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The US is Abandoning Afghanistan's Women

Mell

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''But the current administration, despite its female secretary of State and its new Office of Global Women's Issues, appears to be ditching the women of Afghanistan like a blind date gone bad. You have to go back 10 months to find any sustained rhetoric from President Barack Obama about the importance of assuring the security of women in Afghanistan. ''
The U.S. Is Abandoning Afghanistan?s Women ? By Valerie M. Hudson and Patricia Leidl | Foreign Policy

I think most would agree that protection needs to be provided for the women of Afghanistan, DRC... So, why is it so difficult to follow through with the good intentions?
 
Re: Betrayed

Peace first, then we can start the process of giving parts of its culture a total 180 reversal. Its about priorities and about gradual steps.
 
Re: Betrayed

''Its about priorities and about gradual steps. ''

Well, I would agree, if the situation for women in these countries was not so horrific. It is beyond crisis level, when most of a countries women are beaten, raped, and/or mutillated on a regular basis.

And, there is also the question about if peace will acutally happen in these countries.
 
Re: Betrayed

''Its about priorities and about gradual steps. ''

Well, I would agree, if the situation for women in these countries was not so horrific. It is beyond crisis level, when most of a countries women are beaten, raped, and/or mutillated on a regular basis.

And, there is also the question about if peace will acutally happen in these countries.

it would be impossible to reform Afghan society until the stop fearing reprisals from the taliban, get a decent economy and just have a stable political system.
 
Re: Betrayed

Well if there's no peace than we aren't going to change any culture or norms that have existed for a quite a long while. Now just to clarify my original post, I did not mean peace first then other considerations as in peace must be entirely achieved before any steps can be made on any other grounds. I meant that peace must be the top priority, although other goals may be pursued at the same time.

But I do agree, the expansion of the definition of victory needs to include broad cultural changes that include women's rights and women's parity with men. Now that being said I think there are other matters that must be addressed first and pursued more thoroughly in the near term before cultural changes can realistically be achieved.

The US has done a lot in the last few years to expand the "war effort," for lack of a better term, to functions and organizations beyond the military, however that could still be expanded and should include attention given to the situation many Afghan women face, especially if the policy makers decide to strike some form of peace with some or all of the Taliban.
 
Re: Betrayed

''it would be impossible to reform Afghan society until the stop fearing reprisals from the taliban, get a decent economy and just have a stable political system. ''

If anything will make progress, it will likely be the sheer tenacity of somebody like Obama.



''...culture or norms ...''

I think the plight of women in Afghanistan goes beyond what can be described as culture and norms.



''peace must be the top priority''

Yeah, true. When people in Afghanistan start to experience the benefits of peace, stability and a basic but functional infra structure they will support more what functioning democracy stands for.



''however that could still be expanded and should include attention given to the situation many Afghan women face, especially if the policy makers decide to strike some form of peace with some or all of the Taliban. ''

It may take defeating the Tailban though. Apparently, just incorporating what are considered the more moderate of them into the government, would still be a real danger to women, if the US pull out.
 
Re: Betrayed

Not sure that the Western interventions in Muslim countries are going to improve the statute of women in those countries. If you look at Iraq, the women’s life was better before the invasion than after, their statute deteriorated, particularly since the Shiite clerics took more power in the society.
 
Re: Betrayed

''But the current administration, despite its female secretary of State and its new Office of Global Women's Issues, appears to be ditching the women of Afghanistan like a blind date gone bad. You have to go back 10 months to find any sustained rhetoric from President Barack Obama about the importance of assuring the security of women in Afghanistan. ''
The U.S. Is Abandoning Afghanistan?s Women ? By Valerie M. Hudson and Patricia Leidl | Foreign Policy

I think most would agree that protection needs to be provided for the women of Afghanistan, DRC... So, why is it so difficult to follow through with the good intentions?
great article. i didn't realize it was still as bad as it is, and i'm not sure i know what the answer is, but part of it is getting rid of karzai. we need to have people there, but not in a fighting capacity.
 
