WASHINGTON - The unity government led by President Ashraf Ghani is actively pursuing the integration of women in the decision making process, First Lady Rula Ghani has said.
Speaking to an audience at the Atlantic Council, a top American think-tank, she said at the cabinet level, a commission for gender policy had been busy looking into the gender units of all ministries.
Led by Vice-President Sarwar Danesh, the commission is comprised of representatives from several ministries. It was studying the gender sensitivity of all rules and policies, she added.
The first lady said one important development in Afghanistan since the new government came to power 18 months ago had been the greater participation of women in public affairs.
She spoke about the progress and achievements, particularly on women’s rights and debunked some of the myths about Afghanistan that existed in the West, particularly in the Western media.
Rula contested the myth that the United States had lost the war in Afghanistan. “Wasn’t the peaceful succession from President Karzai to President Ghani the sign of political maturity?” she asked.
The first lady said it would be inaccurate to say the unity government was not working efficiently. “Repeated half-truths take a life of their own…and suddenly become conventional wisdom,” she observed.
The government had made progress on reducing corruption, she claimed, cautioning: “It takes time to clean up years of neglect and absence of management. It takes even more time to build up solid foundations on which to build reforms.” (Pajhwok)