AFGHAN DOCTOR OUT OF THE COLD, INTO NEW CABINET

Death threats did not deter her. Bombing raids just slowed her down. But the prospect of serving in the provisional Afghanistan government gives her pause.

Dr. Sima Samar, 46, was in Canada to accept the prestigious John Humphrey Freedom Award, when she learned that the new coalition government in Afghanistan appointed her as one of five Deputy Prime Ministers and one of two women in the Cabinet. "I am happier about the award than the appointment," she joked.

"Dr. Samar risked her life to help others," said Kathleen Mahoney, chair of the Rights and Democracy organization as well as the John Humphrey Award Committee. "Indeed, all our nominees in the last few years have. One woman who was on our shortlist for this year's award, died last month in Mexico."

Dr. Samar runs four hospitals and ten clinics in Afghanistan and another hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, through her Shuhada Organization. She also heads 48 schools in Afghanistan, which are attended by more than 20,000 students. "Some of my students walk three hours each way to attend school," she said, "every day."

More than one thousand Afghan refugee girls attend Samar's schools in Quetta. She started the first one in 1987, "and we have graduated three batches of girls now," she said.

A petite woman with short straight brown hair and sparkling green eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses, Dr. Samar speaks softly and clearly, whether she is onstage leaning on the podium, or leaning forward in a chair for a one-on-one chat. Half a dozen plainclothes Royal Canadian Mounted Police follow at a discreet distance.

Dr. Samar emphasized that her own education was in Afghanistan, "in co-educational schools. I got my medical degree at Kabul University in 1982." She grew up in a democracy. "Afghanistan's constitution gave women the right to vote and hold office. We had women in government. We were a poor country but a peaceful country."

Then the Russians invaded, and the country was thrown into war. Life became chaotic. Russians controlled the cities and mujihadeen controlled the rural areas. Urban hospitals deteriorated and rural health care centers were destroyed by bombing.

But women's status really suffered during the civil wars after the Russians left. "The mujihadeen rejected everything the Russians liked," said Dr. Samar. They closed the schools. "The only schools were religious schools." And ALL the mujihadeen factions imposed restrictions on women.

Now there are four million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and millions more in Iran. Of the 27 million people who lived in Afghanistan in 1990, an estimated 20 million people still remain. But nobody really knows. "This emergency has lasted twenty-three years," said Dr. Samar.

Her new career as an administrator started when Dr. Samar fled to Pakistan in 1984. "I left with my stethoscope and one medical book." As a volunteer working in the refugee camp hospitals, she noticed that all the patients were men. Moreover, "the hospitals were open only from 8 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon," she said, "but women couldn't manage to deliver their babies only in those hours."

A visit to the UN aide agency was futile. "I asked what programs they had for women," she recalled, "and the officer said he hadn't seen any women. I said, just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there. You see all those fighting men? They came from women."

Then one young woman died of pre-eclampsia while Dr. Samar and her helpers were trying to find the key to the locked delivery room. The woman's father lamented the lack of hospital care for birthing, but pointed out that opening a women's hospital could be dangerous. Dr. Samar said, "If you give me the money, I'll do the work, and you can stay hidden." That's how she funded her first women's hospital.

To run a hospital, however, she needed nurses. So she started training them. And that's when the death threats began. "I got a lot of mail and phone calls from people saying they would kill me," she said, waving away the threats.

There have been casualties, year after year. "Other doctors were fired on," said Dr. Samar, "and one was killed. One hospital was bombed and three staff died. The Taliban looted our high school several times. They took cement, doors, windows."

Healthcare for women involves touchy subjects, such as childbirth and family planning. "I used to put the IUDs in my bag," she mimicked dropping small items, "when I was going to the camps. When I was with the women, I would offer them. I would say, Eight is enough. Ten is enough. Twelve is enough. Your husband won't know."

Dr. Samar's other great passion is education. "We used to have free education, from grade school right up through university," she said. "It wasn't fancy, but it was sound. An MD from Kabul medical school was accepted in Europe. Now most of our people are illiterate, and there is a whole generation that has never been in school, because of the war."

In addition to grade schools and high schools, she announced, she now has a small college. "Our first schools were under the trees," she said. "Now we have houses. Well, they are small mud one-room houses. And three students share one book. But they are indoors."

Afghanistan faces the gargantuan task of rebuilding. "There is no political system left in the country at all," said Dr. Samar. "There is not even any paper left. All of our history is gone, destroyed. Nothing is preserved. The cities were destroyed after the Russians left in 1992, by different factions who wanted to run the country. Then came the bombs."

With all that, Dr. Samar is hopeful for the future. Asked what she would tell the American people if she could only say one thing, she said, "The people of the United States should push their government to not make the same mistake as it did before." When the Russians pulled out in 1992, "they really left us behind. The United States closed all of its aid agencies and just walked away from Afghanistan."

At that point, Afghan cities were still standing. Political, educational and healthcare systems were still in place. For almost a decade, mujihadeen factions (many of whom had been armed and trained by the US) ravaged the country in a ferocious civil war.

"We were left there with our Arabic guests," said Dr. Samar. "And this is really the greatest tragedy. International humanitarian aid could have prevented this trouble. The people of Afghanistan were really hostage to this seige. There was massacre in Afghanistan, and destruction in Afghanistan, and there was burning and killing. And the United States kept quiet. Now the President of the United States says, we are fighting evil. This evil was in Afghanistan for years."

If the US and other world powers do not aid in rebuilding Afghanistan, she said, the same thing will happen all over again. Even with massive amounts of foreign aid, reconstruction will be challenging. "It is a long process, and it won't be easy," she said, with a sigh and a smile, "but we will not give up.

[By Penney Kome <pkome@shaw.ca>
Calgary, Canada - 8 December 2001]