Malalai Joya was 26 when she became the youngest woman ever elected as a member of parliament in Afghanistan. Today, she is the country's most famous woman - a political activist who was just denied a visa for a book tour to the United States because she is "unemployed" and "lives underground," according to what she was told by the U.S. embassy officer who stamped the denial.
Her supporters in the United States have announced today as a Call-In Day, a grassroots effort to flood Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's telephone with calls demanding that Joya be given the visa for which she has applied.
Having successfully applied for a U.S. visa four times before, this time it is not about Joya, but about the war in Afghanistan.
New nationwide polls show that the majority of the American public is now opposed to the war and many of her supporters think an American book tour by a widely known and highly vocal activist - against not only the war but the U.S. government's handling of the situation in Afghanistan - is the real reason her visa has been denied.
"She's a thorn in the side of the American government, the warlords who we support, and the Taliban, who we essentially support by inviting them into the government. At least two of those three sides actively want her dead," said Sonali Kolhatkar, co-director of the U.S.-based Afghan Women's Mission, who has been closely involved in arranging Joya's U.S. tour.
Even members of Congress have stepped in to denounce the visa denial and what many believe are the bizarre explanations given for it. "It just didn't make sense to me, the answer they gave as to why she was kept out," said Congressman Jim McDermott of Washington state's 7th district. "It was as if she was apparently not a substantive person - that she's hiding out because she's afraid."
Representative McDermott drafted a letter, co-signed by Senators Patrick Leahy, Patty Murray, and Bernie Sanders, as well as Representatives Jay Inslee, Keith Ellison, Peter Welch, Betty McCollum, and Bill Pascrell, asking for "full reconsideration" of the visa application, stating that they "were distressed" to hear the reasons presented by the Embassy considering the security challenges, including "five assassination attempts" she has faced because of "her conviction to stand up against warlords and fundamentalists."
"We said we care what happens ...