A politician who has been described as "the bravest woman in Afghanistan" says that military intervention is not the way to find democracy in the war-torn county.
Malalai Joya gained international attention for standing before Afghanistan's constitutional grand assembly and accusing her country's leaders of war crimes, human rights violations and supporting the Taliban.
Ms Joya says she is disappointed in the United States' involvement in Afghanistan. She says her country needs to find its own way to democracy without military intervention.
"Everyone is always talking about what would happen if these troops leave us - a civil war will happen in Afghanistan - but nobody is talking about the civil war of today," she said.
"Unfortunately Australia has followed the wrong policy of the US, which is a mockery of democracy and mockery of the war on terror, and it is quite a war crime that they are doing there.
"We are between two powerful enemies. From the ground, the Taliban and the northern allies are continuing to commit crimes and fascism against women and men in our country.
"From the sky these occupational forces are bombing and killing the civilians."
She says she wants people to stand up to their governments against the "wrong policy" of military intervention in Afghanistan.
"These countries are wasting their money and blood in Afghanistan and I, on behalf on my people, pay my condolences to those people who lost their sons, their loves, their husbands in Afghanistan and have been killed," she said.
"They should raise their voices against the wrong policy of their governments."
Ms Joya does not believe the upcoming election, scheduled to be held in August, will make any difference to the unrest and says it will just be "one puppet replaced with another puppet".
"The next president will be certainly selected behind closed doors at the White House. Our people will have no hope in the selection," she said.
She says the system is corrupt and there is no justice.
"On behalf of my people I am risking my life so that one day, together with my people, we will bring these criminals to the national and international criminal court, which is a prolonged and risky saga," she said.
Countries 'Wasting Money and Blood' in Afghanistan | CommonDreams.org
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