Posted on 09/23/2004 12:27:59 PM PDT by Area Freeper
Human-rights organizations criticized the Bush administration Wednesday, saying in the three years since the Taliban was ousted from most of Afghanistan, the U.S. has not fulfilled promises of safety, freedom, education and health care for Afghan women.
"They have failed, misguided and betrayed Afghan women by giving them false hope," said T. Kumar, an Amnesty International advocacy director for Asia and the Pacific, at a news conference addressing Afghan women's issues. "Three years later, they are still dreaming, and it may be a pipe dream."
Kumar said he believed the Bush administration "used the Afghan women" when it said liberating them was a major reason to remove the Taliban from power. He contends that Afghan women's rights were never a concern of the Bush administration until after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
On Oct. 9, Afghan citizens are scheduled to elect a president. Millions of women are registered to vote, and most of the 19 candidates have women's issues as one focus of their political platform, Kumar said.
But there is minimal voter education in Afghanistan, and many women are expected to vote the same as their husbands or not at all, said Malaly Volpi, director of the Policy Council on Afghan Women.
"Ninety percent of Afghan women are illiterate. How will they know who to vote for?" Volpi said.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush ordered troops to Afghanistan to drive out the Taliban, which had harbored Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bush said the war also would mean freedom for Afghan women, who had few rights under the Taliban.
Since then, "remarkable progress" has been made, said White House spokesman Jim Morrell.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Please don't confuse me. I still haven't figured out the whole metric thing.
Sharbat Gula, who captivated audiences with her haunting green eyes when she appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine in 1985, is seen in the magazine's 1985 cover photograph (L), and today (R), 17 years later. Clearly life under the Taliban was idyllic for Afganistan's women.
So what we've learned is that Bush failed instantly to transform Afghan culture to where it embraces feminism. Talk about dropping the ball. How could anyone possibly vote for him now?
"Please don't confuse me. I still haven't figured out the whole metric thing."
Lets see, metric, thats European...check out the Kerry campaign website for additional confusion.
Anyone watch the Olympics? The interviews with the Afghan and Iraqi women? The quote of the soccer stadium guard said it all: "If she was my sister, I'd kill her".. Well, she wasn't and she did compete as the first woman from Afghanistan ever.
Anyone watch the Olympics? The interviews with the Afghan and Iraqi women? The quote of the soccer stadium guard said it all: "If she was my sister, I'd kill her".. Well, she wasn't and she did compete as the first woman from Afghanistan ever.
Bush uses womens rights in Afghanistan in every campaign speech he makes. Afghanistan is a success, in the Presidents view, because girls are going to school. Its probably true that the most extreme Taliban policies have been reversed. But its also true that the Government of Afghanistan only controls Kabul. The rest of the country is ruled by tribal warlords, and some of them are as repressive in their treatment of women as the Taliban was.
He uses it to justify, or is he simply pointint out a result of the invasion?
According to President Bush, 4 million Afghani women have registered to vote, where three years ago they weren't allowed to leave the house without a male relative escorting them.
What universe do these critics live in?
He uses it to deflect criticism of the fact that the Afghan mission is only a partial success rather than a total success. The purpose of the Afghan war was not just to overthrow the Taliban but to get Al Quaeda and Bin Laden. That goal has not yet been accomplished. The level of terrorist resistance to the U.S. in Afghanistan may not be as bad as Iraq but its not something to be complacent about either.
It's most reasonable that Bush is exaggerating the positives and his opponents are exagerating the negatives. The truth is somewhere in between. We have our hands full just getting a sane government there. To add on top of that that women must have full equal rights with men there is ludicrous.
What percentage of Afghan MEN are illiterate? 80%? I bet it's fractionally lower.
How will they know who to vote for?
What percentage of American men and women are illiterate? How will they know who to vote for?
Easy--they'll do what the local union boss, LaRaza agitator, or NAACP rep tells them, vote Rat.
According to the October issue of the Atlantic Monthly, Bin Laden did not die at Tora Bora (as you seem to be implying) but escaped to the Parachinar region of Pakistan. The decision to rely on local Afghans to do most of the fighting plus the failure to cut off the escape routes into Pakistan contributed to his escape. The reports of his having a fatal Kidney condition were exaggerated. None of his current disabilities are fatal. Like Rudolf, he has the support of the local population. One possibility is that he is in the Pakistani occupied area of Kashmir. Another is that he is in one of the large cities of Pakistan. Rudolf was on the run for about 7 years.
When kites are outlawed, only outlaws will have kites.
You can have my kite when you pry the bobbin from my cold, dead hands.
I can't imagine that the Taliban had much of an air force ...
"Ninety percent of Afghan women are illiterate. How will they know who to vote for?" Volpi said."
The DNC must be drooling at the thought!
And who was helping rudolf? Bin laden is being helped. You are ignorant; many nazy war criminals ran for decades before being caught, even when Israel had people doing nothing but looking for them. Those who think that a war in a place like afganistan is won quick and using conventional methods is a dork.
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