Women make peace visit to Afghanistan

Four British women have returned from a ‘peace visit’ to Kabul

Four British women have returned from Afghanistan after a sixteen-day ‘peace visit’ to Kabul.  The four, who include two Quakers, stayed with a community of Afghans who are seeking to live out principles of active nonviolence in the midst of violence and injustice.

Quakers Mary Dobbing and Susan Clarkson were joined on the trip by Bethan Tichbone, who attends Quaker Meetings occasionally, and peace activist Maya Evans.

They stayed as guests of the Afghan Peace Volunteers (APV), a group of twelve young men who aim to model what they want to see in their country through a multifaith, nonviolent community. They run classes for local children. Their building also houses ‘Pandora’s Hope’, a women’s sewing project that produces duvets for poor families.

‘They made us feel very at home,’ said Bethan Tichbone, who found the community ‘had so much hope’. She told the Friend there was a ‘very odd juxtaposition’ between the laughter, friendship and hospitality that routinely greeted them and the regular anecdotes of trauma and extreme suffering.

‘Most of the people we met had been affected by someone in their family being killed,’ explained Susan Clarkson, who spent ten days in prison in 2009 for taking direct action against British military involvement in Afghanistan.

The peace visitors met with human rights campaigners, women’s groups and a group promoting the rights of disabled people. They travelled to Afghanistan on their own initiative with the backing of Voices for Creative Nonviolence UK. ‘I was going because the Afghan Peace Volunteers had invited people to stay with them as friends,’ said Bethan.

Although Maya Evans has visited Afghanistan before, it was a new experience for the other three visitors. Susan described the Afghans as ‘a dignified and yet damaged people’. She told the Friend: ‘I feel negative about the situation and I feel positive about the people.’

The group discovered anger towards both the Taliban and western governments, particularly in relation to drone strikes by US and UK forces. Bethan explained: ‘A lot of people did say, “Why do you pay taxes to a government that does these sorts of things?”’

The four women are now beginning a speaking tour of the UK. They will encourage their listeners to hold the UK government to account. Bethan acknowledged that this would not be easy but added: ‘We’re not going to be murdered by the Taliban for protesting in the streets, so we should take all the opportunities we’ve got.’

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