Press Releases

Leading Afghan Feminist Urges Immediate end to U.S. War

March 8, 2011

March 9, 2011
To schedule an interview with Malalai Joya, email press@afghanwomensmission.org or call (562) 319-3046 or (626) 676-7884

Coinciding with the paperback release of her book A Woman Among Warlords, famed Afghan feminist Malalai Joya will travel across the United States this Spring for an extensive speaking tour.

Her message: End the U.S./NATO occupation of Afghanistan immediately.

Malalai Joya is Afghanistan’s most outspoken activist and has been called “the bravest and most famous woman in Afghanistan.” In 2010, Joya was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine and was named as one of the Guardian Newspaper’s top 100 activists and campaigners this March. She has received many other international awards and recognitions for her efforts for human rights, justice and democracy in Afghanistan.
Joya, now 32, was the youngest ever woman elected to the Afghan Parliament in 2005 and is an outspoken critic of the Karzai government and US/NATO occupation. According to Joya, “the truth about Afghanistan has been hidden behind a smoke screen of words and images carefully crafted by the United States and its NATO allies and repeated without question by the Western media.”

Joya is right: the Western media has all but ignored the March 1st U.S. bombing of Kunar province in Afghanistan which killed nine children, ages 9 to 15 years of age. The sad truth is the Afghan women and children have been the biggest casualties of this war, while U.S. and NATO actions have only resulted in a stronger Taliban, and corrupt and criminal central government.

Malalai Joya will share the harsh reality of the Afghan war with Americans during her nationwide tour. Her trip comes ahead of a major push by U.S. antiwar activists to organize bi-coastal events protesting the Afghanistan war on April 9th and 10th 2011.

Starting in mid-March, Joya will begin her tour in New York where she will address the closing plenary of the annual Left Forum. From there, she heads to Washington D.C., Massachusetts (including a joint appearance with Noam Chomsky), Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington state, and California. Joya’s tour will culminate with her participation in San Francisco’s April 10th Antiwar Demonstration.

Details of Malalai Joya’s Spring 2011 tour are online here.

NOTE: Malalai Joya will be available for a limited number of interviews between March 19 – April 11, 2011. Email press@afghanwomensmission.org to schedule an interview.

Organized by Afghan Women’s Mission, www.afghanwomensmission.org.

The Afghan Women’s Mission is an all-volunteer organization that works toward providing health care, education, and overall empowerment of Afghan women and children, while simultaneously promoting awareness of women’s and human rights in Afghanistan