Possession possess minorities are waiting hour and a half to two hours, what being don on that level to deal with those there is a recognition that not everyone has to wait on long lines and so much of what has gone wrong with our elections is as much function of ram shackle election system as anything else. A lot of states have improved matters by moving to early voting. Other steps that are in a sense a kind of customer service, and in a place like ohio, where there was nearly a floridastyle debacle that almost upended the election of 2004, they actually expanded early voting and its been a big political fight over it, but its quite effective. But it varies from police to from place to praise and its the case in minority neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color that the lines are longer due to as much as anything else the underinvestment. Theres a president ial commission that president barack obama appointed. It was chaired by mitt romneys lawyer, ben ginsburg, and his own counsel, and they agreed on the need to modernize voter registration, and they agreed there ought to be National Standard for how long you have to wait on line. Were one country. We ought to be able to have able to vote with an equal and effective voice, no matter where they live. This is a matter of will and investment. Theres no magical technology. I will mention one technological thing to make you more nervous. After florida, one of the things in 2000, one of the things hat happened was Congress Passed a law requiring states to move to electronic voting and it was controversial because people were worried about security. Thats actually largely been addressed there are ways to make the machines actually better than the old machines, even the beloved old lever machines we all liked to close the curtain on here in new york. Thats the good news. The bad news is, theyre 15 years old. Their computers are 15 years old. And they use zip drives and theyre all on the verge of breaking. 43 states, the voting machines, electronic, computerized voting machines, are ten years or older. So theyll be in need for massively new investment in Voting Technology around the country, or youll have lines. Even that creates opportunities to integrate that with electron ic registration and other things to make sure everybody who is eligible to vote can vote. One more way in which the fight will continue in which its not only the formal rules but everything around it thats going to be contested that but that ultimate lyrics hopefully, will lead to continued progress. You can get the books in the back. [applause] [inaudible conversations] we want to hear from you. Post your feedback to tower facebook wall, facebook. Com booktv. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the u. S. Institute of peace. My name is nancy behind lynnberg. Im the president of usip and absolutely delighted welcome here this afternoon for her first visit, mrs. Bush. Were very happy to have you here, and i also want to welcome ambassador steve from the Islamic Republic of afghanistan, and your wife, and delighted have you here with us. Many other gets in the room. Thank you for joining us and thank you for coming this afternoon. And for those who are knew to usip we are an independent National Institute founded by congress 30 years ago, and dedicated to the proposition that peace is possible, peace is practical, and peace is essential for u. S. And interNational Security, and we pursue a vision of a World Without violent conflict, by working in conflict zones, with partners, equipping them with dollars, with knowledge, and with training. Theres probably no place where usip teams have spent more time than in afghanistan. Working with Civil Society and government partners to help make peace possible. So, were delighted to have today a Panel Discussion to discuss exactly who are some of the powerful women helping to make peace possible in afghanistan, and i have the distinct privilege of introducing our panelists and our moderator. Let me note that we will have ushers coming down the aisle to collect your question cards, for questions after opening remarks. If you have a question, please write town your name, your affiliation, along with your question on the card, and we will make sure that gets on stage. So, first, let me welcome mrs. Laura bush, former first lady of the United States. She hays long been an advocate for expanding rights and opportunities of women in afghanistan. She has traveled to more than 76 countries, including two historic solo trips to afghanistan, and today, as the chair of the Womens Initiative at the george w. Bush institute, mrs. Bush continues to work on Global Health care innovations, empowering women in emerging democracy, education reform, and supporting the men and women who have served in americas military. We also have with us today ms. Mean in sherzoy, a gender activist with over 25 years of experience in Economic Development and advocacies, and ms. Sherzoy has extensive experience in Capacity Building and ngo development in afghanistan. She has worked with the Afghan Civil Service commission and government counterparts to increase womens participation in government, and is the gender advisor for afghanistan and also featured in the wonderful new book were here to celebrate by mrs. Bush. Finally, im delighted to introduce mr. Steven hadley, the chair of usips board of directors, as our wise counsel and champion. Previously steve was the assistant to the president at the National Security affairs for four years, to thenpresident george w. Bush, and from january 2001 to 2005, he was assistant to the president and deputy security adviser. Please join me in fifthing a very warm welcome to our three wonderful guests. Applause produce [applause] thank you, thank you. All right. Were delighted all of you can be with us, and mrs. Bush, were delighted to have you here at the u. S. Institute of peace, and delighted with you new book, which is a collection of wonderful stories. If you havent read it, you really need to do so. Its a terrific book. What were going to do this afternoon is