting women in the ANSF.
Additionally, the MOI signed an order to prevent sexual harassment in
the ANSF while continuing human rights and gender training. ISAF sent a
mobile training team (MTT) to Herat to train policewomen, and the ABP
has conducted similar training, helping to make fielded female ANSF
personnel more effective. Several other organizations, including UNAMA
and European Police (EUPOL), also provide gender-related
training.
NTM-A gender-integration officers coordinated with ISAF Joint
Command (IJC)-Female Engagement Teams (FET) to build the gender-
integration network by sharing information throughout different
organizations and levels. The members of this network have the lead
responsibility for gender issues in their organizations. This network
has over fifty personnel working in all Regional Commands (RCs),
including three in RC-N, two in CFSOCC-A, 17 in RC-E, 11 in RC-S, three
in RC-SW, fourteen in RC-W, four in RC-N, and one in RC-C. NTM-A and
IJC collaboration includes highlighting lessons learned, and exchanging
current projects and upcoming events to support, such as graduations,
training, or International Women's Day.
Election Security
Helping Afghans achieve a peaceful transfer of authority in 2014 is
one of the U.S. Government's highest priorities in Afghanistan. The
U.S. Government encourages government and political opposition leaders
to build consensus around candidates broadly representative of
Afghanistan's ethnic and political diversity. The United States
provides technical advice and support, consistent with international
commitments. U.S. embassy leadership meets with President Karzai and
his advisors, the Independent Election Committee (IEC), Parliament, the
political opposition, and civil society organization leaders to discuss
prioritized actions and decisions to be carried out before election
day. The credibility of the elections hinges on the decisions and
implementation of electoral reforms that incorporate internationally
accepted practices. Decisions and reforms include creating an
independent mechanism for resolving electoral disputes, and passing
legislation to reinforce Afghanistan's electoral institutions. The
United States urges consultation in these efforts among President
Karzai, Parliament, the IEC, the political opposition, and civil
society to help ensure that decisions ultimately will have buy-in from
the Afghan population.
In conformance with the overall security transition, ISAF will
maintain a low profile to avoid perceptions of international influence
or interference in Afghan sovereign responsibilities. The ISAF Campaign
Plan includes an appendix which outlines actions ISAF will be prepared
to take only when and if requested by GIRoA. ISAF support will be
confined to logistics, intelligence, route clearance, and in extremis
support. ISAF will consider providing quick reaction forces across
Afghanistan for international community election observers. As a
contingency, ISAF may deploy forces in the event the ANSF are not able
to provide for the safety of Coalition personnel or members of the
international community involved in the election. The U.S. Force
Management Level (FML) of 34,000 forces for the election period is
structured to maintain operational security through a potential
elections unrest period (February to June 2014). Coalition Forces will,
together with their Afghan advised counterparts, be able to provide a
rapid in extremis response, in the event the local security
deteriorates beyond the ANSF's ability to control it.
Ms. Duckworth. What are U.S. forces doing to provide necessary
support to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to:
increase recruitment of women in the ANSF;
ensure female mentors for women in the ANSF;
monitor how women are assigned and utilized by their
superiors in the districts and provinces; and
address the institutional barriers to recruitment and
retention (such as lack of sex-segregated facilities, pervasive
sexual harassment, etc.)?
Acknowledging that the political transition and the security
transition are inextricably linked--can you explain how U.S.-led
Coalition Forces are working with the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan on security preparations for the upcoming
presidential election (currently scheduled for April 2014)?
Specifically, what is being done to increase the number of female
security personnel capable of staffing women's voting stations?
General Shields. NATO Training Mission Afghanistan (NTM-A) has
provided one Gender Advisor to mentor the Human Rights, Gender and
Child Rights Directorate at Ministry of Interior (MOI) who conducts
outreach to assist with gender integration across all functional areas
to include recruitment. Engagements have been conducted with a number
of key Afghan departments in order to emphasize the importance of this
subject. The Afghan Ministry of Defense (MOD) has started a working
group to review gender integration policy and develop new recruiting
policies.
The majority of efforts to provide female mentorship are occurring
at the ministerial level and within the higher echelons of the Afghan
National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP). These efforts are
not nested within one singular female mentoring program.
A mentor has been provided for the ANP Senior Enlisted Non
Commissioned Officer (NCO) from the MOI Gender Division. She is working
to enhance the quality of life and empowerment for female ANP NCOs.
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) currently has a female police
mentorship pilot program that is functioning in 4 provinces (Jalalabad,
Herat, Kabul, and Mazar-e-Sharif).
Within the ANA placements are based on decisions made within the
General Staff at the MOD GSG1. The assignment process is the same for
both genders. The process is the same within the MOI. MOI maintains job
descriptions, and a tracker identifying the number of female police by
location, with associated duty descriptions.
MOD has made the designation of a facility/building a local command
decision. MOI is in the process of addressing the issue of female
facilities. Currently, 54 Family Response Unit locations (co-located
with ANP HQ locations) have received additional structures/construction
to facilitate offices/barracks for the FRU. All buildings that were
constructed by NTMA have female bathrooms and facilities.
Instead of using female ANP members, MOI plans on temporarily
hiring 14-15K women from the private sector to be trained as security
screeners for the approximately 7,000 polling centers. Elections
security planning efforts continue with MOI serving as the lead
security ministry.