Am paula im on the board of the Atlantic Council and vice chair of the center for strategy and security. Todays conversation comes at a very crucial time for afghanistan, afghanistan sits at a very key Inflection Point with peace negotiations currently ongoing between the taliban and the afghan government, though these talks give hope for an inch of decades of war in afghanistan, they also do raise certain concerns, it is truly vital that we remain vigilant in protecting the goals and gains that have been made on behalf of women and girls rights in afghanistan as well as those marginalized voices more generally, and the last two decades particularly as the negotiations have been underway the peace talks represent a major opportunity to really ensure that these gains are cemented. Id like to mention that back in september when these talks began and got underway, at the time initiated by former secretary of state madeleine albright, the Atlantic Council of the advisory board, she initiated a statement, over 100 former heads of states, prime ministers, Foreign Ministers among many others issued a statement on the role of women in the Peace Process, i would like to share with you a few words from that statement. It went on to say that we call upon all relevant national, regional and International Actors to pursue a peaceful stable afghanistan by ensuring womens full participation in the Peace Process, after 40 years of conflict they may finally be an opportunity for peace. The International Community has an obligation to assist with ensuring that the peace is durable and theres an opportunity that this opportunity is not squandered. Very significantly the statement goes on to say with the Peace Process underway that also the International Community to prioritize womens meaningful inclusion in order to help the longterm security goals that we have been working towards for decades. We have already seen meaningful progress in afghanistan since the women began to be inaugurated and integrated into society as equal citizens. You know very significantly, the statement says that given the key roles of women and ensuring a durable peace that the following measures are absolutely necessary that women need to be part of the negotiation and not just an issue to be discussed, that women must be involved throughout every step of this process and also the perspective of women and youth must be reflected in any agreement. And that this is a key issue that has to be part of this process going forward. Clearly the discussions that we will hold today are key, you will be hearing very soon. But they represent only the beginning of a long road which we must support afghans as drivers of their own future, the war may indeed involve and has many actors engaged in it but the future of afghanistan is undoubtedly afghan. I am delighted to be able to introduce our very own first former first lady of the United States mrs. Laura bush. First Lady Laura Bush has long championed the cause of women and girls rights in afghanistan. You know through her very longstanding and involvement and dedication in the u. S. Afghan Womens Council of which he is an Honorary Council member and also through her dedication and involvement and leadership in the george w. Bush president ial center, mrs. Bush has worked to provide access to education and health for afghan women, if you remember she also delivered a remarkable at time when she was first lady a remarkable radio interview in which she called attention to all americans about the rights of afghan women, we will have the executive director of the george w. Bush institute who will moderate the discussion, she has worked closely with the bush family in these efforts as executive director at the george w. Bush institute as well as Senior Vice President at the bush center, following the discussion i will introduce our second featured an honorary guest, the first lady of the Islamic Republic of afghanistan rula ghani. If you would like to engage in the discussion, please use the ac front page. With that i would like to give the floor to first Lady Laura Bush and to the moderator. Over to you. Good morning mrs. Bush, its good to see you and its good to be with her friends at the Atlantic Council were appreciated above them putting on this event into ambassador who shares her Womens Initiative policy of the bush center who had a role in this. Take you to the Atlantic Council and thank you for hosting this, she and i are good friends, weve been friends for all these years and thank you for wanting to talk about this, i think whats happening in afghanistan is very important right now. Mrs. Bush you have really been an advocate for the rights of afghan women for 20 years from now. It is hard to believe. Tell us why this is personal. I think after september 11 when the spotlight turned on afghanistan, what we saw was a failed country and it was failed because half of the population was left out, i remember what it was like women could not leave their home without being fully covered and without a male escort and because of the years of war with russia and the taliban many women were widows, they did not have someone to be able to leave their house and remember the other part they cannot be educated, they cannot go to school in the very idea of a country that leaves half of the population out is a failed country and thats what afghan was. You as first lady knew you could use that platform to be an advocate. I could talk about women there i met i made trips and met a lot of the women there and i brought some of the women who were particularly had started a school in the province, the same province where the taliban had blown up the buddhist that were world hear heritage site, i brot her to the g8 in seattle and georgia so the other first ladies from other countries could meet her as well. There were a lot of countries that went together to support the people of afghanistan, not just the United States. One of the things you did when you travel there was you signed the mou to establish the American University. Thats right smack talk a little bit about that and its role. While the United States has history of founding american universities. We had one in beirut, i think, and several others around the world. We were able to establish them the American University in afghanistan which continues today and their recent valedictorian was a woman which, i think, is terrific. Its a really, i think a very