An Open Thank You Letter to the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan
Women from the Amn-o-Nisa coalition of Pakistan meet with Secretary Clinton in Washington, DC. The women traveled to DC to meet with Sen. Boxer, Leader Pelosi, and officials at the State Dept. and US Agency for International Development. (Inclusive Security / Swanee Hunt)
The following is a letter I sent to the US Embassy in Islamabad this morning to thank them for sponsoring a US visit of 12 Pakistani women.
Salaam from Kabul! I hope you all are well.
I wanted to thank you for supporting the delegation of 12 Pakistani women for their exchange visit. Of course, they are still in the US, but we hosted them in DC a couple of weeks ago now, and they are thrilled to report that it was a great success.
I am sure that Mossarat Qadeem and colleagues will brief you upon their return in much greater detail, but in short, they left a big mark on Washington that week.
We made sure, of course, to acknowledge the contribution of the embassy for making it happen, and many were indeed impressed and grateful to have an opportunity to connect with the women. You made a big difference.
The group met with many officials at the State Dept., leading with Secretary Clinton. Please see the photo attached. They also met with Ambassador Benjamin and his staff, Ambassador Verveer, Deputy Brian Nicholas at INL (Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs), Deputy Wagner at SRAP (Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan); and staff at the White House and State Dept. Counter-terrorism offices. In addition, they met with Leader Pelosi, Congress members Schakowsky and McGovern, and Senators Boxer and Hagan.
Yes, we kept them extremely busy, but they brought such visibility of the Pakistani issues to Washington, including several public events, that continues to impact DC even weeks later.
Coalition coordinator Mossarat Qadeem and Inclusive Security Chair Swanee Hunt present Leader Pelosi with a gift on behalf of the women’s delegation. (Inclusive Security / Travis Wheeler)
They also made several media appearances, including NPR’s “Morning Edition” and PBS’ NewsHour (to air soon); I’m attaching pieces from Global Post and Huffington Post.
The Huffington Post: Pakistani Women Unite to Battle Religious Extremism
Global Post: Soft power, woman power: Forging a new security paradigm in Pakistan
We will also work with Mossarat for a longer report as well as to assist as the group prepares their follow up plans to sustain the energy generated with this program.
On behalf of the coalition and The Institute for Inclusive Security, we thank you again for this excellent partnership.
Best,
Miki Jacevic
Vice Chair
The Institute for Inclusive Security
Miki Jacevic is vice chair at The Institute for Inclusive Security. He has worked with the organization since its inception in 1999 and was the primary author of Inclusive Security: A Curriculum for Women Waging Peace, a training manual based on over a decade of experience designing and leading workshops around the world. Miki is from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and during the war, he was involved in numerous projects to ease the suffering of youth and the elderly.
Read More:
- 12 Influential Pakistani Women Leaders You Should Know
- A Whirlwind Week With 12 Women Peacebuilders from Pakistan
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