Herat Province: Fatima is 35 years old, married with eight children, and is very unhappy that her husband and her 20-year-old son cannot get jobs. She works as a house cleaner. She has her voting card and although she is not educated she can gather information about the candidates to choose the one she thinks is best.

I will vote. I voted in the last election for President Karzai but he has not worked out. Lots of youths are jobless and staying at home because job opportunities are not provided for them and they can’t find a good job that could support their family.

With lots of sadness I want to join the voting and choose a president who could work for poor people and worry about them.

I hope the next president can bring peace and security to our country because right now all of the people in Afghanistan have become tired from war and fighting.

I do not want the next president to call the Taliban our brothers, because they are not our brothers. All the problems that we are facing are because of the Taliban, so I think calling them brothers is not good.

In the Taliban period we were living in Nimroz province and the Taliban disturbed us a lot. They came to our homes and asked for food and clothes. The people of Afghanistan do not want to face that again.

I am very excited to see the result of the election and what will happen after election. I want to see and feel real peace in our country. People will vote for the president and he should support the people and bring peace to the country.

Now women are facing lots of problems and a new president should have big plans to stop violence against women in the society.

An in-law killed my youngest son when he was eight years old. The killer was arrested and is in jail. I wish that a new president would cleanse Afghanistan of corruption and murder.

By Fatima, interviewed by Lida