Afghan women seek technical assistance in e-commerce

Pak, Afghan relations in ‘right direction’

ISLAMABAD: To consolidate its positive overtures towards Kabul, Islamabad has appointed ex-envoy Mohammad Sadiq as its special envoy to Afghanistan to play an effective role in strengthening ties between the two neighbours.

“So, we can say, things are very much moving in the right direction,” stated MNA Mehnaz Akbar Aziz while speaking to delegates from both sides of the Durand Line, in a virtual cross-border women’s dialogue on the “Socio-Economic Impact of Covid-19 on Women in Pakistan and Afghanistan”. The dialogue was organized by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), as part of its Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/II diplomacy.

Aziz further shared Afghan President Ghani had recently said that Afghanistan now has “the closest alignment” with Pakistan on the peace process and he also hoped that it will translate into cooperation in other areas as well.

However, she believed that appointing a woman co-ambassador or deputy ambassador will be a tangible gain and will help resolve women-related issues across the border swiftly. Commenting on the global novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, she said that women must be at the centre of recovery efforts. This starts with women’s equal representation and participation in decision-making. She also suggested a Pak-Afghan working group on Covid-19.

Shinkai Karokhail, a senior Afghan politician and activist, stated that Covid-19’s impact has doubled or tripled women’s responsibilities in Afghanistan and it will slow the access of girls to education even more. The economic impact of Covid-19, Karokhail feared, will result in families prioritising educating boys rather than girls, while the number of out-of-school children increasing.

In this regard, she said that online learning is better than nothing, even if it creates a digital divide. The pandemic has also added to the miseries for those Afghan women working in the informal sector and they are now at the verge of losing their livelihoods amidst physical and psychological abuse.

She recommended a mechanism whereby Afghan women entrepreneurs can learn about e-commerce from their Pakistani counterparts.

Earlier, CRSS Executive Director Imtiaz Gul stated that politics remains toxic, civil society can try and detach from official narratives.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2020.