It has now been eight years since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan with the promise of building a democratic state and liberating women. The invasion has failed on both counts.

Malalai Joya is one of Afghanistan’s leading democracy activists. Joya, the youngest person ever elected to its parliament, was suspended in 2007 for her denunciation of warlords and their cronies in government.

“Rather than democracy, what we have in Afghanistan are backroom deals among discredited warlords who are sworn enemies of democracy and justice,” she writes on her website.

Joya became an international figure in 2003 after she fearlessly confronted the Grand Council of tribal leaders in a constitutional assembly.

“Why would you allow criminals to be present at this Loya Jirga?” she said. “They are warlords responsible for our country’s situation. They oppress women and have ruined our country. They should be prosecuted.”

The Progressive had the opportunity to interview Joya for our radio show back in 2006. Her quiet resolve in the face of death threats touched us deeply.

We profiled her courage in a June 2007 article by Matt Pascarella, “The Bravest Woman in Afghanistan.”

Here’s an excerpt:

“Ironically, Joya’s mission to take on the warlords and the drug lords, to promote democracy and women’s rights, appears to echo the rhetoric of the Bush Administration. And yet, according to Joya, rather than live up to that rhetoric, the U.S. government is actively supporting high-ranking officials who have been accused of corruption, drug trafficking, and war crimes, including mass murders. Several of these are in the cabinet of Hamid Karzai.”

Joya let us publish an adaption of her speech she gave at the Global Forum on Freedom of Expression, held in Oslo, Norway, June 1-6, 2009.

She predicted that the Afghan elections, held in August, would be a joke.

“Afghanistan has a presidential election scheduled soon, but everyone knows that the election is a show that is throwing dust in the eyes of our people. The actual choice is with the White House to select its next puppet in Afghanistan and give him legitimacy through this show,” she said two months before the fraudulent elections.

“But we Afghans know that despite international condemnation by human rights organizations and protests by Afghan people, Karzai will be the next president with the two criminals as his vice presidents.”

President Barack Obama, who ran on an anti-Iraq War platform, needs to stop this war, too. He needs to listen to people such as Joya.

“It is due to the wrong and devastating policies of the U.S. government and NATO countries,” she said, “that unfortunately today Afghanistan is a mafia state and ranked at the top of the most unstable and corrupt countries in the world.”

Malalai Joya is one of the bravest people in the world. She’s the outspoken Afghan parliamentarian who was unlawfully suspended from parliament for speaking out for human rights and against the warlords ruling her country. This is her speech at the Global Forum on Freedom of Expression held in Oslo, Norway in June.

Here’s part of her speech:

I am honored that my voice has become the voice my oppressed and unfortunate people. They are supporting me. I announce from your tribune that I will not stop for a moment from telling the truth in the face of death threats and intimidations, as I know achieving our rights requires force and risks. No one will donate to us freedom of expression and other human rights unless we struggle to achieve them. I believe in the inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed.

Remember when Afghan women mattered to the politicians in the West?

Back in 2001, President Bush said: “There’s no question the Taliban is the most repressive, backward group of people we have seen on the face of the Earth in a long period of time, including and particularly how they treat women.”

Nearly eight years later, the U.S. backed government of Hamid Karzai hasn’t exactly made women’s liberation a priority. The Guardian UK reports that Karzai signed a law last month that the UN says legalizes rape within marriage and severely limits the rights of women.

Democracy Now reports the law bans women from refusing to have sex with their husbands and says they can only seek work, education, or medical care with their husbands’ permission.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was reported to have confronted Karzai on the issue in a private meeting on Tuesday.

“This is an area of absolute concern for the United States. My message is very clear. Women’s rights are a central part of the foreign policy of the Obama administration,” Clinton said at a press conference after the meeting.

Back in 2001, both London and Washington dragged out political spouses Cherie Blair and Laura Bush in a propaganda push for the war. They both spoke out about the treatment of women in Afghanistan. Where are they now?

Let’s hope the Obama Administration really makes women’s rights a priority rather than a slogan to sell a war. Because Obama is now selling us this never-ending war in Afghanistan and talking about making a deal with the Taliban. He is selling us the worst parts of the Bush Administration’s war efforts.

And this time around, I hope Obama doesn’t send out Michelle to do the PR job.