important world the United States has play over the United States in many countries and that is founding these american universities. Of course, that University Takes women and men. In fact, i think there are more women at the American University in afghanistan right now than there are men. This, of course, has been a country that not that long ago women were not allowed to be educated at all. Just a little context. In 2006 there were 50 students and very few women and 1700 students today and more than half are women. Isnt that great . Terrific. And half are fulbright scholars and half are women but in 20 years thats pretty remarkable. That is remarkable. Really is. I also think it shows how hungry afghan women are to be educated. Afghanistan before the taliban was an educated country in women and men were educated. Sadly after the taliban came and they pretty much destroyed afghanistan. We talked a little bit about education and you highlighted that. There have been so many other areas of progress for women of course but what do you think the people of afghanistan stand to lose if those gains are reversed . Well, everything. They will lose everything. Im not that happy about the idea of negotiating with the taliban and i think we should be negotiating with a legitimate government, elected government of afghanistan. I think that we forget that america gives people a certain prestige if we negotiate with the taliban then we are, in some ways, saying they are important, more important than the elected government. Do we want peace there . Absolutely. Would be like our troops to come home . Of course. But we still have troops in berlin. You know, many, many years after world war ii and weve kept troops in various places in the world and not that im suggesting we have to do that in afghanistan but their fragile democracy and there are a lot of people, the taliban embassy, they would rather take over and have it be like it was before a failed country. They made a lot of progress and so i hope you will continue to support the legitimate government of afghanistan. Weve also seen gains for women. Gains from women and access for healthcare and entre nous errors in afghanistan and grow the economy. I know youve gotten to meet some of those entre nous orders that support those overtime. We talked about why its important to have women be educated so what does it mean for the leadership and decisionmaking of the country when you have women involved . If you have half the population left out, like i said before youre a failed country. Very important to both men and women you know been able to contribute in every way to the country and been able to work and contribute to the economy and be able to contribute to the government and all of those things. My mother was born two years before women achieve the right to vote in the United States. Which is pretty amazing, and in it . She lived a long time and she lived till she was on was 100 years old but the idea that even we were that, not that many generations ago that women were not allowed to vote and i think its important for us to be able to use what we know in building the democracy and what is important in building the democracy and we are now in the midst really of talking about that again with black lives matter with all the other marginalized communities that may have been left out. Even though our declaration says all people are created equal but i gainfully think it was all men were created equal but i think we have or we know from our own history how important it is to have everyone, every race, men and women, included in the democracy and thats what a democracy is. It is made up of all people with all different viewpoints. Studies have shown that having women involved in Leadership Levels brings more peace and stability to the country so there is research to show. Exactly, how important it is to have women in office. So Many Americans are skeptical about why we are still involved in why they should still support the people of afghanistan and especially the women of afghanistan so what would you say to them about why this matters . I would say we have a moral obligation really to continue to support the people of afghanistan. We went in early on to support them after september 11 and they made great, great strides. Sadly, that caliban has had the opportunity to come back in some ways but i think, i just feel like its a really moral obligation to continue to support them. Afghanistan was a driving driving country at one time and we know what happened to it. It was after that caliban came in. We dont want that to happen again. I think that is why its a moral obligation to support the people there. There are many, many people who do the afghan Womens Council and the women who have looked at afghanistan after september 11 and were shocked at the way women were treated there and figured out ways to help. I think of Connie Duckworth who immediately started to help women become entrepreneurs and make money and then all the other Great Projects that american women have founded there in afghanistan. I think american women would say lets keep supporting them. What message do you have for policymakers in the u. S. About what they can and should still be doing to support afghan women . I think they should still be doing what we do already which is give some Financial Support, a lot of Financial Support actually to the government, not to the taliban. Their dependent really on that as they grow their economy but they have been able to build an economy. They been able to build an economy because everyone can participate in it now, not just men. I thank you no, weve given aid to countries for many, many years and i think it is in our moral interest and i also think its our security interest to continue to try to fund or send money to afghan for a legitimate government and legitimate projects that are going on the their. Right. We really have the ability to condition that aid. Thats right, we certainly do. Representation by the women in the government and society in afghanistan and that is important that missus bush, any word for the women of afghanistan . This will be live streamed and you may have women in afghanistan paying attention to what you are saying. I think the women of afghanistan know im standing with them and i have been for all these years. President bush i know it would say that he stands with you all and we hope for the very best for you and i also