A Woman among Warlords: the Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice is Malalai Joya’s powerful eyewitness account of life in Afghanistan. Joya made international headlines when, at twenty-five years old, she stood up at a meeting of her country’s newly elected constitutional assembly and passionately denounced the war criminals among them. Two years later, she was elected Afghanistan’s youngest Parliamentarian, and her struggle became the subject of the acclaimed documentary Enemies of Happiness. Despite being one of the most popular MPs in the country, she faced constant harassment and was suspended in 2007. Her supporters believe Joya was suspended for her persistent criticism of warlords, drug barons, and their cronies in government.

Prior to her political career, Joya was raised in the refugee camps of Iran and Pakistan. She organized underground classes during the Taliban regime, hiding books under the burqa she was forced to wear, and also helped establish a free medical clinic and orphanage in her impoverished home province of Farah. In her book, Joya recounts daily acts of resistance by the long-suffering Afghan people, including families that lend their basements as classrooms for female students; men who step forward to prevent women from being punished by authorities for walking alone; and courageous women who take to the streets in protest. She emphasizes ordinary Afghans’ desire for powerful war criminals to finally be brought to justice.

Her message is clear:  only after Afghans are freed from decades of civil war and occupation, and corrupt fundamentalists are no longer allowed to tyrannize them with impunity, will Afghanistan have a genuine democracy.

According to Joya, women continue to suffer as they did under the Taliban, only now with higher rates of suicide and abduction and total impunity for rape. She notes that even though nearly a third of the lower house of Parliament is composed of women due to a quota, few have publicly supported women’s rights. Joya has said that many of these MPs are supported by warlords who intend to intimidate independent women in order to dissuade them from running for office.

Joya has survived four assassination attempts to date, is always accompanied by armed guards, and can only sleep in safe houses, yet she continues to be an outspoken advocate for her people.

“How can a country improve when 50% of its population is silenced? It is like a bird with only one wing.”

– Malalai Joya

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