Saving the Women of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a land-locked country located in central Asia with and estimated 20-26 million people. (http://www.afghan-web.com/facts.html) It has been rated as one of the top eleven countries to have the worst human rights (http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/printesasp?id=4675) since the early 90's when the country was taken under rule by the Taliban. The Taliban, a group of Pakistani-educated Muslims who claim to be "pure, fundamentalist Islam(s) and the saviors of all Muslims." (http://www.wapha.org/facts.html) They declare themselves as a "group fighting to corruption amongst Mujahideen (soldiers of God) on grounds of Islamic convictions and the need to establish peace in (Afghanistan)" (http://www.afghan-web.com/politics/story.html)
Prior to the Taliban's reign in Afghanistan the country was under communist rule by Russia. As it gained it's freedom Afghanistan lost many men fighting. Their fighting was seen as honorable in the Islamic faith because they were fighting for their religion and faith. Nearly all members of the Taliban took part in the civil war and because of that are respectable men. Since the civil war many women have been widowed. By not allowing women to work outside of their homes leaves them with virtually no means of supporting themselves. (http://www.wapha.org/facts.html)
Women of Afghanistan have been forced to abandon their prior lifestyle because of newly enforced restrictions. Since the Taliban has come to power Afghan women's lives have been torn apart. Prior to their occupation Afghanistan's women were educated and worked outside of the home. At Kabul University, located in the capital, half the students and over half of the teachers were women as well as half of the civil government workers. (http://www.wapha.org/facts.html) Now women's rights have virtually disappeared. They may not work outside of the privacy of their home, they may not attend school, if they do leave their homes they must be with a close male relative. Women's windows of their homes must be painted black to obscure the view of men walking y. Male doctors may not examine female patients, yet very few women can practice medicine. A woman's shoe must not make a noise of she will be beaten. (http://www.wapha.org/facts/html) Of all the regulations set by the Taliban they most commonly seen is forcing women to wear a burqa. The burqa is a garment warn that "shrouds the body, leaving only a small mesh-covered opening through which to see." (http://www.feminist.org/afghan/facts.html)
Women who do not follow the Taliban's rule face serious consequences. Hundreds of women have been beaten for not dressing properly. (http://www.wapha.org/facts.html) A woman who ran a girls school secretly out of her home was shot before her husband, daughter, and students for defying the Taliban's restriction on educating women. (http://www.feminist.org/afghan/fact.html) Since the civil war many women have been widowed. By not allowing women to work outside of their homes leaves them with virtually no means of supporting themselves. (http://www.wapha.org/facts.html)
A question that has been raised is weather the Taliban is actually operating under the "true" code of Islam and obviously it is not. According to Islamic faith men and women are equal which is stated in the Islamic holy book, or the Qur'an. Qur'an 3:195 says "Their Lord responded to them: 'I never fail to reward any worker among you for any work you do, by you male or female, you are equal to one another.'" A woman has the same rights as a man to own property and to spend her earnings. (http://www.discoverislam.com/21.html) The Taliban, students of the Islamic faith that claim to want to bring Afghanistan under Islamic rule (http://www.afghan-web.com/politics/story.html) are going directly against what the Qur'an says.
In the early to mid 90's a group of Afghan soldiers emerged after studying at Islamic schools of Pakistan. The soldiers claim to practice "pure, fundamentalist Islam" (http://www.wapha.org/facts.html) though oddly enough the Taliban has left a country filled with oppression and destruction. They have destroyed art, villages, and oppressed women to the point they cannot leave their home without the threat of punishment of even death. (http://www.afghan-web.com/politics/story.html) Even in recent days the Taliban has begun to smash historical statues, which infuriates other countries around the world. (http://www.dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010301/wl/afghan_statues_dc_11.html)
The Taliban bases their codes according to the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an, as well as the Hadith, which is the stories of the Prophet Mohammed's life. According to the hadithists, women's lack of strength makes them "defective" but they do not make reference to their abilities not shared by men. (http://www.submission.org/women/equal.html) Again, back to the Qur'an where it says that men and women are equal.
As a nation by not helping the women of Afghanistan we are closing our eyes to the injustices that are occurring. Ignoring the problem does not make it go away though. As a nation going into Afghanistan to help we would be releasing women from the torturous life they have led over the past 5 years. We have the obligation to aid people of the world who are less fortunate than we are.
The brutalities in Afghanistan because of the Taliban rule are horrendous and in a perfect world they would not go on. The question at hand though is weather we, as a country, should enter into Afghani affairs. Are we just in deciding that we are superior to another country because we do not understand their culture? Do we have the right to inflict oppression on their part because we do not want women oppressed? However hard it is to know the horrid condition in Afghanistan we as a country have no right to aid them.
The first argument is in relation to our own past as a nation. Nobody begins with equality, not even our great America. For years women were not aloud to vote, they were viewed as property and restricted to the point they could do nothing but stay around their home. (look up!) We feel it is our duty to end the atrocities against Afghan women yet it took us until 1920 (look up) to allow women to vote. How can we judge them when we did similar things in our own country, yet only in the degree of women's rights outside the home.
In a Judeo-Christian nation with a small percentage of the population being Muslim's many of us do not understand Muslim practices. We see the way that some Muslim's dress and assume they are oppressed and unhappy. The Islamic dress code is addressed in the Qur'an 7:26 "…But the best garment is the garment of righteousness…" The two other rules include the covering of one's chest as well as lengthening one's garment. (http://www.moslem.org/chador.html) The extent to which these rules are followed depend on interpretation. They do not see this as oppression but rather a code to follow in practicing their own religion.
In the past, nations have attempted to help other countries because they felt it was the right thing to do. They had the best of intentions as they took control over another country and inflicted laws and rules on them virtually destroying their culture. An example of this is
America does not have all the answers nor are we expected to. Though it is hard to sit back and watch an extremist group such as the Taliban we as a nation must remember that we cannot solve all the world's problems nor should we try. It is not our right to inflict our beliefs on a country we share very little in common with.
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