want you to know i admire the way women of afghanistan have been able to step out and secure their rights to be real full contribute members to their economy and to their society in every way. Missus bush, thank you. Thank you for hosting this. Thank you. We will send it back. Sounds great. Thank you. Thank you, holly, for a great interview and missus bush really, thank you so much again, not only for being with us here today but also for your longstanding dedication to afghan women. It gives me great pleasure, by the way, before we go to our featured guests that i would like to mention that here in washington dc we are very, very fortunate to have afghanistans ambassador to the United States who has been a great partner with the Atlantic Council supporting the causes of afghanistan and were particularly grateful today for her making todays discussion with afghanistan first lady so thank you so much ambassador and we are really appreciative of all your efforts and thanks for being with us. I would also like to mention that we are also joined today by one of the councils great partners on afghanistan and that is steven heights of the rockefeller voter foundation. Thank you, steven for your support and we are grateful and also the importance of the afghan task force. We just are grateful to be partnering with you and glad that you could be with us as well here today. Thank you very much. Thank you. I would not like now to turn to her excellency first lady of afghanistan who is director of the enabled children initiative, a charity that supports and advocates for afghan children with disabilities who have been abandoned or orphaned. Since assuming the office of the first lady in 2014 first lady has worked very closely with afghan women to create a more fair and just society and this has been a really core goal and objective of hers. Recently her excellency her excellency first lady has been a vocal advocate of ensuring that women are represented at the highest level of the peace talks and continues to work to ensure that womens rights have participation are preserved and also elevated throughout this process. We are just thrilled to have you with us today your excellency, first lady with that i would like to give the floor over to you and to [inaudible]. Welcome. Thank you for all the things he said. Youve given me too much credit but i agree with you that we might have made incredible strides through their own volition in their own hard work. [inaudible] i should say im extremely grateful that theyve given me again another opportunity to peace with my fellow members and id also like and im very grateful for missus laura bush who has joined in this program and she never disappoints. It comes from the heart and you can tell. Do you want to ahead . Thank you. Thank you for all those joining is virtually today and i thank you for joining us for this very important discussion. First question being a first lady i consider myself a listener but oldschool journalists i bear witness to what happens so i would be glad to speak about the things i know but also i would like to say that we have been going through a period of heightened violence where its very disturbing and to the families and citizens i want to assure you that i will try my best and that they will not have died in vain. Thank you. I want to come back to the issue of violence and i want to start by setting that its difficult to appreciate what has happened here in afghanistan and you havent been in for the past six years we had an open door policy in your office and youve met thousands of women traveled to the provinces and looked into their issues and when i walked into your core doors from the floor to the ceiling its something so if you could just give us the perspective on progress made by African Women and girls in society. Sure. Three years ago i had to report to the tnn and a conference on women and they said they were not visible but you could see them everywhere, in the streets and in the offices and in the government but today they are active. At one point, one goes by that i dont hear about new women i had not heard from them so i go back to my schedule and i spoke to for women that i met in the first time and maybe we could have the first picture. Im going to speak about two young women in their 30s and this is a picture you see and itd come to my office but she wanted to give me something she had written about breast cancer. Her sister had died from breast cancer. She had gone to doctors and it was one of the districts where i had been recently and so she said it was her duty to write this booklet and to put it together and can we be informed of what to look for and when to reach out for treatment. Lets have the second picture. The women sitting on the couch are the Board Members of the Cancer Foundation which we founded four years ago now and as a facilitator you can see how i asked them to come when she came to give me her booklet and they were wanting to meet her and i think they will be printing her booklet. Next picture. In this picture it was put on the shoulders of the women that you are visiting and the person who is between the shawl on me is started at [inaudible] but very soon after became an implementer in the National Solidarity program and its a program called [inaudible]. Lets go to the following picture and it had been now two years and she represents the women in foreign affairs. Interestingly enough cheese and ambitious lady and came to see me of how we could escape so these two young women you can see her trying to make every opportunity they have for their potential. Next picture please. This is a woman who works in tehran and started at the age of 12 working for the schools with the migrants there. She became a writer and having studied been a public defender she founded an organization for a presumption of women and children and she [inaudible] she is now works for the Vice President dinesh. She has been very affected by the attack on the Maternity Hospital you remember a couple of months ago where women and babies were in the process of delivery and she came to discuss two proposals, one for creating Social Security for funding and the other how to take care of children that have lost their mothers. And its very touching. Next picture. This is the last picture i will be showing you. This is a forceful woman and she is older than all the other three and she studied medicine and graduated from the