From the international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany, Akrami -- director of the Women Skills Development Centre -- couldn't help wonder if she was watching a "political game" being played with the future of Afghan woman .
"The war is not over," she said in an interview on Monday. "We need the support of all our friends, especially Canada, especially from the women of Canada."
Akrami was one of about a dozen Afghan women's activists to meet Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their European Union counterpart, Catherine Ashton.
About 100 countries and international organizations took part in the Bonn conference on Afghanistan's long-term prospects for aid and a possible political settlement with the Taliban insurgency after 2014.
Afghan women are nervous that a settlement with the Taliban might shift Afghanistan's political and social landscape back to the days when strict fundamentalist rule prevailed.
"If the international community ignore or forget Afghanistan, we are really afraid, maybe we will be the losers and we are afraid that maybe we might lose all the achievements that we had during these 10 years," said Akrami.
When Baird emerged from the meeting, he joined his American and European partners in pledging long-term solidarity with Afghanistan's people, especially its vulnerable women and children.
"The government of Canada, the Canadian people stand with the women of Afghanistan in the post-2014 environment," said Baird.
Akrami hopes that will translate into real action. There is much at stake in the next three years for Afghanistan's women, who have made serious progress in education and politics since the Taliban was overthrown a decade ago.
Baird could not put a dollar figure on Canada's continued development assistance to the war-torn country beyond 2014.
Canada halved its yearly aid spending to Afghanistan with the end of the combat mission in Kandahar last summer and will now contribute about $100 million a year for three years.
"I'm not in a position to be able to deliver the 2015 and 2016 budgets here in Bonn," Baird said in a conference call.
"But obviously we have made a major commitment to development in Afghanistan and we'll continue to stand by them."
In all, Canada has spent about $1.7 billion on aid to Afghanistan since 2002, making it the single largest recipient of funds from the Canadian International Development Agency.
But the Harper government has frozen CIDA's overall $5-billion budget to 2015 as a deficit-cutting measure.
The Afghan Women's Network spent a year collecting the views of the women of the country in preparation for the Bonn meeting on the reconciliation issue and international engagement beyond 2014.
"Women's rights are not negotiable," said the network's director, Samira Hamidi. "We will not accept for our country to move back in time and take away our freedom and participation. We've come with our proposals on how to ensure this does not happen."
Akrami said it's still a struggle for her centre to carry on its work, which includes running a shelter for battered women and runaway child brides in Kabul. Akrami said the Canadian embassy has been instrumental in the last year helping her organization, which has 40 full-time shelter spaces.
"I see that Canada could play a great role as they have great experience," she said. "We are expecting that they should continue their support."
Afghanistan delegates, including President Hamid Karzai, pleaded with the international community not to ignore the country after 2014.
Canada has committed 950 military personnel to a non-combat training mission to 2014 and is expected to focus solely on development efforts after that.
The Bonn conference is seeking mutually binding commitments that would see Afghanistan promise reform and good governance, with donors and international organizations pledging long-term assistance.
"We have an obligation to Canadians to ensure all investments achieve their goals in an environment free from corruption and waste," said Baird, who is spending the week at various meetings in Europe, including Thursday's NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
Afghanistan estimates it will need foreign aid in the order of $10 billion, or slightly less than half the country's annual gross national product, in 2015.
Karzai urged the international community to stay engaged with his country even beyond the planned troop withdrawal in 2014.
"Together we have spent blood and treasure in fighting terrorism," Karzai said.
"Your continued solidarity, your commitment and support will be crucial, so that we can consolidate our gains and continue to address the challenges that remain. We will need your steadfast support for at least another decade."
