WHY ARE WE IN AFGHANISTAN?

Malalai Joya is an Afghan politician who has been called "the bravest woman in Afghanistan." As an elected member of the Wolesi Jirga from Farah province, she has publicly denounced the presence of what she considers warlords and war criminals in the parliament. She is the author of "A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice"

She is finishing up a U.S. tour where she has pressed the Obama administration to pull the military out of her country. She says nothing could be worse for women than what she sees as the current civil war.

Why do you think the United States continues to have troops in Afghanistan and is poised to increase the footprint of the occupation?

It has three reasons.

First, they occupied my country because of geopolitical location of Afghanistan, my country, located in the heart of the Asia. When they will have their grip in Afghanistan, very easily they can control China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, India, etc.,

Second, and then they will have, very easily, access to the gas and oil of the Central Asian republics.

And the third reason, because after arms and oil trade in the war, they are receiving millions of dollars by dirty business of opium.

This was the main project of the CIA, that they changed Afghanistan to the center of drug by support of these drug lord. So, for example, since 2001 until now, 4,500 percent opium increase. And every year, through dirty process of opium, $500 million alone goes into the pocket of Taliban. Even New York Times gave report recently, brother of Hamid Karzai, Ahmed Wali Karzai, that my people call him a "small Bush" in Kandahar, that he is a famous drug trafficker in the payroll of the CIA, receiving millions of dollar by CIA... In many example like this today, by presence of thousands troops in Kabul, we do not have security...Millions of Afghan, [that] they suffer from insecurity, injustice, corruption, joblessness, poverty in this eight years is enough to know better, US government and NATO, about the wrong policy. Now they put soft name on Taliban, these terrorist people, as a "moderate" and a fascist man like name Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, to have a reason, through mainstream media to you, that to bring these Taliban also means Mullah Omar and also Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has—name is in the blacklist of the UN, into power. Now situation will be more disaster, more bloody, especially for the women, if these two terrorists also come in power.