Does the end of Taliban rule mean that the people of Afghanistan can now look forward to a new era of peace and freedom? Not according to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, who believe that unless all fundamentalist groups in the country are disarmed, a repeat of the brutality and chaos of the pre-Taliban period is sure to follow. The Japan Times spoke with RAWA member Mariam Rawi about RAWA's activities and the crisis in Afghanistan during her visit to Tokyo earlier this month to accept the 2001 Asian Human Rights Award on behalf of the group.

What is your background? How did you become involved with RAWA?

I was born in 1974 in Kabul. My father, a freedom fighter against the Russians, was killed when I was 9 years old. Many of my uncles and cousins were also arrested or killed by the puppet regime. I do not have any brothers, so after my father died my mother, my other four sisters and my grandmother were all alone. Like many other families, we left Afghanistan and went to Pakistan, to a refugee camp in Quetta, a city near the Afghan border. I lived in the camp without access to education for two years, but then I was able to join a school run by RAWA. After I graduated I continued working with RAWA.