Free Republic

The Taliban has ordered Afghan women to wear burkas in public. The burka, which covers the wearer from head to toe and leaves only a person’s eyes exposed, became the group’s staple order on women in Afghanistan during its first reign of terror, between 1996 and 2001. The decision to re-introduce the garment serves as a chilling echo of the drastic restrictions Afghan women are once again facing under the Taliban’s control. If women have no important work outside the home, they should stay at home, the group also declared. Refusal to comply with the order can result in a...

Kelley Eckels Currie says Taliban taking away woman's rights in Afghanistan is 'not acceptable'.. Despite a catastrophic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan ... Among those at greatest risk under Taliban rule are women, who .. were severely oppressed during the Islamist group’s previous time in power in the late 1990s ... It really made me angry at what had been done, and how poorly they have been treated by people who claim to be advocates for women and advocates for women's rights to see how badly they have treated these Afghan women who are incredibly vulnerable and incredibly brave ... This...

Emily Miller — “There’s 7 buses of female American citizens. The CG refused to open the gate. We have a congressman with us and he had the state department reach out. MG Donahue refused. 10 minutes ago the females were taken by the Taliban. They are likely dead now.” “We’re dealing with Kabul. There’s 7 buses of female American citizens. The CG refused to open the gate. We have a congressman with us and he had the state department reach out. MG Donahue refused. 10 minutes ago the females were taken by the Taliban. They are likely dead now.” —...

Violence against women is endemic in Afghanistan with cases of “honour” killings, rape, domestic violence and forced marriage well-documented and well-known. But women and girls who have been displaced from their homes during decades of conflict seem to be even worse off, according to the latest edition of Forced Migration Review, which looks at Afghanistan's displaced people and their prospects after foreign troops withdraw this year. Displaced Afghan women are especially vulnerable to exploitation and violence because of their often reduced circumstances, according to a piece by Camille Hennion, project director at the Kabul-based Samuel Hall research group. ... A...

Making The U.S. Military Submit To Shariah Afghanistan policies encourage more attacks By Frank J. Gaffney Jr. American servicemen are being killed in Afghanistan at an accelerating rate by Afghans who ostensibly are their allies. These attacks have been dubbed "green-on-blue" incidents, an antiseptic and deliberately mild way of describing the treachery of Muslim natives .... "red team" analysis suggested that the problem is, as its title suggests, "A Crisis of Trust and Cultural Incompatibility." It found, based on extensive interviews with U.S. and NATO troops, that practices inspired by, condoned or even mandatory under the brutally repressive Islamist doctrine...

Shortly after sending U.S. troops to Afghanistan in October 2001, President George W. Bush focused so intently on freeing Afghan women from the shackles of Taliban rule that empowering them became central to the United States' mission there. More than a decade later, as his successor Barack Obama charts a way out of the unpopular war, Afghan girls are back in school, infant and maternal survival rates are up and a quarter of the parliament's seats are reserved for women who at least on paper have the same voting, mobility and other rights as men. But Obama rarely speaks about...

This New York Times report was brought to my attention via The Blaze. It’s one of those under-reported stories that definitely should garner more attention. Be warned, the material within the video is pretty graphic. The Blaze writes: A New York Times video details the increasing practice of Afghan women setting themselves on fire to escape the troubles of the war-torn country. It’s called self-immolation. Content WARNING: The images contained in the report are disturbing:

The Taliban has denied that its militants tortured, hanged and shot a widow in Afghanistan's western Baghdis province for adultery. It's not the principle the Taliban disagrees with — in a lengthy press release, a Taliban spokesman said that the woman should have been stoned to death instead. President Hamid Karzai condemned the stoning in a separate case of a couple put to death in Kunduz province. But he has also been careful in public statements to avoid mentioning topics like women's rights. Human-rights advocates say the U.S.-supported government of Afghanistan has not done enough and that the government's reaction...

Representatives of women from across Afghanistan have called on President Hamid Karzai not to undermine their position by talking to the Taleban. The president's brother recently sat with former Taleban leaders at a religious meal hosted by the Saudis. The meeting was regarded as a possible prelude to talks between the Afghan government and the Islamist movement. Mr Karzai told a conference of about 400 women that any talks with the Taleban would respect the constitution. The women fear that the talks could lead to a reversal of the gains they have made since the overthrow of the Taleban in...

A statement from Yale University, defending its decision to admit former Taliban spokesman Ramatullah Hashemi, explained that he had "escaped the wreckage of Afghanistan." To anyone who is aware of the Taliban's barbaric treatment of the Afghan people, such words are offensive--as if Mr. Hashemi were not himself part of the wrecking crew. It is even more disturbing to learn that, while Mr. Hashemi sailed through Yale's admissions process, the school turned down the opportunity to enroll women who really did escape the wreckage of Afghanistan. In 2002, Yale received a letter from Paula Nirschel, the founder of the Initiative...

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Nineteen-year-old Zahara says the day of her wedding was one of the happiest of her life. But the marriage quickly became a nightmare of quarrels and beatings. Just three month later, she lies in hospital, her pretty face and much of her body scarred by horrific burns, after she poured petrol over her head and lit a match. In post-Taliban Afghanistan, despite a new constitution enshrining women's rights that the Western-backed government passed in January, this remains a depressingly familiar story. Zahara is one of many women to attempt a fiery suicide rather than be trapped...