In Afghanistan, the struggle for basic rights for women continues to be a struggle for life itself. Today officials confirmed that 160 were poisoned in what is viewed as another attack by Muslim extremists. Last month, 170 schoolgirls and three teachers were poisoned. Muslim extremists oppose the education of women and the Karzai Administration, while supporting such education, has been accused of rolling back on the gains of women and girls following the fall of the Taliban. These “men of God” continue to believe that killing or maiming little girls pleases Allah and makes them spiritually pure, including throwing acid in the faces of little girls. Fortunately, there is no word of deaths yet and many children have been released from the hospital.
The Taliban has called for the closing of schools in the area. Controlling schools means controlling the minds of the populace. In a less common attack on boys, nearly 400 boys at a school in Khost province were recently poisoned. That brings the total to about 750 children poisoned in these areas in a few weeks.
The latest case involved the spraying of a toxic material in the classroom used by the girls at the Aahan Dara Girls School in Taluqan, the provincial capital. The Taliban leadership insist that it was a frame up by the government which poisoned the girls to “defame” the group.
It seems likely that these dangers to children, particularly girls, will increase with the resumption of control of the country by the corrupt and ineffectual Karzai government. The thought of women and girls being placed again under the medieval conditions of the Taliban is frightening. Watching the violence against women and girls only serves to reaffirm the doubts of what we have accomplished after over 3000 deaths of military personnel, hundreds of thousands of dead civilians, and hundreds of billions of dollars of funding in the country. The Taliban is still in control of many areas and the Karzai government is yielding to greater and greater demands of extreme faith-based repression.
Source: CNN
We should have helped the Afghans after the Russians left.
That was a very good window of opportunity that we missed. It might have saved us all this current misery… too little too late.
I roll with Darren’s summary of the situation. I would also ask fellow bloggers to chimne in if they have any insight on what the Soviets tried to do for women in Afghanistan before we enabled the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood to run them out. Would Afghanistan be better off today if the Soviets had stayed on?
Sine we are yet again talking about Muslim extremists and the evil some inflict I commend to you a stunning debate between Sam Harris and Bruce Schneier, a security expert, on the desirability of profiling Muslims at airport checkpoints. I am an unabashed Harris fan but Schneier makes a compelling case that ethnic profiling is worse than morally wrong, it’s ineffective, expensive,and weakens security. Warning: the debate runs about 13,000 words but it moves by with the speed of an Exocet missile and packs the same punch. In one exchange, Schneier elegantly observes, “This is what we have a Constitution for: to help us live up to our values and not down to our fears.” Bravo.
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/to-profile-or-not-to-profile
re: the joke. There was a point to it in that an inappropriate joke can sometimes have consequences.
Dredd;
yes, perspective is important. I was honing in on the drug war propaganda. I don’t do that very often and when I do it’s usually intended as sarcasm. Besides, we don’t want the big banks that depend on the drug money to fail, do we? Actually, they wouldn’t fail, they would just dig into our pockets again.
I think I need to find a funny movie or something. I mean look at the articles today: kids being poisoned; college kids burning books, their frat house, and housing of others; cannibalism and bath salts as a mind destroying drug; misleading advertising that’s legal; and an inappropriate joke. hmmm, in this context maybe I should give the prof a pass on the joke.
bettykath 1, May 29, 2012 at 3:08 pm
Not to worry. The US won’t leave Afghanistan until the Caspian Sea oil pipeline is built.
…
BTW the poppy crop went to almost zero when the Taliban was in control. It’s now the biggest producer. Another drug war failure.
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Depends on one’s perspective.
Afghanistan is now responsible for upwards of 90% of world heroin, based on the poppy opium.
That is not a mistake or failure, in the eyes of those who did it on purpose.
And oil, well what can one say about the world’s most popular drug?
I share the professor’s sympathies for the plight of Afghan women, but the logic of this post suggests that our military intervention has not accomplished enough to date to justify a continued military presence. That may well be the correct policy lesson, but adopting it it will require an acceptance of both the limits of American power and the tragic reality that we will be able to do little going forward to help these women and children in their struggle.
G-d is used as the reason for more wars and atrocities then anyting I can think of. Using the Abraham story, it ended with G-d saying, never mind, I was just kidding. These zealots forget that part of the story that is the thou shalt not kill (for that small part of the Bible). Too much of it seems to be thou shalt kill. I do not know the Qu’ran but I would be surprised if killing is not a major part of the story sets in that also.
Shano,
Aw, now, the CIA wouldn’t do such a thing, would they? I mean, this isn’t Central America or Laos or Cambodia, is it?
bettykath: BTW the poppy crop went to almost zero when the Taliban was in control. It’s now the biggest producer. Another drug war failure”
No, now the CIA can make a ton of money off this crop. They can be direct exporters with exclusive rights. Not a failure, it is part of the plan.
They knew the pallets of cash were going to dry up, so this is the replacement for direct theft of taxpayer money. Now they deal in human misery.
They can now buy any weapon, any protection, any politician they please. They can keep the private for profit prisons rolling in dough to keep Wall Street happy. It is all a win/ win for the CIA .
Dredd
1, May 29, 2012 at 2:26 pm
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I agree
What Tony C said….
Absolutely Right !
Not to worry. The US won’t leave Afghanistan until the Caspian Sea oil pipeline is built.
Atrocities like the ones mentioned may have been done by the Taliban or the CIA or Karzai. Did they happen at all or are they like the Iraqi’s knocking over newborn incubators as an excuse for the first invasion of Iraq? Frankly, I hope it’s just a propaganda ploy that didn’t happen at all.
BTW the poppy crop went to almost zero when the Taliban was in control. It’s now the biggest producer. Another drug war failure.
