The Washington Post - 05.03.2020

A18 eZ re THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020

BY CAROL MORELLO

Zarifa Ghafari is a fearless
woman in a country where there
is much to fear.
Since taking office as mayor in
the Afghan town of Maidan Shahr
last year, the 27-year-old has been
attacked by mobs of men armed
with sticks and rocks, angry at a
woman in a leadership role. In
meetings, she has been at turns
ignored, insulted and laughed at.
She has received death threats
from the Ta liban and criminal
gangs.
Despite the target on her back,
she persists, commuting to work
on the dangerous roads between
Maidan Shahr and the capital,
Kabul, where she has moved sev-
eral times in the past year for
security reasons.
“I want to live as a champion,”
she said in an interview Wednes-
day after being honored at the
State Department with an Inter-
national Women of Courage
Award presented by first lady
Melania Trump and Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo. “I want to die
as a champion.”
Ghafari was among 12 women
selected for the award this year.
They included a leader of student
protests in Nicaragua, a civil
rights activist who was impris-

oned and tortured in Syria, a prominent critic of domestic vio- lence in Armenia and a trade unionist who has fought for gen- der equality in Zimbabwe. Their stories “humble and in- spire us all,” said Pompeo, who recently returned from Qatar, where he witnessed the signing of an agreement between the Ta li-

ban and the United States. The agreement calls for a drawdown of U.S. troops and a prisoner release in exchange for the Ta liban agreeing to sever ties with terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and enter into peace talks with the Afghan government. “What is the worst thing in the

world for women and girls? War,” said a senior State Department official, speaking on the condi- tion of anonymity to describe the calculation more frankly. “War is what steals rights and the future. So ending the war is the best gift we could give women and chil- dren. Everyone is concerned about the Ta liban approach to

these issues. So we need to see all Afghans and friends of Afghans remain engaged.” In her public remarks, Ghafari made an oblique reference to the agreement and the uncertain future facing women and girls in Afghanistan. “Women of my g eneration have not forgotten the reign of the Ta liban, and we are, as always, worried for the future,” she said after turning to face Pompeo and the first lady. “Therefore, let me ask for your continued support to ensure that Afghan peace process does not erase the gains that have been made since the dark days of the Ta liban regime.” In an interview, Ghafari said Afghans are worried that the Ta liban will return and reassert its authority, trying to “make us go back and sit in the darkness.” She said the agreement was pri- marily for the benefit of the Unit- ed States and the Ta liban and lacks guarantees that Afghans will be safe when potentially thousands of Ta liban prisoners are released. “What’s the guarantee?” she said. “If I free them, if I take them out of prisons, what’s the guarantee that nothing will happen to negotiations, they will still accept negotiating with me? That they will stop having dark relations with Pakistan and ISI, Pakistan intelligence? What’s the guarantee? There is nothing.” U.S. officials have said they expect groups representing all segments of Afghan society, including women, to have a role in

peace talks they hope will start this month. Ghafari said Afghan women who have survived de- cades of war must be among the parties. “The women of Afghanistan who have already suffered the war, those who lost their sons, those who lost their husbands, those who lost their rights to education, those who suffered all their life on airstrikes, on war, on shootings, on bomb attacks. We want them to represent us, not someone who knows nothing about it,” she said. She expressed confidence that she and other Afghan women would not retreat into silence and acceptance of a patriarchal society. Ghafari s aid she was grateful that she has supportive parents — a father who is a colonel in the Afghan special forces and a moth- er who is a physician — and an equally supportive fiance. “It’s not only Zarifa,” she said, adding, “It’s a red line for Afghan women. We will stand our ground. And we will fight always for our rights.” She recognizes the danger she will face on returning to Afghani- stan but considers it her responsi- bility to speak up. “A t least if I die, no one will say, ‘She was not someone who did great,’ ” she said. “I want the next generation to remember me as a good person, at least as someone who could make at l east a change, at least could talk of the truth. That’s why I’m talking.” [email protected]

Afghan mayor is h onored by State Dept. for her courage

Award recipient warns of uncertain future for women in her country

mANdel NgAN/AgeNCe frANCe-Presse/geTTy ImAges International Women of Courage Award recipient Zarifa Ghafari of Afghanistan poses with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and first lady Melania Trump at the State Department on Wednesday.

