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Laura Bush receives award for work on behalf of Afghan women, urges Trump to continue efforts

The award was presented Nov. 14 after a roundtable discussion at the Dallas-based George W. Bush Presidential Center featuring women peace activists from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

UNIVERSITY PARK — Former first lady Laura Bush has kept relatively quiet about the recent presidential election, but she did recently suggest that President-elect Donald Trump remain engaged in Afghanistan's women's rights issues, which she has long championed.

"We need to keep working, we can't quit," Bush said last week. "We have a new administration, so we all have a new obligation to work with the new administration and let the administration know what we hope and what we want to keep working on."

Earlier this month, Bush was presented with the Women's Democracy Network "10 for 10" award, in recognition of her years of work on behalf of Afghan women's rights. The award was presented Nov. 14 after a round-table discussion at the SMU-based George W. Bush Presidential Center featuring women peace activists from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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The discussion was focused on the role women play in continuing peace and security initiatives in those countries.

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Sameena Imtiaz, founder and executive director of the Peace Education and Development Foundation in Pakistan, and Mariam Safi, founding director of the Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies in Afghanistan, seconded the call for Trump to remain engaged.

Laura Bush stood next to Hamid Karzai as President George W. Bush acknowledged the Afghan...
Laura Bush stood next to Hamid Karzai as President George W. Bush acknowledged the Afghan leader in his State of the Union address. (2002 File Photo/The Associated Press)

Imtiaz said that previous administrations have always talked to men in Pakistan, and she encouraged the Trump administration to change that.

"Women should be included more and more in dialogues, negotiations and decision-making," she said. "This is what the international community should demand."

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Safi said it was "vital" for the new administration and the international community to remain engaged in Afghanistan.

"It's really critical for the international community and the United States and the new administration to support a peace process in Afghanistan that is embedded in grass-roots values," she said. "Right now the peace process is very top-down. We need consensus at the bottom level, because any peace process that the Afghan government may come to an agreement with, it unfolds on the people of Afghanistan, and if they don't accept it, then the agreement will not last."

Marking an anniversary

Bush's award helped mark the 15th anniversary of when the former first lady delivered her historic president's weekly radio address to the nation on the state of women in Afghanistan.

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"A lot has changed, fortunately, since that radio address, but as we all know, there is still a lot of work to be done," Bush said. "For Afghanistan to become a fully inclusive society, women's rights need to continue to be protected and expanded."

The former first lady said that "there is reason for hope" in Afghanistan. She pointed to the higher enrollment of girls in primary schools and the increased number of women-owned businesses. She also praised women in Pakistan who continue to fight for equal rights, despite a lack of security.

Bush has played a quiet but important role in Afghanistan after the U.S. ousted the Taliban-led government following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She made three trips to the country as first lady and helped launch the American University of Afghanistan, which opened in 2006.

She is an honorary co-chair of the U.S.-Afghan's Women's Council, which was founded by George W. Bush and Hamid Karzai, the former Afghan president. The council's goal is to "improve the education, health, economic and leadership status of Afghan women and children."

Bush also partnered with the George W. Bush Institute on a new book, We are Afghan Women: Voices of Hope. The book, for which Bush wrote the foreword, tells the stories of Afghan women and one man, their struggles and their hopes for their country, in their own voices.

The Bush Institute has focused on the plight of Afghan women as part of a broader women's project. Earlier this year, Bush said she believes it's important for the U.S. to remain engaged with Afghanistan.

In March, she said that she was "heartened by President Barack Obama's decision to keep troops there for security reasons," during his last year in office.

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"We know there is a lot of work to be done, and women have a central role to play in securing peace there and everywhere in the world," Bush said. "We also know that what happens in the world matters here in the United States."