Afghanistan Dilemma Remains Unsolved
06 April 2012
By Karin Friedemann
Dennis Weichel, a National Guardsman from Rhode Island
recently sent to Afghanistan, was killed after only 12
days as he saved an Afghan girl from being crushed by
a US military vehicle. He was killed by that same US
military vehicle. The father of three has been
posthumously promoted to sergeant and received the
Bronze Star for his heroism. The evening news has
seized upon this headline to counteract the bad
publicity caused by the recent reports of the US
military massacring a family with many children asleep
in their home.
A recent poll showed that 69% of Americans want the US
to get out of Afghanistan. Reports such as the above
may point to why 31% of Americans still support the US
occupation: they somehow still believe that Americans
are there to help people. This may explain why
well-meaning people continue to enlist.
The evening news showed Weichel's sister repeatedly
stating, "That girl is alive because of my brother."
Well, that girl might be the first Afghan female the
US military has actually helped. The important thing
is, that nameless female has a future, even if Weichel
does not. Maybe she could become a symbol of hope in
the American dream for Afghanistan.
In 2001, feminists led by Hillary Clinton proclaimed
that the US invasion of Afghanistan was for the
liberation of women. Cries that bombing villages and
starving civilians would not improve the lives of
women fell on deaf ears. Internet "jokes" continue to
abound, implying that female US military personnel are
"showing" Afghan men, stereotyped as women-abusers,
what it feels like to be abused by women. Of course no
one mentions that every Afghan man tortured or killed
in war is some woman's beloved son. The fact that
patriarchy remains in force even in a country of
widows and orphans points to the probability that
mothers are still raising their children according to
old-fashioned thinking.
Human rights reports show that as of 2012, problems
such as forced marriage, physical abuse, and
incarceration of rape victims have not gone away, yet
new problems such as forced prostitution are on the
rise.
US-friendly President Karzai has pledged to increase
educational opportunities for girls, but according to
the Daily Beast, in March just two days before
International Women's Day of 2012, Karzai sent out a
"code of conduct" issued by the government-supported
Ulema Council on how women should act and behave. "Men
are fundamental and women are secondary," the
statement posted on the website of the presidential
palace read.
No Muslim man, no matter how conservative, would
normally ever say something so offensive out loud even
if he might practice it in his daily behavior. Islam
teaches us that "Paradise lies at the feet of the
mothers."
The Taliban was originally formed by vigilantes
seeking to make Afghanistan safe from rape. The entire
reason for the Taliban taking over Afghanistan in
previous decades was to uphold the honor of the
mothers! Afghan militias allied with the Soviet Union
had used rape as one of their weapons of war and that
news made the teenagers decide to leave their studies
to become Afghanistan's barefoot soldiers – to defend
the women and girls from the abuse of the godless
warlords! Despite their many flaws, the Taliban laid
down their lives for women, and they are still
respected as the only militia that does not rape.
There has been a lot of ongoing talk about Karzai
fluctuating between trying to work with the US and
talking with the Taliban, who apparently have not
actually been toppled. They seem to be more like a
ragtag group of armed farmers, who are not going to go
away.
I have no idea what Afghan women are going to do about
their general situation, and it looks like they are on
their own with that decision. According to my Women's
Studies classes in college, the status of women
improves with economic stability. Men without a stable
income are more likely to abuse their wives, while
women with a stable income are less likely to be
abused by their husbands. It's a pretty simple
mathematical/psychological formula really. But the
majority of US efforts seem geared at taking any kind
of financial freedom away from the Afghan people,
including laws forcing farmers to buy genetically
modified seeds from the Monsanto Corporation, which do
not reproduce – forcing Afghan farmers to buy seeds on
a yearly basis from the US.
Americans that want to help Afghan girls and women are
going to have to do more than "support the troops."
They will have to organize to defend their own
gardening and farming communities against government
control of seeds and other outrageous abuses.
Since the US set up heroine processing plants in
Afghanistan, it has become completely impossible for
Americans to access the flower sap Afghan housewives
reportedly use to quiet their children. This is the
exact opposite of capitalism! Heroine will kill you
dead and spread AIDS through needles. Opium is less
harmful than cigarets, even if it's just as addictive.
Legalizing drugs might go a long way towards ending
the CIA involvement and violence associated with
growing opium, and would provide safer and more
natural forms of the drug to consumers of painkillers.
Ultimately, cessation of war would provide Afghan
farmers some respite to explore other crops to make a
living.
Karin Friedemann is a Boston-based freelance
writer. karinfriedemann.blogspot.com
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments