Female Afghan PC member sees America, details her visit

GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan – An elected female Provincial Council member from Qarah Bagh District, Ghazni Province, spoke to Department of State and Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team members at Forward Operating Base Ghazni Aug. 31 about her trip to the U.S.A.

Hamidi Gulistani visited six different U.S cities during a three-week period in July to take part in a Department of State professional exchange program called the International Visitors Leadership Program, which introduces current and emerging foreign leaders to American experiences with issues such as democracy, governance and law enforcement.

Participants must be nominated by an American Foreign Service officer. So far, four other Afghan leaders from Ghazni have been selected.

During her time in the U.S.A., Gulistani said she learned several things.

“In the U.S., I saw a lot of transparency in organizations and departments,” Gulistani said through an interpreter. “Business cards and websites added transparency to the organizations I met.”

Women’s rights were also different between the two countries, and she felt Afghan women had more constitutional rights than American women.

“There are fewer women in executive positions with the organizations in the U.S.A, at least with the [non-governmental organizations] I met,” she said. “I only saw one female in a high level position, and she was a judge. And there weren’t many female U.S. senators.”

In Afghanistan, Gulistani mentioned, it is obligatory for 25 percent of parliamentary members to be women.

Another thing she noticed was the scenery. In all the pictures she had seen of the U.S.A., she was only familiar with the cities and large populations. The time she spent traveling between different cities, including Washington, D.C.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Chicago, Ill.; Freeport, Ill.; Albany, N.Y.; and New York City, N.Y., changed that image for her.

“I thought the U.S. would be more industrial, but it was very green,” she said.

As a group, the foreign leaders were able to talk about their provinces, share information and even pray together. Gulistani visited an American mosque, where she met a mullah from Kandahar. She explained how security was in Ghazni, and he was sad to hear that her province was still experiencing insurgent activities like threats and IEDs.

While meeting different people and watching them at work, Gulistani was impressed with the work ethic of most Americans, commenting on the intensity of their focus.

“When it was time to work, there was no time for joking around,” she laughed.

But the strangest thing, she mentioned, was how Americans laugh, smile and hug a lot.

“They’re very supportive. It seemed like one brotherhood, even between non-religious and religious people, or even between families and non-families.”

The nature of American hospitality was still very different than that of Afghan hospitality, she noted.

“I noticed that most Americans just say ‘hi’ and then go, but I also learned that American families want to support Afghan families.”

With humanitarian aid an active topic, she asked the PRT to help deliver items to the people.

“The humanitarian aid organizations that I met said they have stuff to give Afghans, but they can’t get it to the people. They need the PRT’s help,” she said.

The PRT asked Gulistani if she had brought back any souvenirs from her three-week trip in the U.S.A.

“I brought a lot of stuff from Ghazni like flags, carpets and scarves in a big suitcase,” she said. “But I brought back double the amount of souvenirs that I left with.”

Gulistani’s voice became more somber when she brought up corruption in the government and what the IVLP team taught the participants.

“I’ve learned how to fight against corruption,” she said. “They taught me how to fight it.”

Upon returning to Afghanistan, she faced several challenges. Some of the men on the provincial council, the only elected body of officials by the Afghan people in Ghazni, called her an American spy for visiting the U.S.A.

In addition to derision from some of her fellow male colleagues, she told the PRT that someone from the Taliban had put 400,000 Afghanis on her head to scare her into quitting her job as a female PC member.

“I wanted to tell them, instead of paying 400,000 Afghanis to kill me, give that money to the villages instead,” she said.

The PRT asked if she was scared after that threat.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I am not scared.”