BY ISABELLE KHURSHUDYAN

moscow — A day after an at-
tempted coup against Turkish
President Recep Ta yyip Erdogan
in 2016, he received a supportive
phone call from a surprising
source. Russian President Vladi-
mir Putin r eached out even before
Turkey’s Western allies.
The gesture helped restore
bonds that were severely frayed a
year earlier by Turkey’s downing
of a Russian fighter jet along the
Turkey-Syria border.
But Syria is again testing rela-
tions between Putin and E rdogan,
who are on either side of an esca-
lating and unpredictable show-
down in the country’s Idlib prov-
ince.
A planned meeting Thursday in
Moscow will mark their first face-
to-face encounter since Syrian gov-
ernment forces — backed by ally
Russia — launched a major offen-
sive in Idlib, the last rebel foothold
after nine years of conflict.
NATO member Turkey has de-
ployed thousands of troops to pre-
vent Syrian President Bashar al-
Assad from defeating rebel g roups,
including Turkish-backed factions,
and consolidating Syrian control
in Idlib along the Turkish border.
Last week, 36 Turkish soldiers
were killed in an airstrike Turkey
blames on Syrian government
forces.
Erdogan, who fears that refu-
gees fleeing the Syrian offensive
could spill across the border, has
threatened to escalate military at-

tacks on Syria if its forces do not retreat. Ankara retaliated by shooting down three Syrian warplanes and inflicting losses on Syrian ground forces in recent days. But the Kremlin appears w ary of straining its relationship with Turkey. Rus- sia refrained from intervening on Syria’s behalf for the first time since the Idlib fighting first erupt- ed late l ast year. Previous talks between Putin and Erdogan have produced stop- gap measures on Syria, but nothing sustainable. Moscow and An- kara have accused each other of breaching the terms of a 2018 deal. A key point of the pact was the withdrawal o f anti-Assad forces — which Putin refers to as “radical militants” — f rom Idlib. “The Russians will be talking very tough,” said Dmitri Trenin, head o f the Moscow C arnegie Cen- ter. “Putin will mince no words, and basically he will be leaning hard on Erdogan so that he leans harder” o n the r ebel fighters. Trenin said the events of the past week, including the Turkish troop deaths, were a “reality check on the relationship” between Pu- tin a nd Erdogan. Still, there is a longer-range strategy for Russia. It took shape after the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. Putin swiftly and publicly backed Erdogan, who at the same time accused the West of siding with the organizers of the putsch. The frequency of calls between

Erdogan and Putin increased sharply, with Erdogan phoning Putin more than any other world leader, Turkey analyst Soner Ca- gaptay said. “The Kremlin had a dream to pull back the wayward [Erdogan] from the West, decisively weaken NATO, change the entire strategic alignment in the all-important southwest direction and secure the Black Sea,” Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer wrote in a commentary for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. Erdogan, too, saw value in strengthening ties with Putin, Ca- gaptay said, especially after Erdo- gan observed how partnership with the Kremlin bolstered the regimes of Assad and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Erdogan showed his commit- ment to Putin by purchasing Rus- sia’s S-400 surface-to-air defense system last year, antagonizing the United States and other Western allies in the process. “It’s kind of protection money, right?” said Cagaptay, author of “Erdogan’s Empire: Turkey and the Politics of the Middle East.” “I think it’s v ery difficult f or E rdogan to walk away from that purchase, because if he did, he would lose Putin’s b acking.” Even as R ussia a nd Turkey h ave edged toward directly clashing in northwest Syria, they’re still j oint- ly patrolling northeast Syria as part of last fall’s deal between the two countries that forced Syrian Kurdish fighters away from a

Putin, Erdogan head to talks amid

escalating showdown in Syria’s Idlib

swath of territory near Turkey’s border. On the eve of the Erdogan- Putin meeting, Assad struck a con- ciliatory tone toward Turkey, a change from his usual vitriol. In a TV interview, Assad emphasized the cultural and historical links between the two countries and said there was no reason for hostil- ity. “I am asking the Turkish peo- ple: What is your problem with Syria? What is the problem over which Turkish citizens need to die?” Assad said in the interview

with Russia-24, set to be broadcast Thursday. The remarks were pub- lished in advance by Russia’s state- owned RT t elevision network. “The interconnection of cul- tures comes from our history,” A ssad added, “so having serious conflicts between us is illogical.” Another wrinkle is that Turkey and Russia have backed rival factions in L ibya’s civil w ar. Russian mercenaries — which the Kremlin denies any relationship to — a re helping eastern war- lord Khalifa Hifter. Ankara is supporting the

U.N.-installed government in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Turkey h as significant financial interests in Libya — a preliminary $2.7 billion compensation deal for work car- ried out there before the 2011 civil war as well as an agreement to carve out gas drilling rights in the Mediterranean S ea. “There’s more at stake for Tur- key in Libya t han there i s in Syria,” Cagaptay s aid. [email protected]

sarah dadouch in Beirut contributed to this report.

