(Updated: Originally posted December 6, 2006)
The following piece greatly saddens me; however, it also convinces me that the only way -- the only way -- to resolve these problems is through dialogue and understanding.
"A Precarious Shelter in Afghanistan; New Refuges for Women Face Permanent Danger of Attack" by Pamela Constable/Washington Post December 6, 2006
KABUL -- The room was carpeted and cozy, warm from the wood stove and filled with the chatter of children. But the tales their mothers and older sisters told recently, speaking hesitantly even in the safety of a guarded private shelter, were bone-chilling.
Until recently, most of the 20 women at the shelter would probably have been either dead or in prison, hunted down by male relatives seeking revenge or hit with criminal charges for actions that would not be illegal in the West, such as eloping with a boyfriend or fleeing an abusive husband. Some might have committed suicide by burning themselves, as hundreds of desperate Afghan girls and women have done in the past several years.
Afghan society still considers such women "bad" and deserving of punishment. According to the country's conservative Muslim and tribal traditions, arranged marriages are both a cultural cornerstone and a business contract, sometimes with two sisters marrying two brothers. Wives are expected to endure beatings, unfaithfulness or years of separation in obedient silence.
But Afghanistan is also officially a democracy now, with a ministry of women's affairs, human rights organizations and constitutional protections against abuse. In the years since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, a network of civic groups has begun promoting women's legal rights and opening shelters.
Still, despite increasing cooperation from police and referrals from the women's ministry, the shelters remain controversial and in permanent danger of attack by angry husbands and fathers.
The government of President Hamid Karzai has made several changes in the justice system. Last summer, Karzai appointed an Afghan American to head the Supreme Court, a former university teacher who is widely viewed as a modern thinker, sympathetic to women's rights.
What isn't said is that there were already indigenous groups like the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan and other commentataors who were drawing attention to all these issues BEFORE 9/11!!!
The West has acted like it just discovered the problem after 9/11 (just to strengthen their case for invasion, the brutality of the Afghans towards women).
And notice that despite the improvements -- thank God -- the disturbing behavior has still been occurring over the "past several years."
That's after we "liberated" them, folks!
And here is one more thought.
While I am TOTALLY OPPOSED to the mistreatment of women, look at what the women's lib movement has done for AmeriKa!
How Feminists Destroyed the American Family
Anyway, I insist you hear the women's tragic stories:
Sahara, an angelic-looking young woman, forcibly married at 11, widowed at 12 and kept as a virtual slave by her in-laws for the next eight years. Unable to endure more beatings, she slipped away early one morning, walked for two days and nights and finally ventured into a police station to ask for help.
Gulshan, a mother of three with a permanently worried look, was falsely accused of murdering her husband after he had an affair with her sister. She was sentenced to five years in jail, and her husband's brothers vowed to kill her upon her release. Under the law, they may also take custody of her small children, who are hidden with her at the shelter.
Gulshan: "They said I killed my husband, but I am very sad he died, even though he had a bad friendship with my sister. I need him, because of the children. Now I am alone in life, and in this society a woman alone is less than nothing."
Rahima, 35, a mother of six, in a small room where a free knitting and literacy class for women was underway. None of the participants had ever been to school or learned a skill, and several said it had been difficult to get permission to attend from male family members.
Rahima: "Some women are stopped by their brothers, their fathers, even their uncles. I visit those families, and I tell them I am a good woman, I go straight to class and back home with my face covered. My honor is safe, and I am learning something useful for myself, and it can be useful to their wives and daughters, too."
Some Afghans view groups that advocate women's emancipation as the real danger to society and blame foreign influence for provoking the widely reported phenomenon of self-immolation by unhappy brides or daughters-in-law.
Mari Akrami, who directs the Afghan Women's Skills Development Center, recently made a documentary film about a girl named Mujahida, who was betrothed to a man at age 4 and later murdered by her family for running away from him.
Akrami, with a rueful laugh: "In our society, it is still unacceptable for a woman to leave home or go to court to solve her problems. Now some people call me a bad woman, too."
Women's activists said Afghan courts still tend to side with men in cases of domestic abuse or marital conflict and are often swayed by influential families rather than the law. Two years ago, Akrami's group was given custody of a 10-year-old girl whose family had been arrested for selling her as a bride four years earlier.
Akrami, saying a senior justice official, under heavy pressure from the girl's family, wrote Akrami a letter asking that the girl be sent back to her husband:
"In court she told how she had been made to wear a white dress and a lot of people were invited to a feast. She had no idea it was her wedding. He said I must respect Afghan culture and customs."
Abdul Salam Azimi, the new chief justice, in a recent interview, said Afghan civil laws and Islamic principles both provide ample protection for women, including the right to divorce for a variety of reasons. But he acknowledged that conservative culture is often more powerful, especially in rural areas, and that there are heavy social and psychological barriers to women seeking legal help.
Azimi, 70, who dresses in tailored business suits:
"If a woman comes to court, we will protect her under the law. The problem is that many cases never reach us at all. A lady in a house may be suffering a lot, but she is too ashamed to go and complain. There is strong pressure from families, and often there is pressure from the women themselves."
Meanwhile, here is a little World Brief gem from the New York Times:
"In southern Afghanistan, British marines attacked a Taliban-held valley but pulled back after a ferocious counterattack, Reuters said, quoting witnesses, including a cameraman working for the news agency."
Amazing!!! Taliban forced British retreat with "ferocious counterattack."
Uh-Oh, NA-TO!!
Then again, I suppose all the aerial strikes are doing the Afghan women a favor by eliminating their barbarian men, huh?
Unless, as Gulshan seems to indicate with the death of her however inhuman husband "in this society a woman alone is less than nothing."
So HAMMER AWAY, NATO!!!!
Kill all their men!
You are DOING the Afghan women a FAVOR, right?
And one year later, NATO and the US are losing the war even more, and have killed many more Taliban men, women and children, too!
Oh, joy! Sigh!
