War of words: East and West clash at Master's Tea

At a Pierson Master's Tea on Mon., Jan. 24, Taliban Ambassador Designate to the United Nations Abdul Hakeem Mujahid defended the policies of the Taliban, the de facto government of Afghanistan, on everything from terrorism to women's rights. Mujahid spoke eloquently and ferverently, although rambling at times, to a group of over 100 Yalies and local high school students. Meanwhile, a group of 35 to 40 students demonstrated outside the Park Street entrance to the Master's house, protesting against the Taliban's reported human rights offenses.

CAYTE PUSHKAREVA/YH Taliban Ambassador Designate to the UN Abdul Hakeem Mujahid defended his government's policies to students in the Pierson common room.

Mujahid argued that his government has the sovereign right to pursue what it sees as important—national unity, national security, and a strong central government in a country historically wracked by divisiveness. To him, security is a human right as much as freedom. "We have our own priorities," Mujahid said. "We several times declared that we want to restore human rights in Afghanistan. We do want to rule the country by the people of the country." He also offered the justification that the Afghanistan legal system is closely tied to a deeply-rooted traditional religion. "Our religion is a complete code of life," he said, explaining that the Taliban's laws are based on the Muslim Koran and Sunna.

Mujahid attacked what he saw as hypocrisy in the policies of the U.S., which he claimed ignored human rights offenses far worse than those that exist now in Afghanistan, when it used the country as a Cold War pawn. "During the aggression of the Soviet Union, the whole world, including the United States, they were with us [providing aid to the previous Afghan government]," he said. "There were some problems, but no one was speaking about that."

The ambassador dismissed negative media reports as exaggerations of problems that are an improvement on the past and steps toward further improvement in the future. "We are being cornered, marginalized, isolated by negative propaganda," he said. "You recognized [former President Burhanuddin] Rabbini's nonexistent government with all of these dirty, nasty things." In contrast, the ambassador is denied entry even into the United Nations General Assembly.

On the specific issue of women's rights, Mujahid cited the example of people who opposed schools for women and other progressive actions by the government. He also pointed out that the women's liberation movement in America was not instantaneous. "We consider education obligatory of a man and woman," he said. But, "Cultural problems are existent." He told of a past king who tried to institute reforms against the will of the people and was deposed as a result. "There was a great gap between the masses, the people, and the rulers," Mujahid said.

When asked about the recent Indian Airlines hijacking, he explained that an agreement with India kept the Taliban from interfering. As for the allegations that the Taliban is harboring reputed terrorist Osama bin-Laden, Mujahid said that a lack of extradition treaties, as well as the absence of convincing evidence showing bin-Laden's guilt, justified the Afghan offer of protection. Mujahid also said that his government is working to eliminate drug trafficking in Afghanistan, though reports allege that this trade is a source of much of the Taliban's income.

Afghan-American activist Laili Helms, who has spent time in Afghanistan with aid organizations and advises the Taliban, joined Mujahid at the tea. She provided another perspective in defense of the Taliban. "They've brought security, peace, and safety to the people of the country," she said, and claimed that the Taliban's few resources forced it to successfully garner the support of the people to make progress in the country.

CAYTE PUSHKAREVA/YH Protestors sought to raise awareness, though some felt the warm reception inappropriate.

As a Taliban defender, Helms was in the minority. In addition to hostile questioners, student protesters outside sported signs with phrases including "Women's rights = human rights" and "Taliban! Human rights in Afghanistan!" According to demonstration organizer Rebecca Ing-ber, DC '00, the purpose of the protest was to "try to bring public awareness to the grotesque human rights violations of his regime."

The demonstrators said they were not protesting the speaker's presence on campus, though one was "shocked and disgusted that a representative from a regime with such an extreme record of human rights violations such as the Taliban was given the type of cushy and warm reception found at a setting such as a Master's Tea." Another demonstrator, Anya Kamenetz, DC '02, said "I wanted this man to know he's not welcome in my neighborhood."

Michael Rubin, DC '94, GRD '99, a history lecturer, brought the ambassador to campus to speak to his class and then at the tea. He sent an e-mail to those organizing protests, urging them to reconsider and not to go ahead with their plans. The goal of the tea, he explained, was to try to have a dialogue with someone with different views and that protestors making noise outside would just disrupt the conversation.

In the end, police officers kept the protestors under control. The sign-holders stood outside of the window quietly for a while before setting their signs down, propped against bushes outside of the common room, and leaving.

Although the common room provided a tranquil environment for Mujahid, it was by no means peaceful. A tense moment arose during the tea when an audience member chanllenged Mujahid to shake the hand of a female from the audience, which his religion forbids. "We have our own belief and our own culture and I think that this should not be a great barrier between me and you," Mujahid responded.

Furthermore, Mujahid made a few remarks that elicited snickers and gasps from the crowd, such as calling Amnesty International a biased source and claiming that the Taliban's Afghanistan has "security which is far better than in New York, Paris, or London."

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