2011

M. Joya, A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Woman Who Dared to Raise Her Voice, Scribner, New York 2009, pp. 240, ISBN 978-1-4391-0946-5

"In Afghanistan, killing a woman is like killing a bird" begins Malalai Joya, in her passionate and bluntly unapologetic account of her life as an Afghan woman, as a refugee, a teacher and her meteoric rise to life in public service as the youngest female parliamentarian in Afghanistan's politics. The autobiographical A Woman Among Warlords is a double-edged sword - providing an in-depth look into Joya's rise to fame and her extraordinary journey as perhaps one of the most recognizable and controversial political figures in modern day Afghanistan while issuing a seething critique of US policies toward Afghanistan and her country's transition to "democracy." The book's chronological approach from her birth in Farah to her recommendations of how best to proceed in assisting Afghanistan in its long road to recovery totals 231 pages and has 14 chapters. It is a fast read and accessible for anyone interested in Afghanistan, human rights and women's issues in the country.

A Woman Among Warlords is a powerful book and an important one. It is, overall, a sobering reminder that when the political expedience of stability completely overrides the moral demands for justice, reconciliatory efforts hold little transformative promise; rather, it can entrench a culture of impunity that both delegitimizes a political process and undermines an already fledgling rule of law. At the macro-level, it reminds its audience of the debilitating conditions in which Afghans live today, despite the official collapse of the Taliban regime and the millions of dollars that have been poured into the country for reconstruction and development. It is a searing and heart-breaking portrayal of the deep-rooted injustices in the country, brought on largely by the pragmatic politicking of greater powers which has accommodated some of the most troubling characters in Afghanistan's history in the country's political platform. It is a shocking portrayal of corruption and greed, of continuing human rights atrocities, of election manipulation and the crippling impact of large-scale illicit activities on Afghanistan's politics and economy. It is a grim reminder of gender violence and gender discrimination that Afghan girls and women are daily subjected to, obliterating the myth that with the collapse of the Taliban, they have been liberated. It is a scathing account of the pervasive religious fanaticism and political brutality that continue blight the lives of common Afghan women and men because of the political choices being made by the US administration and Karzai's government. Finally, it is a call for US and NATO forces to withdraw, to end the support to the warlords and instead, focus attention on humanitarian assistance to grass-roots organizations, progressive networks and women's groups that Joya insists hold the real key for Afghanistan's future.

At a micro-level, A Woman Among Warlords is a fascinating account of a young woman's life and the choices she makes to be involved in public service. Joya emerges as a fiery and courageous woman, with at times a sense of humor, but always with a fierce agency - as a child growing up in a refugee camp in Pakistan, an intellectually curious and questioning young girl, a young woman committed to teaching in one of the underground schools for girls that sprung up under the Taliban regime, and as a political candidate from Farah province and the youngest woman elected into Afghanistan's parliamentary elections in 2005. Her narrative as an Afghan woman and a political actor is particularly significant because it challenges long held assumptions principally in western media and rhetoric about Afghan women as victims that needed to be rescued. It is thrilling to read Joya's confrontations with warlords in and outside the Parliament, identify with her frustrations with the intense politicking that happened between and among warlords and militia commanders, sense her isolation and marginalization when she was shut out for condemning the presence of war criminals in the Parliament, and feel her palpable anger at all those she believed were too hesitant to support her concerns. Her narrative of how she was temporarily expunged from the Parliament for her comments against warlords, for example, is a look into Afghanistan's frustrating political process and the dangers that are inherent in challenging the status quo. Finally, her account of the political assassinations on her life, the security precautions she has to constantly take, the sacrifices she and her family make for her protection are humbling insights into the constant dangers Joya has accepted as a voice for the Afghan people.

The book's strength lies in its personal narrative. The stories of Joya's struggles the stories of the people she meets, her social commentary, the experiences of her family and the people around her are critical in providing a unique look into the lives, struggles and humanity of the people in Afghanistan. Too often the market is inundated with a third person's account of her or his Afghanistan experience; most works are either an observer's idea of what Afghanistan was and what it has become - in them, Afghans themselves become the outsiders, the subjects of the author's experience. Scholarly works on Afghanistan too often analyze the politics and very rarely notice the people. The Afghan people have, particularly with renewed attention since 2001 have been reduced to numbers, casualty figures or as victims. Within this context, A Woman Among Warlords is a singularly important contribution - an Afghan voice, which speaks of Afghanistan and about Afghanistan not as a statistic or a case study, but as a country of struggles and hope, of people and their humanity. The fact that it is a woman's voice, which provides an authoritative commentary on the plight of her people, makes the work even more engaging and important.

Given the book's potential, the reader is left with a host of questions and a desire for, at times, a more complex analysis of some of the key points illustrated - including that of mistakes made and gains achieved in Afghanistan in the last decade. As it stands, at the micro-level, the book has notable organizational limitations, which could make it difficult for a western audience to follow the political history and current developments in the country. It offers very little in the form of references and footnotes; the facts presented reflect cherry picking of numbers and incidents which only serve to bolster the sometimes overtly simplistic criticism of the war being "bad," western involvement has been a mistake and the current government being corrupt. The book could have benefited from a more skillful and informed editor who could have teased out some of the nuances in Afghanistan's politics and could have engaged with the "facts" more vigorously and critically. Part of the appeal of the book comes from a lack of sophistication, its unveiled anger and fierce desperation, but the fervor itself becomes exhausting because of its reiterative and heavy-handed tone, which while demonstrating Joya's passion and fierceness exposes her as a naïve politician. Her constant focus on herself as the lone courageous voice criticizing warlords sounds too self-serving in a context where there are certainly others who have risked much by speaking up against the war criminals, warlords and militia commanders in Afghanistan's political landscape.

Ultimately, A Woman Among Warlords perhaps is far more appealing for the general audience who has limited exposure to Afghanistan's complex political landscape, its history, its current developments in the last ten years, and indeed of Afghan society and culture. It certainly contributes little to a serious scholar's appreciation of the dynamics of the country. Nevertheless, Joya's voice is important as not only a political actor, a social commentator and as an Afghan woman, but as an example of the diversity of opinions within the country and a humbling reminder of the complexity entity that is Afghanistan today.

Tazreena Sajjad (*)

*. Tazreena Sajjad is a doctoral candidate in the School of International Service at American University in Washington D.C.