Read it at The Daily Beast:I did not really know where to post this topic, so I picked this just becaue I want people to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And because What Story Are You Talking About just has so many topics, or which are other issues. If this should go somewhere other than here, please move it, you won't hurt my feelings.
HUMAN RIGHTS
1. Afghan Women's Uncertain Future
During yesterday's Afghanistan visit, President Obama talked of
progress. But as The Daily Beast's Ann Marlowe reports from the province
of Zabul, Mullah Omar's birthplace, many women still suffer under
customary law, which is as effective in imprisoning them in their homes
as the Taliban were. Few, if any, of the girls and women in Zabul are
able to take advantage of the freedoms nominally guaranteed by the
Afghan constitution. In the outlying districts, women have almost no
rights, are never seen in the streets, and have little access to medical
care.
The province of Zabul offers a contradictory—but realistic—window on the problems and opportunities facing the country.
Less than two months ago, a woman from the isolated valley of Arghandab died because her husband refused to allow her to be examined by the only medical provider nearby—a male U.S. Army medic. When the woman went into a labor with complications, Captain Derek Martin tried to convince her husband to allow her to be flown back to the provincial hospital. Although he argued his case for hours, Martin was ultimately unsuccessful. Her family loaded her on a donkey and set out for the provincial capital of Qalat. She died on the way.
The Taliban has deep roots in this south-central Pashtun province, often described as "Afghanistan's Appalachia" by the Americans. Mullah Omar was born here, and many Zabulis have family connections with the insurgency. For most women in Zabul, Pashtunwali—or customary law—is as effective in imprisoning them in their homes as the Taliban were.
Her family loaded her on a donkey and set out for the provincial capital of Qalat. She died on the way.
Few, if any, of the girls and women in Zabul are able to take advantage of the freedoms nominally guaranteed by the Afghan constitution. In the outlying districts, women have almost no rights, are never seen in the streets, and have little access to medical care. The former provincial minister of women's affairs was a man, and the new minister, a woman named Rajiba, lives in daily danger. At a meeting of prominent Zabul women, she casually mentioned that her office needed a higher fence and concertina wire. Anything to do with women is invariably an insurgent target.
The Afghan government ranks the province 33rd out of 34 according to various economic and social indicators. Governor Naseri, who has a doctorate, told me that perhaps 300 people in the province are truly literate—about 0.1 percent of the population.
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