Afghan Women Fear Loss of Modest Gains

[groovedaddy]

MAHMUD-E RAQI, Afghanistan — Women’s precarious rights in Afghanistan have begun seeping away. Girls’ schools are closing; working women are threatened; advocates are attacked; and terrified families are increasingly confining their daughters to home.

For women, instability, as much as the Taliban themselves, is the enemy. Women are casualties of the fighting, not only in the already conservative and embattled Pashtun south and east, but also in districts in the north and center of the country where other armed groups have sprung up.

As Afghan and Western governments explore reconciliation with the Taliban, women fear that the peace they long for may come at the price of rights that have improved since the Taliban government was overthrown in 2001.

“Women do not want war, but none of them want the Taliban of 1996 again; no one wants to be imprisoned in the yards of their houses,” said Rahima Zarifi, the Women’s Ministry representative from the northern Baghlan Province.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/asia/31women.html?th&emc=th

[derby378]

1. Afghan women, arm yourselves...

The Taliban won't give you anything except a kick in the ass for accidentally showing your ankle in public. You'll have to take what's rightfully yours and hold onto it for dear life.

[lukasahero]

2. Because I'm sure an Afghan woman can just walk

to the corner Walmart and pick up a gun from "the guy" behind the counter. :sarcasm:

If these women aren't allowed to leave their homes, what sense does your comment make?

[derby378]

3. Are you familiar with RAWA?

Some of those women, last I heard, have been stockpiling arms just in case someone decides to start stripping what rights they have now.