Author Una Moore

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Una Moore
Una Moore is an international development professional who has worked in Afghanistan since 2010. She writes about about security, aid, technology and civil society. Follow her on Twitter @UnaDispatch.

Exclusive: Only 50 of 1000 Seats at Afghan Peace Conference Reserved for Women and Civil Society

(Kabul, Afghanistan) UN Dispatch has acquired details about the demographic composition of Afghanistan’s upcoming 'peace jirga,' the conference at which a strategy for ending the war and reconciling insurgent groups with the Afghan Government will be crafted.

According to a source close to the process, only 20 of approximately 1000 seats at the jirga will be reserved for women, and 30 for representatives from academia and civil society. This was information first divulged on the Twitter feed of Tom Shaw.

Presidential Decree De-Fangs Afghanistan’s Election Watchdog

Eleven days ago, I heard a rumor that the office of President Hamid Karzai had re-written Afghanistan’s Election Law in ways that would deal a blow to the country’s beleaguered democrats. The changes had gone into force through a presidential decree, I was told.  While the international press was still quiet, ripples of alarm were already spreading through Kabul-based civil society.

The story is out now, and the worst has been confirmed.

Afghan Civil Society Fears Taliban Talks Will Compromise Rights

At an international conference in London this week, seventy countries pledged to back Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s plan to reach out to some members of the Taliban. Despite reassurances that reconciliation would not betray hard-won social and political freedoms, much of the rhetoric from power players at the summit gave civil society observers the impression human rights –especially the rights of women– could soon be on the negotiating table.

Activists also expressed anger at the exclusion of women and civil society from preparations for the conference itself.

UN Removes Sanctions on Five Ex-Taliban Leaders

The urgency and relevance of the ongoing debate over negotiations with the Taliban was underlined on Wednesday when the UN removed sanctions imposed  in 2001 on five former Taliban leaders.

President Hamid Karzai has said Taliban who are not part of al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups "are welcome to come back to their country, lay down arms, and resume life,” and plans to seek international support for a new reintegration plan at the intergovernmental conference on Thursday.

Former UN Afghanistan Head Calls for Political Solution to Conflict

In a keynote speech delivered at a major civil society conference in London Tuesday, former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi reflected on the past eight years of international engagement in Afghanistan and called for a new peace process to bring an end to the long-running conflict.

Aid Agencies Amplify Call for Civilian Delivery of Aid in Afghanistan at London Conference

“We must ensure that development does not falter in Afghanistan,” Mercy Corps UK director Mervlyn Lee said in his opening remarks to more than one hundred leading development experts, community leaders, civil society activists and government officials at a civil society conference in London Tuesday. Organized by the British and Irish Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG), the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) and the High Commission of Canada in London, the conference kicked off four days of events around a UK Government hosted summit on the way forward in Afghanistan.