Women welcome US relief law

Afghan women in Pakistan have welcomed the signing into law by US President W George Bush on Wednesday of an act that will facilitate crucial education and health care assistance to Afghan women and children, but urged caution in its implementation. Spokeswoman for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) Marina Mateen, told IRIN on Thursday that the implementation of the legislation needed to be carefully monitored in order for it to make an impact. "Economic and social uplift of Afghan women, children and other marginalised groups is directly linked to political stability," she said. Poverty, faction fighting, patriarchy and oppression under the ousted Taliban movement have left Afghan women at the bottom of the pile in one of the world's poorest nations. Afghanistan also has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world. She urged the international community to not leave Afghans at the mercy of warlords - who have been blamed for many of Afghanistan's woes after the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989 - and said aid should not be directed through government channels alone. "Given our past experiences we are not very optimistic of its effectiveness if aid is delivered through the Northern Alliance." The Northern Alliance - an ethnically and religiously disparate group of rebel movements united only in their desire to topple the Taliban - is the main component of the interim administration that will take power on 22 December. The Afghan Women and Children Relief Act 2001, signed by Bush in Washington, would provide urgent funds for immunisation, basic education and other assistance to vulnerable women and children, including refugees. These programmes, to be implemented by UNICEF, and local as well as international NGOs, would also assist Afghan refugees in neighbouring countries. At the signing ceremony, attended by many Afghan women and children, Bush said his government would work towards a new era of human rights and human dignity in Afghanistan. "We join those in the [Afghan] interim government who seek education and better health for every Afghan woman and child," he added. "A liberated Afghanistan must now be rebuilt so that it will never again practice terror at home or abroad. This work begins by ensuring the essential rights of all Afghans," the president said.