Thank you very much.
I started out working on the Hill on issues on status of women many years ago, and I find it extremely problematic to suggest that we are protecting women's rights best by the failing approach we are taking now.
The most vocal woman parliamentarian on women's rights in Afghanistan, Malalai Joya, was thrown out of Parliament because she denounced members of Parliament and the Karzai government, including the former defence minister Dostan of the Northern Alliance, for their treatment of women.
Part of the entire problem with how we have approached Afghanistan is this demonization--one side is all good and the other side is all bad. Unfortunately, as Major-General Lewis MacKenzie said in a very different context about the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, how do I choose between someone who has killed 10,000 and someone who has killed 5,000? There is too much blood to go around, so we have to get beyond that.
I would suggest that women's rights are not being advanced in Afghanistan in a situation where the security of everyone is deteriorating on a daily basis. That is not the way to protect women in Afghanistan.
Thank you.