school of medicine and has been worked with Doctors Without Borders and unicef and she just decided to have a free clinic and just work as a doctor with helping all her compatriots. She is also known to have, i mean, she has some has alerted her compatriots to the possible harm of [inaudible] when it was used without understanding of it effects. She is slated to become minister of economy and his come with me to get to know each other visit. Thank you for the pictures. What i want to say is you can see here these four women, for different trajectories and that they are all trying to make the best of all that they have around themselves to become strong and effective and to be actors real strong actors and its really very rewarding to meet them. Of course these are women who have access to education. Im glad you asked this question. We do have a very large proportion of women who cannot read or write and we are trying to do something about this but its taking a lot of time. These women also cant [inaudible] in you had a program here where we were they were talking about peace and it was with institutions both the government and Civil Society in institution but we really have all 24 promises says and sat down with moment and asked them what they thought about peace and what are the obstacles of peace and what kind of things we think are these obstacles. They knew not only what was happening around them but they knew what was happening in the country and in the region and in the world and they have very good of opinions and if you are interested in knowing it was a composite of 15000 women and what their opinions were. Go to my website first lady. Gov and then you will see you will have an english [inaudible] they are very much aware of what is happening and i think they are progressing very fast. Im very proud of them. Youve taken us to the process for the womens complicated so wanted to ask you about stop talking about where things are in the Peace Process but how are they on the violation of the ferry train nine agreement with the u. S. Government and they have ramped up violence and at the same time you about senior al qaeda commander was found and killed in the steam harbor by the taliban here in afghanistan and they are refusing to negotiate in earnest with the afghan negotiating team. African women are watching this unfold and what did they tell you and what do they tell you about the process unfolding . They really are telling me words. [inaudible] they are and they really have made their words heard and projected very clearly activities and even networks with europe and with the u. S. Dont get me wrong. Women want peace. We all want peace. They are living for 40 years in such situations of insecurity and often violence. Both want peace and we have some very clear ideas of how we conceive that piece. As i said we had conversations of a woman and [inaudible] the men to have started realizing what they want for peace. The time i had to understand that we have no problems coming back to afghanistan but they are our brothers and sisters and if they are afghans they have the right to live in afghanistan. Some of them already do live and there is nothing stamped on their forehead that they are taliban and [inaudible] but they need to understand that if they want to come and live back in afghanistan they have to adhere by the rule of the land. You cannot come and impose their own convictions and their brand of religion and we are almost 36 Million People and they are i dont know, 100,000, 300,000 so where do they want to come impose on us and they believe in. Finally, what i would like to say is there a lot of confusion what is happening. The confusion as i said was not known but what was said and it is what really was not known who they wanted to negotiate with. I personally never called it dont [inaudible] up till now were still not really clear about it. If you have followed carefully you have seen that our negotiator is there and has been there for almost more than a month and they are trying to sync up with teachers and so when there was a discussion on what should be the negotiation rules this or the taliban said we have an agreement with the u. S. We want that to be the basis for negotiations. While we said we also have agreements with the u. S. And its a different agreement so lets negotiate instead on the holy koran and [inaudible]. They wouldnt. They will not accept this. While the agreement which was signed in august so not quite sure but anyway. February. In february. That agreement had been published and there were several causes that it had not been made public and we are still in the dark we dont know what they have agreed but for some reason they must have been promised something and it must be very appealing to them for them to have forgotten about the religion in which they wrap themselves and its really, for us, its very, its very important to understand what the taliban stands for and also there is this freedom of expression. We have freedom of expression and anyone can come and we have the whole tradition of roundtables and asked the discussion and everybody did what they have on their mind. Then we have [inaudible] me and myself have heard with their own ears that women are halfwits ignorant of religion. [inaudible] the taliban has not changed. The increased violence shows that they are still following the same strategy of fear. This is not how we would like to live. In regarding the Peace Process. You mentioned the process and groomers that are being generated and there has been a traceable narrative over the last year or so that womens expectations and their desires to preserve and expand their rights in a Peace Agreement may be some kind of obstacle and they could have to be sacrificed to achieve peace. What would your sponsor be to this narrative . It is very true that at first when it started i think they were not only rumors but to head people saying that you have to quietly relinquish all the rights you have and you have to go back to your home but this is why they said no this protest is wrong from the start and we should be able to speak up with what we have to say. They have tried to find [inaudible] women the first time dont feel they are there for women issues but as National Actors and with all the discussions because we had discussions every week there would be a discussion somewhere in every embassy organize something and every ngo organize something in