Rule of the rapists

[DuctapeFatwa]

W hen the US began bombing Afghanistan on October 7 2001, the oppression of Afghan women was used as a justification for overthrowing the Taliban regime. ..However, Amnesty International paints a rather different picture: "Two years after the ending of the Taliban regime, the international community and the Afghan transitional administration, led by President Hamid Karzai, have proved unable to protect women. The risk of rape and sexual violence by members of armed factions and former combatants is still high. Forced marriage, particularly of girl children, and violence against women in the family are widespread in many areas of the country."

In truth, the situation of women in Afghanistan remains appalling. Though girls and women in Kabul, and some other cities, are free to go to school and have jobs, this is not the case in most parts of the country. In the western province of Herat, the warlord Ismail Khan imposes Taliban-like decrees. Many women have no access to education and are banned from working in foreign NGOs or UN offices, and there are hardly any women in government offices. Women cannot take a taxi or walk unless accompanied by a close male relative. If seen with men who are not close relatives, women can be arrested by the "special police" and forced to undergo a hospital examination to see if they have recently had sexual intercourse. Because of this continued oppression, every month a large number of girls commit suicide - many more than under the Taliban.

... One international NGO worker told Amnesty International: "During the Taliban era, if a woman went to market and showed an inch of flesh she would have been flogged; now she's raped." In spite of its rhetoric, the Karzai government actively pursues policies that are anti-women. Women cannot find jobs, and girls' schools often lack the most basic materials, such as books and chairs. There is no legal protection for women, and the older legal systems prohibit them from getting help when they need it. Female singers are not allowed on Kabul television, and women's songs are not played, while scenes in films of women not wearing the hijab are censored.

The Karzai government has established a women's ministry just to throw dust in the eyes of the international community. In reality, this ministry has done nothing for women...But then the US never did fight the Taliban to save Afghan women. As recently as 2000 the Bush administration gave the Taliban $43m as a reward for reducing the opium harvest. Now the US supports the Northern Alliance, which was responsible for killing more than 50,000 civilians during its bloody rule in the 1990s. Those in power today - men such as Karim Khalili, Rabbani, Sayyaf, Fahim, Yunus Qanooni, Mohaqiq and Abdullah - were those who imposed anti-women restrictions as soon as they took control in 1992 and started a reign of terror throughout Afghanistan. Thousands of women and girls were systematically raped by armed thugs, and many committed suicide to avoid being sexually assaulted by them...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1146134,00.html

[JailForBush]

1. Well, Laura Bush spoke on behalf of Afghan women on television once.

Doesn't that count for something?

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. kick for the status-quo fans

[maggrwaggr]

3. Af - what - istan? Who? Where?

I thought we were done with Afghanistan.

Iraq's where the money is, baby!!! YEAH!

[rasputin1952]

4. Let's see, didn't bush squeal about, ...

women being used as 'sex slaves', and the massive abuse of women, and how it should end under his position of the 'World View' of things?

Like everything else from bush...it was a lie from its inception, and is a complete failure. Wonder if he's feel the same if HIS daughters were over there, or perhaps his overprotective mother.

:evilgrin:

[cally]

5. I can barely read your thread

I know this is happening. I just feel so powerless to help the women. Whenever a social structure is disrupted, it seems that women bear the worst. Rape is all too common in war and I just don't know what I can do to help. I do some things, obviously. Our own soldiers are reporting rape and nothing is done. The Afghan women are much less powerful and have even less ability to get justice. I just hate what has happened.

[rasputin1952]

10. I agree w/you...

there is nothing we CAN do, and there lays the horror.

If someone is assaulting someone else near me, I can step in, at least try to put an end to it. But when there is nothing you can do, the feeling of helplessness is overwhelming.

Where are the good leaders? Where are the great leaders? Why are the people so sheepish when their own families are being destroyed? What creates that kind of fear?

I would, if I felt it necessary, put my life on the line to protect others. Are there others out there that are willing to do the same, not for strangers, but for their own families? This is a cruel world we live in, and the more we learn of it, the worse it gets.

Child abductions, slavery, child labor, indentured servitude, rape, predation at every conceivable level. I am disgusted too. The only thing I can do, is to make my little corner of the world a better place. If I had the power, I'd take these evil dregs of humanity out and horsewhip them, then toss them into the darkest of holes to live out meager lives. But I do not have that power, much to my chagrin, it goes on because fear is such a factor in these peoples lives.

:hug: I'm feeling this with you.

O8)

[PsychoDad]

6. Like it or not....

The Taliban brought order to a lawless land controled by factions of criminal warlords.. The US gave it back to the criminal warlords.

[DuctapeFatwa]

7. Shall we tell the boys and girls how criminal warlords happened to be

marauding freely around Afghanistan a decade or so ago?

[PsychoDad]

8. Let's see, as I remember...

I'm no historian but as i recall...

In 1950's the US rejects Afghanistan's request to buy military equipment. In response, Afghanistan turns to the soviet Union for the equiptment, which it sells to Afghanastan, and begins a close relationship with the USSR.
By 1960 A great deal of "westernization/modernization" has intered the society, Women begin to enter the workforce, and the government At the same time the tradition women's dress is made optional. women are also allowed to enroll in the University which has become co-educational. In '73 the Republic of Afghanistan is created, and in '78 a Communest coup takes place and a treaty of friendship is signed with the USSR. Soon after this the Afghan guerrilla movement is born, (the Mujahideen - folks like OBL), Funded and trained by the CIA. Then the soviets enter the conflict. At this point Afghanistan goes to hell in a hand basket.. By 1988 the Soviets have had enough and decide to leave. The Mujahideen continue the fight against the government until 92 when the government falls. As the Mujahideen form a government, Iran and Pakistan are also still involved behind the scenes, supporting various factions and inter-faction fighting increases. Until about 1994, when the Taliban seize power.

That's what I can remember. Can't remember many names. Afghanistan was a fairly prosperous and modern country until the US decided regime change was needed... like Iraq.

[DuctapeFatwa]

9. Then, in 96or 7, the Taliban got invited to Texas!

To eat some barbecue and listen to an offer - one they couldn't refuse.

They refused.

Or some of them did. The timing of the Bamyan buddha show and Massoud's assassination is interesting...

For those following along at home who'd like to google, try unocal

[ConsAreLiars]

11. Your history is pretty accurate but

the statement that "Afghanistan was a fairly prosperous and modern country until the US decided regime change was needed" is a bit off. Afghanistan was mostly ignored, serving as a "buffer state" and about as impoverished and medieval as any country I had ever visited. But is was a place where change was taking place. Women within the elite could walk around freely without being covered head to toe, and tribal nomads had the same right. There was a natural process at work. Not prosperous by any measure, not modern - but it was a society where even "alien" visitors like myself were treated with respect. The militarization and empowerment of the Taliban extremists by the CIA as an anti-soviet force deformed the natural forces of social evolution at work in Afghanistan. The CIA turned an extraordinary and unique culture which had its own dynamic for change and a form of tolerance into a society dominated by rabid fundies of the Falwell-Dobson-Graham-Ashcroft ilk. The Afghanistan I spent a few months in (in 1970-71) was no utopia, but it was a country where many tendencies were at work and a natural evolution was uderway before the CIA decided that arming the most extreme fundies would serve US geopolitical interests.

(edit: delete extraneous letter)