I think it might help to understand that “God” is shorthand for “Those That Would Rule You.” In this case, the Taliban itself, so killing girls to prevent education and preserve power does indeed please “God,” they like blind obedience a lot.
The same thing flies in this country, Christian zealots kill abortion doctors in the name of God, which is in the name of themselves because they would rule us, if they could.
Anybody that truly believed in an Almighty God (or Christ) would let God do his own dirty work. I do not think most of the people in power actually do believe in God, whether in the Vatican or the Taliban: I think “God” is a convenient fiction to deflect blame for their self-serving, egomaniacal and often sociopathic actions (like these).
Surprised…….
Darren Smith 1, May 29, 2012 at 1:39 pm
….
We don’t accept murderers and rapists living and operating in our own neighborhoods. We prosecute them. Why should a country’s leadership be immune and free to kill and repress on an epic scale? The dog that is the rapist sitting in prison is the same dog that rules these regimes.
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“We” is a very mysterious word.
According to the videos discussing a federal lawsuit, at the bottom of the post here, the Saudi Arabian government did 79% of 9/11, Iraq did 0%, which leaves 21% for Afghanistan.
So far “we” punished the innocent nation Iraq by destroying it, then taking its oil.
So far “we” punished 21% guilty Afghanistan by destroying upwards of 80% of it.
So far, “we” have rewarded Saudi Arabia.
“We” is a very mysterious word.
How horrible! Did all of these students/teachers die?
“That brings the total to about 750 children poisoned in these areas in a few weeks.”
This is one reason why I have mixed feelings about us leaving Afghanistan. Leaving Afghanistan may be the best thing to do, but it represents a colossal failure.
“That brings the total to about 750 children poisoned in these areas in a few weeks.”
Remember how the left used to be upset about us not getting into Darfur?
“These “men of God” continue to believe that killing or maiming little girls pleases Allah and makes them spiritually pure, including throwing acid in the faces of little girls.”
And there you go.
It would seem to be important to identify God before becoming a zealot.
In ancient times Molech worship involved sacrificing children by killing them.
There is a run-up to that in religions that look to Abraham (Islam, Christianity, Judaism), where Abraham is said to have been asked by God to sacrifice his first born son Isaac (War is The Highway 61 of The 1%).
The other thing in this wondrously mysterious realm of cognition, is the deception theology, i.e., the theology that says an evil being rules this planet passing itself off as God (A Religious Doctrine For Toxins of Power).
The killing of anyone to please God is a very questionable practice, since the holy books have a foundational concept “thou shalt not kill”, which has a mysterious word in it “thou”.
In warmongering societies “thou” is translated “them”, not “us”.
It is advisable to closely inquire of these zealots to discern which side of the lunacy they come down on.
Because the treatment must be tailored to the particular dementia at issue.
Just sayin’ …
Tragedy and depraved cowardice in the extreme. Poisoning Women and Children, nobody else on earth will respect that.
That said I think it is important to recognize what is actually happening. Prior to us invading, I believe it was over 95% of the country was infested wtih the taliban. The rest was essentially ruled by the Northern Coalition which was on its way out. We had our own interests in mind at that time but If we had done nothing in this country it would be the worst nightmare on earth for all children and women to this day. We lost 3 thousand troops and I don’t like that any more than you all do, but they did not die in vain. I correspond with Marines and Soldiers who are over there right now in Afghanistan. All of them tell me that with some setbacks overall the Afghanis are making progress. And that’s not just the official military propaganda, that is the way it is there in most places.
We also need to understand that the generation who was born after the early 80’s saw nothing but war and repression their entire lives. They were socialized into believing warlordism and tribal feuding was normal. 98% of people there would rather just have a safe, secure, and humane life free of conflict. They really want the same basic things we do. Illiteracy and superstition are still great problems there and people in this stage of learning are vulnerable to influences of evil men.
I agree the Karzai government leaves a lot to be desired. To me he is a crook and on the shady side, but he is THEIR crook and we have to for the present deal with him whether we like it or not.
Certainly I don’t have the answer to this but simply abandoning the people of Afghanistan to satisfy our own political constituents is going to have a price paid in the blood and happiness of ordinary people there. Consider this, yes our military and CIA personnel are put in great jeopardy by being over there, but what does the war in Afghanistan cost you as an uninvolved citizen of the US? A couple hundred dollars of your taxes? The worry about your fellow countrymen (which is absolutely understandable) Would you rather keep your two hundred or so dollars, not have to watch on TV what is going on there and in return consign millions of innocent people to damnation, murder, horrible tortures and at the very least draconian and arbitrary rule without any hope of freedom? That is what likely will happen if we allow the taliban to return to power.
Look, think what you will about the hedgemony the US gets itself involved in and it certainly has been pretty bad at times, but who else presently in the world today has the fortitude and the resolve to liberate anyone from tyrrany? It most certainly isn’t going to be the United Nations, the Europeans are wishy-washy over the issue, anyone else?. Haven’t we as a species learned our lesson from Rwanda’s most recent genocide?
It is very convenient and easy to relegate other peoples as “Them” status so that we can brush “Them” aside and go about our own pleasantries. I believe when good people here and elsewhere hopefully soon will regard every other person as “US” or “We” because when we do, the value and empathy toward other groups of good people becomes greater and more kindred. When the time comes when the international community will no longer tolerate tyrrany and will capture and take out any goverment that does evil to their own citizens IN Real Terms not useless talk and toothless sanctions evil men will struggle and be thwarted from seeking power.
We don’t accept murderers and rapists living and operating in our own neighborhoods. We prosecute them. Why should a country’s leadership be immune and free to kill and repress on an epic scale? The dog that is the rapist sitting in prison is the same dog that rules these regimes.