On the Brink: Women in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Six women with deep expertise on Afghanistan and Pakistan will take the stage Friday to discuss challenges including forced marriage, lack of access to school for girls, and domestic violence—as well as new hope for expanding education and business opportunities for the region's women.

As a USAID outreach official and wife of the ambassador to Afghanistan, Ching Eikenberry has said that with their public appearances, she and her husband “want to send a message to the Afghan people that we work together as a team.” Andeisha Farid grew up in a refugee camp without a school, and now, as founder of the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization, devotes her life to ensuring that this generation of Afghan girls has access to education and vocational training. Suraya Pakzad, executive director of the Voice of Women organization, operated secret schools for girls under the Taliban, and now saves girls as young as 9 years old from forced marriage. Daily Beast Pakistan correspondent Fatima Bhutto is an author and activist whose own family members have paid the ultimate price for Pakistan’s political unrest.

The discussion will be moderated by Frances Townsend, former Assistant to President George W. Bush, for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

• From The Daily Beast: Read Fatima Bhutto’s essay on the murder of a 12-year-old maid in Pakistan, at the hands of her wealthy employer

• Click here for a full summit agenda

• Click here to read more about the amazing lineup of Women in the World speakers