Re: Betrayed

''But the current administration, despite its female secretary of State and its new Office of Global Women's Issues, appears to be ditching the women of Afghanistan like a blind date gone bad. You have to go back 10 months to find any sustained rhetoric from President Barack Obama about the importance of assuring the security of women in Afghanistan. ''
The U.S. Is Abandoning Afghanistan?s Women ? By Valerie M. Hudson and Patricia Leidl | Foreign Policy

I think most would agree that protection needs to be provided for the women of Afghanistan, DRC... So, why is it so difficult to follow through with the good intentions?

Yes, security comes first, not peace. If you have no war with no security, then, well, society falls apart! Wars kill people on the outsides of cities where they are found unless they come into the city, and even then if you stay inside you face a dozen bullet holes in your wall and then finnished. That is quite unlike the strain of fighting for your budget to keep your houshold going, seriously...

Now, to grant peace to Afghanistan they need to leave it be. Just pull out. They could pay people from Syria to do the poilce work and other soldier like stuff, and they won't attack these people because they are also Arabs. If an Arab screams freedom and shoot at another Arab, well, nobody new will join and they will suffer great 'emotional discourse'.

So, fill the region with other Arabs, they are cheaper and more secure!

Now onto the women's security. If they want to be secure they should sleep in the day and go to the town hall in the night to gossip or something feminine... yeah! While there they will just patrol around the hall to keep them safe and stuff, so no problem there either.

To get the women to get funding they should try to provide one bag of rice or something to each of them. They are actually closer to Europe so maybe they could give them bags of potatoes or something...
 
Re: Betrayed

Not sure that the Western interventions in Muslim countries are going to improve the statute of women in those countries. If you look at Iraq, the women’s life was better before the invasion than after, their statute deteriorated, particularly since the Shiite clerics took more power in the society.

Yes especially those women Saddam liberated right into Udai's rape rooms. :roll: Everyones stature under the Baathist regime was ****, everyone's civil liberties have increased dramatically.
 
''But the current administration, despite its female secretary of State and its new Office of Global Women's Issues, appears to be ditching the women of Afghanistan like a blind date gone bad. You have to go back 10 months to find any sustained rhetoric from President Barack Obama about the importance of assuring the security of women in Afghanistan. ''
The U.S. Is Abandoning Afghanistan?s Women ? By Valerie M. Hudson and Patricia Leidl | Foreign Policy

I think most would agree that protection needs to be provided for the women of Afghanistan, DRC... So, why is it so difficult to follow through with the good intentions?
This is total bull****! It is not the duty of the US to see to it that Afghan women have rights. If the UN wants to take this on (and they have plenty of committees), they can.
 
Re: Betrayed

Yes especially those women Saddam liberated right into Udai's rape rooms. :roll: Everyones stature under the Baathist regime was ****, everyone's civil liberties have increased dramatically.

It is sure, the women’s life was far from brilliant during Saddam’s period, but I don’t think that it improves after the invasion, like everybody’s life in Iraq. So the intervention of the Western countries in their life has not improved their existence, like in Afghanistan.
 
Re: Betrayed

It is sure, the women’s life was far from brilliant during Saddam’s period, but I don’t think that it improves after the invasion, like everybody’s life in Iraq. So the intervention of the Western countries in their life has not improved their existence, like in Afghanistan.

How many women were going to school under the Taliban?
 
Re: Betrayed

When you announce that you'll be pulling troops in a year, what could we possibly do that will stick long-term for women's rights in Afghanistan.

You can't change the primitive mentalities of the Middle East.
 
''But the current administration, despite its female secretary of State and its new Office of Global Women's Issues, appears to be ditching the women of Afghanistan like a blind date gone bad. You have to go back 10 months to find any sustained rhetoric from President Barack Obama about the importance of assuring the security of women in Afghanistan. ''
The U.S. Is Abandoning Afghanistan?s Women ? By Valerie M. Hudson and Patricia Leidl | Foreign Policy

I think most would agree that protection needs to be provided for the women of Afghanistan, DRC... So, why is it so difficult to follow through with the good intentions?

Because we should look to the Afghan government, not Hillary Clinton, to protect women's rights in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is one of the poorest, most unstable, worst-governed countries in the entire world. It's simply not realistic to think that the United States is capable of fixing that.
 
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