every Institution Even my office wanted peace and what happened is [inaudible] think through what life would be and what i would think we would really care for and how would they rule over us if there was power sharing and we knew in the process we had great constitution and we had a constitution that can both have the precepts of them on islam and democracy and is very inclusive and when we talk about [inaudible] talks about the equality between men and women and it talks about freedom of speech which we really enjoy, freedom of movement and freedom of assembly and it also talks about the free market economy so basically that allows the various groups to coexist and live together under the rules of this constitution and its an expression and value where if a person wants to say she really loves a constitution and she can say she sees herself in the constitution but its true. Everyone can see herself in that constitution. There was that discovery but also the discussions we found out that often we use the word regime and government and we use those intermittently and [inaudible] government is there for five years and can change every five years and can only so by clarifying this we can have an opportunity for people who fight for todays public and could be part of the same movement of things we want an Islamic Republic and these are things we would be comfortable. Basically i feel that the women have been formidable to the taliban and they have managed to rise from every issue and see that they create. Thank you. In the interest of time i will combine my last two questions. They very closely related. Looking positively into the future what do you believe is the way forward . What do we need to achieve these matches from afghanistan but the International Community afghanistan foundational partner the United States and what we need to be to achieve . Everyone wants peace. It is something that is for everyone. Im optimistic that it will happen and it will take time, especially after the time of signing an agreement whatever we have. A new government cannot enforce peace. Soon after the confrontations were carried out trunk government is what we are witnessing and what we are seeing in a strong government is what is needed with covid. Covid19 we have managed to secure food for everyone we managed to manage the medical infrastructure and to try and treat the people so we didnt have too many people who contracted covid19. We have, we have also provided people without jobs for manual labor for testing. And enough for them to have gives him some food on the table and helps them survive. So this government is not a [inaudible] [audio difficulties] is also a government that has really managed its relationship with neighboring countries. We have opened up central asia and we are now part of central asia. Its really a victory and helps us with getting, for example, the covid thing. As i mentioned the government [inaudible] there is a very strong effort to serve these people and government is really serving them. There is the form for the government [inaudible] we already have almost ready a plan for 20212024 and peace and Development Project in which there are three pillars, peace building because every state building and market building. Basically i think that we already were peace. We are ready to make the effort. Im just wondering what the taliban is wanting. Do they really want peace . Thats my question. In International Partners and for many years and i want to thank all of them for their perseverance in trying to help us in trying to make things better for us. There are two things i would love to ask from them. One is that when it is regarding [inaudible] dont rely on the media but come and listen on the ground and dont talk to just one because seeing more and more researchers that are outdated and it will be fine for four or five years but they dont and so [inaudible] the second thing i would want to ask for his clarity. We get so many and we hear so many voices so many different messages and sometimes different messages and its very confusing and its case and point. I hope i did not hope to not at all, very important points and this is a conversation that should continue and will continue on different platforms in different venues and thank you for lending your voice to this discussion today. I will give you the last word. It is obvious i am so thankful and im touched to see so many people be interested in what is happening. Thank you for your interest in thank you for your persevering and wanting to figure out ways in helping us and thank you god bless. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for a superb moderation in your excellency, rula ghani. Thank you for being with us this evening and your time and we are very grateful for everything you said and the clarity of your comments and your courage and dedication. Thank you. We are most appreciative. I look at both of the conversations and truly what an incredible set of conversations that we have had today. The insights that have been divided by former first Lady Laura Bush and also her excellency first Lady Rula Ghani are really a model for all who seek a more fair and just society. Thank you both, missus gotti and missus bush for your inspiring insight into the wonderful moderators, holly and leola, thank you both. I also would like to express a debt of gratitude to the Atlantic Council south asia center and also to the george w. Bush institute for hosting these key discussions. It has really been, not only an honor but i also think truly insightful and very thoughtful the conversations that we have heard today about the future of afghanistan in about the peace negotiations in the peace talks and also about the future of afghan women and afghanistan. As was said it should not be an issue and it has to be part of the process. To conclude let me just emphasize that in afghanistan but also everywhere in the world where turbulence and instability prevails we must remember that there is no peace without justice and there is no Justice Without equality. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you. President trump delivers or marks today at a Campaign Rally in arizona on the nevada border with less than one week to go until election day. Watch live at 3 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2, online at cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Has President Trump kept his promises . His first term