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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Fawzia Kofi, a female member of Afghanistan’s parliament, about the dangers facing women running for office there. Despite the threats, the number of female candidates in September’s parliamentary elections is much higher than in the 2005 elections. Download MP3

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. Ten campaign workers were kidnapped today in northwestern Afghanistan. That’s according to the candidate they were working for. Fawzya Galani said the group was abducted by gunmen in Herat province. Galani reportedly got the information from villagers who witnessed the kidnapping. Galani is one of 300 female candidates vying for a seat in parliament in elections next month. Another Afghan woman running for office is Fawzia Kofi. She’s been a member of Afghanistan’s parliament since 2005. Kofi says she’s experienced an array of problems in her campaign.

FAWZIA KOFI:  I was physically attacked. I was attacked by Taliban [INDISCERNIBLE] on my way when I was coming from a mission in east part of the country.

WERMAN:  Your constituency is in the north of Afghanistan, close to the Chinese border, so I imagine you have the opportunity to drive around a lot, meet a lot of people. Can you tell us why you think the number of women candidates in the parliamentary election is so high? Why are women stepping up?

KOFI: Why we have more women this year, there are many reasons. First of all, I think, the women of Afghanistan education and [INDISCERNIBLE] this level has increased. They are not the women of like ten and eight years back, that would just sit quiet and listen and watch. They want to move forward, they want to move, they want to participate. They want to be involved. And I think because some of us there were in the parliament as a woman, we played an important role in terms of bringing change, positive change in the lives of people of Afghanistan and so we have been, some of the women parliamentary have been a good role model for other women in this country. And so many people now trust their wives, their daughters, their sisters to run for parliament because they see that the women who have been involved in politics have actually managed to do things.

WERMAN: So education, awareness, ambition is higher among Afghan women, but the risk is also higher as we saw today with this apparent kidnappings of this campaign team of this female candidate. Why are you taking the risk?

KOFI: Well, you have two options. Either we just have to sit home and watch the situation or we have to change it. There’s a lot of expectation also from the people of Afghanistan. Even if I want to stay home, or women want to stay home, they will receive a lot of support, a lot of follow up, a lot of push from their constituents, from their followers to go forward. So I think people of Afghanistan also trust women now. And [INDISCERNIBLE] we need to change. I mean somebody has to take the risk. If you can’t change it, then who will change it. I’m sure the challenges we face as a woman, as politicians today, we open the way for other women and then tomorrow when the next generation comes, I’m sure that they will not face the challenges that we face now. Both political challenges, social challenges, as well as security.

WERMAN: Ms. Kofi, I understand that you’ve written a letter to your children in the event of a worst-case scenario. I know it’s rather personal, but is this something you’d be comfortable talking about.

KOFI: The letter actually, it’s a farewell letter. When I went to Badakhshan for two years back and I received security threats and I was not sure if I would come back alive, so my daughters were sleeping and I wrote a letter to them in case something happened to me. So I ended the letter with my advice to my daughters that they should continue on this struggle and they should change the lives of others even if they take the risks to finish their lives, they should do that because that’s [SOUNDS LIKE] with pride.

WERMAN: Afghan Member of Parliament Fawzia Kofi is running in next month’s parliamentary elections there. Ms. Kofi, very good to speak with you indeed. Thank you.

KOFI: Thank you.

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