have a conversation among mrs. Bush, mina and myself are for about 25 minutes or so, and then will well have a question and answer period from you there cards distributed. Please write your questions on the cards. Pass them to the aisles and there will be runners coming down and getting them and passing them to me and we trial to get through as many questions as we canful well then at the end turn to our panelists, and ask for any closing comments and then well adjourn promptly at 5 00. So, again, were delighted youre all with us here for this wonderful event. I want to start, mrs. Bush, with you, if i might. You have a long history being a real advocate and champion for afghan women. You were the first first lady to deliver the president ial radio address in november of 2001 and you spoke about the light, challenges and the strength of afghan women at that time. Why is this such a cause for you . Of all the things you could take on as first lady as a cause, whey why were afghan women so important to you. Right after september 11th september 11th when the spotlight turned on afghanistan, american women, including myself, saw women who were majorrallized, left out, and the very idea of a government that would forbid hall of its population from being educated was shocking to americans american men and women, but a lot of people started calling me to say issue want to do something. What can i do to help . And one of my best friends from houston, called and said, i used to be so glad i wasnt in your shoes. But she said, now i wish i were. Im jealous because you can do something. And i cant. So, right then we formed the us afghan Womens Council and women brought various projects to support our sisters in afghanistan, and that was really the beginning of my interest in afghanistan, and in the women there. So, all the years we lived in the white house, and since, ive stayed in contact with many women that ive met through the u Womens Council and met on my trips in afghanistan. And you said you wanted to write about them. Why this book in this way . By the way, if you havent seen it, it has a forward from mrs. Bush. Its a wonderful tracing of the tribulations of afghanistan over the last 25 years, and its wonderfully written. Why this book in this particular way . Well, its called voices of hope and these are the stories of women in afghanistan, and because their voices were sigh lend issue thought it silent it thought it was important for all of to us hear what they had too say, beside that i think that things have changed. Since september 11th and i wanted people 0 know that. So i think this is a great way for all of to us learn not only about each of these women and one man, one brave man, including in the included his temperature but also for his story, but for us to learn more about the its of afghan if think we think we know it out, but their lives really show the history of the last, say, 40 years of afghanistan, starting with, for many of them, when the soviets came in, in 1979, and at that point some of these womens immigrated to pakistan with their families, some ended up in the United States after that, but nearly all of them went back after september 11th, when they could go back. Some lived there the whole time. Over the years of the soviet occupation and then the years of the taliban, and are still there. Wanted to tell their story. I wanted americans to hear their stories, and im thrilled to have this opportunity to tell their stories with this book. Mina, youre one of the people in the book. You were born in afghanistan. Came to the United States, spent most of your young adult life in the United States, until 9 11, which was traumatic for all of us, and so september 11, 2001, you decided to go back to afghanistan. Tell us about your decision to return to afghanistan and what you have been doing there, your life there now that you have returned. Sure. First, tell them why you werent in afghanistan when was it when the soviets came in . Yes, wasnt there first of all i want to thank you and im very privileged to be here on the stage with you, mr. Bush. Thank you. And mr. Hadley and i want to thank usip as always for putting together such a dynamic event, and thanking everybody to be part of this who are here today. Um, i was young, had just graduated from high school, so i went to high school in can be high school in kabul, and my father was an ambassador in czechoslovakia, and we heard the russians took over, which was a shock, and it came in as such a shock that at first we didnt know, like, okay, they invaded the country. I was so young. Didnt know the meaning of it, because afghanistan i was raised in the golden ages. We didnt think of war. Id never seen a gun before or a tank or anything else. So, to me, it was like, okay, somebody invaded and they will leave and they will go back. So, we slowly immigrated to the United States. My father had the attitude after three years we would go back, and the American Ambassador in germany gave my father we eh was going to give him citizen ship, green card, everything. He said, no, no, no, im not going to do that. Im going back. So to make a long story short we stayed for 25 years. September 11th happened. And when september 11 happened, of course my father was one of the first people that went to afghanistan, and he was the deputy political foreign minister. So, i saw the opportunity, because a lot of people were telling me, dont go, dont go, its dangerous. Put deep inside, all these 25 years i had such a passion to go back, and i always thought of the Afghan People being there and suffering, and i always thought of having thankful and grateful for having all the opportunities i had in the United States, and so how could i leave them . And so there was three of us, three women, i live in california, so, in the bay area so the three of us decided to start doing fundraising for the afghan women, and we did fundraising before, too, because i used to do a lot of fundraising, raise 2,000, 3,000 and send it. The best i could do. This time it was different the fundraising was lake the doors had opened. So its time