BUleNT KIlIC/AgeNCe frANCe-Presse/geTTy ImAges Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and Russian President V ladimir Putin leave a November 2018 ceremony in Istanbul marking the completion of the sea section of the TurkStream gas pipeline.

BY ISABELLE KHURSHUDYAN

moscow — Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky led a major
government shake-up Wednes-
day, ousting his prime minister
and several other cabinet mem-
bers less than a year in office.
The reshuffle — the second by
Zelensky in a month — is proba-
bly related to his slumping ap-
proval amid Ukraine’s economic
downturn. But internal rifts with
Oleksiy Honcharuk, the outgoing
prime minister, could have
played a role as well.
Honcharuk criticized Zelensky
as having a “primitive” under-
standing of the economy in a
recording that leaked in January.
Other changes include replac-
ing Vadym Prystaiko as foreign
minister with Dmytro Kuleba,
who is also the country’s deputy
prime minister for European and
Euro-Atlantic integration.
Honcharuk, 3 5, who was

Ukraine’s youngest prime minister and vaunted as a new face for a government historically plagued by corruption, lasted just six months. His replacement doesn’t boast much more e xecutive experience. Denys Shmygal, who was ap- pointed deputy prime minister last month, will lead the new government. Melinda Haring, deputy direc- tor of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, wrote that Wednesday was “shaping u p to be a massacre” f or Ukraine’s government with a “number of reform- minded ministers and top officials” exiting along with Hon- charuk. “Every Western ambassador worth his or her salt should be walking the musty halls of Bank- ova and demanding answers,” she said, referring to the presidential office. “Ukraine has capa- ble, proven ministers. Why change them now?” Zelensky, a 42-year-old come- dian-turned-actor, won a land- slide victory last spring on prom- ises to end the war with Russian- backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and curb the influence of the country’s powerful oli-

garchs. He became a central figure in the House hearings that led to President Trump’s impeachment — and later acquittal by the Senate. At home, meanwhile, Zel- ensky’s administration has been under turmoil. “The current government knows w hat to do, but knowing is

not enough,” Zelensky told par- liament on Wednesday. “This is the first government where there is no corruption, but not stealing is not enough. This is a government of new faces, but new faces are not enough. We need new brains and new hearts.” Te nsion between Zelensky and Honcharuk surfaced in January,

when audio leaked of Honcharuk saying at a closed-door meeting attended by several ministers that Zelensky “has a very primitive understanding of economic processes.” But Honcharuk went on to describe himself as an “idiot” w hen it came to the economy. Honcharuk d id not deny that it was his voice on the recording, but he said on Facebook that the recording was doctored from “snippets of government meetings” to give the impression “ that I and my team do not respect the president.” He offered to resign, but Zel- ensky did not accept his resigna- tion at the time. Because Hon- charuk cannot b e fired less than a year into office according to Ukrainian law, he had to resign willingly again ahead of Wednes- day’s parliamentary session. The shake-up comes days after talks were held in Kyiv with a visiting group from the Interna- tional Monetary Fund regarding approval for a $5.5 billion loan program. Shmygal, 44, has a business background and worked for two years as an executive at D TEK, an energy holding owned by Rinat

Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest bil- lionaire. Shmygal’s ties to Akhemtov, however, may draw questions about whether Zelensky is living up to campaign pledges to push oligarchs out of politics. Shmygal “was the governor of the sleepy mountainous region of Ivano-Frankivsk for eight months,” Haring said. “When I asked Kyiv politicos about Shmy- gal, I got the same response time and time again: ‘Who?’ ” Wednesday’s upheaval follows Zelensky’s move to dump Andriy Bohdan, his chief of staff, by presidential decree on Feb. 11 after weeks of swirling rumors about bitter power struggles on his team. Before he joined Zelensky’s team, Bohdan was a lawyer for magnate Ihor Kolomoisky, who controls the Kyiv-based televi- sion network 1+1 as well as interests in energy and airlines. Presidential aide Andriy Yer- mak, the new chief of staff, had met with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and was mentioned multiple times during Trump’s impeachment hearings and trial. [email protected]

Zelensky replaces premier in second government shake-up in a month

VAleNTyN OgIreNKO/reUTers Oleksiy Honcharuk, 35, who was Ukraine’s youngest prime minister, criticized the president in a recording that was leaked.

Reshuffle comes amid economic downturn, reports of internal rifts

The Washington Post - 05.03.2020

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