Women in Afghanistan are Struggling
In light of Hamid Karzai pushing through new, controversial legislation that will further limit women’s rights, I felt it imperative to get up to date on the existing struggles and oppression of Afghan women. Last week, PBS NewsHour explored these issues from a first hand perspective, in an 8-minute investigative piece called “Despite Gains, Women Still Struggle in Afghanistan.”
Also, CNN previously aired a piece called Lifting the Veil:
The young girls playing at school offers a glimpse of a silver lining, but Karzai’s recent decision is just another roadblock for women’s rights in Afghanistan.
- Matt
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April 1st, 2009 at 8:46 AM
Very interesting, as this same thing is happening on our own soil with groups such as the Fundamentalist branch of the Latter Day Saints.
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:48 PM
Sadly Afghanistan seems to be taking a step backwards as fundamentalist warlords take over the country. In the times leading up to and during Russia’s occupation there were opportunities for women including education and careers. It is sad that the so called “liberation” of Kabul by the Taliban actually hindered the countries growth (I am sure they think otherwise). This is a very sad turn of events and unfortunately the more other countries oppose them, the more they will fall on “religion” to unite and continue to oppress their own people and hinder growth of their people and society.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:17 AM
It’s a sad state of affairs when the government you are proping up begins to create laws that make it hard for the American public to justify having its soldiers die for.
Helping Afghanistan establish a modern society is critical to the region and so is stabalizing its critically unstable neighbor Pakistan.
This does mean more troops, more dead Americans and millions of dollars in investment from here and abroad. We have to help the majority of people in both countries escape the tyranny of religious extremism.
The comment about the fundamentists of Later Day Saints pails in comparrison to the control and subjugation of the people of Afghanistan. There is no law in Utah, Texas, or Kentucky that bars women from going outside, those are rules placed upon a small fringe of society that chooses to alienate itself away from the mainstream. Now if Utah, Texas, Kentucky, or for that matter the US made a law that prohibited my wife from going outside without my permission that would be different.
Apples and oranges people.
The rest of the world needs to be involved in Afghanistan in order for this to work, but places like France and Germany are run by isolationists who can’t see further than their own borders. France is going to have a rude awakening when their homegrown terrorist groups start striking out at home and the tourists stay away. Economic disaster is awaiting!
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:48 PM
Thanks for the comments Sarah, Andrew & Gregg.
It appears Karzai has been motivated by ensuring re-election, but this move hurts the international image of both Afghanistan and the U.S. U.S. officials appear to have been largely silent on the topic, so you have to wonder whether they agree with this “political” maneuver. But the bigger problem is if the U.S. remains silent and therefore complicit, perhaps the reason is that someone far more fundamentalist has a real opportunity at winning the election.
Just like political elections everywhere, you need to move just to the left of your opponent (or just to the right of your opponent, if you’re a conservative) to maximize your appeal to the overall electorate. Either way, I expect international pressures to be great enough to get Karzai to back down on this new law. He needs all the support he can get.
As for the FLDS, although their archaic activities have not been government sanctioned, their mere existence within U.S. borders is a tragedy in its own right. As usual, there’s more than enough suffering all over the world to make most troubles we experience in America insignificant in comparison.
- Matt
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