Shukria Barakzai to Asharq Al-Awsat: I was on Taliban’s Hated List

Former Afghan Ambassador and Deputy Shukria Barakzai (Exclusive – Asharq Al-Awsat)
Former Afghan Ambassador and Deputy Shukria Barakzai (Exclusive – Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Shukria Barakzai to Asharq Al-Awsat: I was on Taliban’s Hated List

Former Afghan Ambassador and Deputy Shukria Barakzai (Exclusive – Asharq Al-Awsat)
Former Afghan Ambassador and Deputy Shukria Barakzai (Exclusive – Asharq Al-Awsat)

Shukria Barakzai, the former Afghan ambassador to Norway and a human rights activist, said she was on the Taliban's wanted list after the fall of Kabul in 2021, and attributed her successful escape from the Afghan capital to the assistance provided by the British.

“I was on the (Taliban’s) hated list, and they were looking for me after the fall of Kabul, in August 2021, until I was able to leave the Afghan capital thanks to the help of the British,” Shukria Barakzai, who is also ethnic Pashtun parliamentarian, told Asharq Al-Awsat in an exclusive interview.

In November 2014, Barakzai survived a suicide car bombing during the tenure of former President Ashraf Ghani, who condemned the terrorist attack.

The explosion, which took place a few meters away from the parliament headquarters in Kabul, failed to achieve its goal of killing the Afghan parliamentarian and journalist, but led to the death of three civilians and the injury of 22 others, most of whom were university students.

Answering Asharq Al-Awsat’s questions via voice messages on WhatsApp from London, Barakzai said: “It was not only the Taliban that threatened me, but also the corruption mafia and businessmen whom I exposed under the dome of parliament... They hate me, and I always knew that, but I didn’t pay much attention to their criticism.”

Commenting on the current situation in Afghanistan under the Taliban, she stated: “This group does not have any kind of definition of the type of state they pursue, the type of rights and duties that citizens enjoy, and what the (Taliban) as an actual government can offer (to the people).”

“In addition, the (Taliban) regime has not gained any kind of recognition from the international community and neighboring countries. As for the women of Afghanistan, they have been erased from (public) life, from work, education, social space and politics. Unfortunately, the dramatic change reveals to us the deep challenges facing our country,” the former diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Barakzai recounted that she was in the country when the Taliban seized power. She stayed at Kabul Airport during the evacuations in August 2021, until she was able to get out via a military plane to Brize Norton Airport in Britain.

“I was not someone who could hide his name, face, or voice. I was very familiar to the Afghan people, including members of the Taliban. It was a big challenge for me, and the (Taliban) members were chasing me. I was on their hatred list... Fortunately, the United Kingdom made a lot of efforts for me inside Afghanistan, and (eventually) I was evacuated to London with the help of the British and Americans,” she said.

Barakzai has five children, who all live in Europe. She noted that her eldest daughter was married and working in medicine, while her second daughter was a university student and the third was preparing to join the university.

She said in this regard: “Fortunately, none of my children decided to work in the political field, because they probably know what the life of a politician would be like. However, they are all women’s rights and human rights activists. They also show more concern for the environment. Therefore, they understand what it means to be a responsible citizen.”

Recalling the day when she was attacked and injured in Kabul before she left Afghanistan, Barakzai told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I remember that moment, November 16, 2014... It was in the morning, exactly at 10, and I remember how one was paying a heavy price for raising his voice against warlords and tycoons, drugs and the Taliban, that is, against all forms of extremism. This wasn’t the first attack against me, but it was a wake-up call for other women inside Afghanistan.”

She concluded: “The truth is that accepting women in a male dominated society like Afghanistan is not an easy task, but I will never give up. We will not concede, not only me, but I am talking about the women of Afghanistan. Of course, we will have more women in parliament if fair elections are held.”



Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
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Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon

The former US special envoy, Amos Hochstein, said the maritime border agreement struck between Lebanon and Israel in 2022 and the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah at the end of last year show that a land border demarcation “is within reach.”

“We can get to a deal but there has to be political willingness,” he said.

“The agreement of the maritime boundary was unique because we’d been trying to work on it for over 10 years,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“I understood that a simple diplomatic push for a line was not going to work. It had to be a more complicated and comprehensive agreement. And there was a real threat that people didn’t realize that if we didn’t reach an agreement we would have ended up in a conflict - in a hot conflict - or war over resources.”

He said there is a possibility to reach a Lebanese-Israeli land border agreement because there’s a “provision that mandated the beginning of talks on the land boundary.”

“I believe with concerted effort they can be done quickly,” he said, adding: “It is within reach.”

Hochstein described communication with Hezbollah as “complicated,” saying “I never had only one interlocutor with Hezbollah .... and the first step is to do shuttle diplomacy between Lebanon, Lebanon and Lebanon, and then you had to go to Israel and do shuttle diplomacy between the different factions” there.

“The reality of today and the reality of 2022 are different. Hezbollah had a lock on the political system in Lebanon in the way it doesn’t today.”

North of Litani

The 2024 ceasefire agreement requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to take full operational control of the south Litani region, all the way up to the border. It requires Hezbollah to demilitarize and move further north of the Litani region, he said.

“I don’t want to get into the details of other violations,” he said, but stated that the ceasefire works if both conditions are met.

Lebanon’s opportunity

“Lebanon can rewrite its future ... but it has to be a fundamental change,” he said.

“There is so much potential in Lebanon and if you can bring back opportunity and jobs - and through economic and legal reforms in the country - I think that the future is very bright,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Hezbollah is not trying to control the politics and remember that Hezbollah is just an arm of Iran” which “should not be imposing its political will in Lebanon, Israel should not be imposing its military will in Lebanon, Syria should not. No one should. This a moment for Lebanon to make decisions for itself,” he added.