Sunday, July 19, 2009

Afghanistan and Pakistan

Tom Friedman, writing in his column in The New York Times, asks "Teacher, Can We Leave Now?" His answer is a firm "No."

What he is talking about is the United States.  The thrust of his answer is that part of the answer to the war against extremism is education.

The author quotes one authority as saying:
that since 2007, the Taliban and its allies have bombed, burned or shut down more than 640 schools in Afghanistan and 350 schools in Pakistan, of which about 80 percent are schools for girls.
One way to think about it is to ask oneself if one's own daughter should be free to do what she wants and wear what she wants and marry who she wants?  Those are the kinds of issues that are being confronted in Afghanistan and Pakistan today and the "Taliban and its allies" have been working to keep females at home and under the thumb of their male relatives.

We worry about Judge Sotomayor using the term "wise Latina."  How lucky we are that such is the question, rather than if we should risk a female child having acid thrown in her face on the way to school.  If we can, let's continue to help out.

UPDATE
Ann Althouse has an extract from an article in the Jerusalem Post on treatment of young people in Iran, to include those young women who have received a death sentence.
In the Islamic Republic it is illegal to execute a young woman, regardless of her crime, if she is a virgin, he explained. Therefore a "wedding" ceremony is conducted the night before the execution: The young girl is forced to have sexual intercourse with a prison guard - essentially raped by her "husband."
Here is the original article.

Regards  —  Cliff

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the article.

    I haven't worked in four years, and not sure when I will transition back into work again as a mother with small children. How fortunate I am, even as a stay at home mother that my education is seen as an asset for the entire family to benefit from.

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  2. Over at "Feminine Genius" Genevieve follows up on a lot of these issues concerning women in the middle east/asia.

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  3. Renee

    Thanks for posting that link with its emphasis on the problems of women in the area.  I found it interesting that Genevieve's book was published by Servant Press.  Not a publisher I have been recently following.

    Regards  —  Cliff

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Please be forthright, but please consider that this is not a barracks.