to go now. Time to go and give. Time to go and help and take peoples hands and whatever the darkness has been in the past, lets overcome that. So thats why i have always wanted to go back, but until september 11th i couldnt because of the war and the taliban and what was going on, but after that, i decided to go back, yes. What was it like when you went back . What was your first reaction . What was the environment after 2001 . And then tell us about the environment now. I think being raised in the golden days user during the golden days of afghanistan, and then being really greatful for living in grateful for living in america, and to be honest with you, cherish my life here because america gave me security, peace, serenity, education, opportunities, everything. And i went there actually to be honest with you for three weeks because i had two daughters. I have two daughters and they were going to college at that time. So i said im going for three or four weeks and ill be back, which i never returned. And so when i went back, one thing that i saw that triggered my heart and my mind at the same time because when i landed, they took me the driver and my cousin they took me to the american embassy, to register for security reasons, being an american citizen you have to register. So, i got out of the car, and everything was done on the street at that time so it was a different time. So i went ahead and started signing the papers and talking to the soldiers and i turned around this was actually march 14th when i landed there. So, i turned around, i saw this tenyearold boy or nineyearold boy in a raggedy clothes, barefoot and it was chilly, and he was polishing my cousins shoes for a dollar. I just saw that and i totally freaked out right there. Because i started thinking, how i was raised. When i was ten years old, my nieces, my daughters, my family, my parents, my friends kids, when they were ten years old, they were in another world. Even when they grow older as parent we ask them to polish my shoes. They dont polish my shoes even now. So that broke my heart right there. So what i did the next thing i did was after a week, after studying everything, called my daughters, i said, look, there are people here, i have been around, there are girls that havent been to school. Theyre your age thatch cant even write their name. So, i know you need me, im your mother. Ill always be there for you, but do you mind if i can stay here for a few years and help and take care of these girls and guide them and assist them whatever way i can . So, they were so supportive, and i always tease them, i said, no, no, you just wanted to get rid of a nagging mom. But they said, no. We knew your passion. We heard you on the phone, and when we have time well come and help you. So im really appreciative of that, yes. Otherwise i couldnt have been there. A word about the situation now. The situation now has changed. As we all know, we see through the newspaper i just came back on wednesday. Things have changed in afghanistan drastically if you look at it from 14, 15 years ago, when you look at women empowerment, education, health, clinics, hospitals, the judicial system. Everything is not 100 perfect but at least the seeds have been planted there, lets put it this way. The only thing that really is a barrier to development of any country or anything you do in life, is security. Their insecurity interruption, two things. Like, for example, violation against women. Ill give you an example of that. First of all, there is Justice System in afghanistan. We have a lot of good laws but theres no way of enforcing it because the corruption gets in the way. So, what i saw this time, i was there for three months. Had for three weeks, ended up three months. The security situation has really deteriorated, and i know a lot of businesses are closing, and a lot of people are becoming unemployed. So, this kind of situation adds to the insecurity as well, because when something goes wrong, you dont know it was the daesh, the tall taliban, a thief, a person that was hungry. You didnt know who did it. So right now thats the security situation right now. Even though the security situation has deteriorated but we keep pushing. Thank you. We dont stop. Thank you. Mrs. Bush, you went to afghanistan in 2005, then again in 2006, 2008. Can you talk about those trips, what you learned, some of the insights you had and perhaps some of the women that you met during those trips some of whom probably show up in your book now. I went met the female governor there, and bammian is the it had the buddhas carved into niches in the mountain wall, and i knew that they looked like from forecasts but by the tomorrow i went they were just rubble at the bottom of these two huge newspapers which had been there since the sixth century but destroyed by at the taliban. So there was this contrast between the ancient civilization of afghanistan with these old buddhas that had been destroyed, and then the idea that there was a female governor, which was the newer thing, newer since september 11th, and i remember coming to see her and what that was like and how thrilled i was to be there and see her, but then also this big symbol of the destruction of the ancient did you meet some of the women at that time that are in your book. I most of the women in the book here in the u. S. , through various things. Lets see. There she is over there. Others whose stories mina is here. When ive been on the book tour ive read from minas story. What she just told us, the story of seeing the little boy without shoes, polishing the shoes of someone else and how that struck her and that picture state in her mind and led her to wanting to spend so much time there so ive formed a lot of friendships with women in afghanistan and some of them are in here. Some of the women in the book i dont know but there are few of them here as well. Id like to go back to something you started. Theres a lot of intermittent press coverage here about afghanistan, most of it bad, security is getting bad, taliban pa are on the move and all the rest if think we dont often appreci