The Taliban: An Impression of Oppression"Oh, Allah, Allah, holiness unto you, please save my daughter," she moans in Dari as she races to the hospital. She knows it's getting late, and if she does not arrive soon at the hospital, she will be forced to find a hiding place to spend the night with her dying daughter. She bursts through the doors five minutes before curfew, and rushes her diarrhea-laden two-year-old into the emergency room. "Please, what is wrong? Please save her! She is my last family in this city," she begs with broken Dari, allowing some of her native Hazara to creep in. The doctor looks at her sadly. "We're sorry, but this is a men's-only hospital. The women's hospital is across town." He escorts her to the door, when she hears the curfew signal. She whips her head around like an escaped felon and, seeing a demolished building, runs for cover. As she makes herself comfortable for the next several hours, her daughter coughs up a pile of blood. "No! Please, no!" she begs, cradling the toddler to her bosom. The little girl takes one last breath and dies in her mother's arms. The woman begins wailing. Since it is after curfew, she cannot bury or burn the body. She spends the rest of her night, huddling over her dear daughter's lifeless corpse. Incidents such as these are commonplace in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. Ever since a group of religious students called the Taliban took over Kabul and most of Afghanistan, basic human rights for women have been slowly eradicated. Unfortunately, though ending the atrocities is well within the power of the United States, it has offered only a little aid. The United States must do more to assist the oppressed women of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is located northwest of Pakistan and east of Iran. Approximately 23.5 million people make Afghanistan their home, with an estimated 3 million refugees living in Pakistan and Iraq. It is a mountainous country with a few valley oases where the Afghani people make their homes. It is a mostly agricultural society, with a few modern cities. There is little contact between the small farming communities, but the one thing that unites the Afghans is Islam. Islam was founded in A. D. 622 by a man named Mohammed. It stemmed from the Judeo-Christian tradition, with its adherents claiming descent from Abraham's son Ishmael and its prophet's account of being visited by the angel Gabriel. Women were generally treated well in the early Islamic culture. They were expected to participate in all religious services and were permitted extra religious instruction when they requested it (Ahmed 72). Mohammed listened to the Muslim women of his community closely, and he was careful to heed them in prayer and preaching. After Mohammed died, the Islamic community lacked the leadership it had previously enjoyed in both spiritual and temporal matters. Since the wives of Mohammed were closest to him and would know more about the Islamic doctrines, they were consulted about religious matters. Their teachings are nearly as important to Islamic doctrine as the Qu'ran itself (73). Mohammed's wives were active in other arenas, as well, including politics and battle. The Qu'ran, Islam's holy book written by Mohammed, neither discriminates against women nor ignores them. Instead, it demands equality for the sexes. Women have souls just as men do, and are considered "the twin halves of men" according to Mohammed. They can make contracts and receive inheritances just as men do. The Qu'ran also chastises anyone who would treat women poorly (Doi). Also, the Qu'ran states that all women have the right to an education (Marsden 107). Islam arrived in Afghanistan in about 700 via Arab invaders from the West, one milestone in the country's tumultuous history. It had already been conquered by the famed Alexander the Great and ruled by the Kushan and Sasnian dynasties. Later, after being ruled by the Ghazavid dynasty, Genghis Khan arrived to decimate their flourishing civilization. The Timurid dynasty reestablished some control, but later the Moghul and Safavid empires fractionalized the country again. (Marsden 13-14) In the 1830's, the British began their efforts to control Afghanistan, seeing it as vital to their national interests by connecting the Middle East to their empire in India. Both Russia and Great Britain jockeyed for control over an eighty-year period. Finally, in 1919, Afghanistan gained a form of freedom through the Treaty of Rawalpindi, which let Afghanistan guide its own foreign policies. This led to perhaps the most unstable period in Afghanistan's history, during which seven different factions ruled the country in a seventy-eight year period. A Communist party overthrew the government in 1978, and the Soviet Union took over the country the following year. They ruled the country for a decade, and then withdrew when internal pressures forced their attention to be returned to home. The government, although controlled by Afghans, was still backed by the U.S.S.R. until April of 1992, when several groups called the Mujahidin overthrew President Najibullah (Amnesty International). Several million of the refugees who had fled Afghanistan during the Soviet rule returned only to find the factions fighting among themselves and turning formerly safe cities into war zones. In early 1994, a group of religious scholars in Kandehar decided to do something about the Mujahidin's constant power struggles (Marsden 43). Called the Taliban, they gathered together troops and took over nine provinces in February 1995. By early 1999, they controlled 85% of the country, including such major cities as Kabul and Herat (Inderfurth 3/9/1999). The Taliban wanted, in addition to controlling the country, to purify Afghanistan and rid it of the corrupt influences of the Soviet Union and the Mujahidin. As a Sunni Islam movement, they banned all forms of Shi'a worship, oppressing 20% of the country. To this end, they have arrested hundreds of Shi'a followers in central Afghanistan and burned houses in that region. Many Shi'ites were imprisoned in Kabul and Heart, and many Shi'ite mosques were converted to the Sunni version the Taliban practiced (Inderfurth 3/9/99). Other instances of their totalitarian control include a ban on music, kite-flying, card-playing, and television. The most abominable policies of the Taliban are those toward women. Though they did not enjoy the full range of rights that their western sisters did, Afghani women were generally free to participate in society. In rural societies, the women worked in the fields just as men did, and a small but growing proportion of women in cities filled the workforce. When women did work, their income was vital to their family's survival. Now, the Taliban have banned all women from working, save a few doctors and nurses. Widows are left with no way to support themselves and are reduced to begging in the streets. Women who formerly held such illustrious positions as administrators or engineers now roam the streets, idling away countless hours they could spend improving their country if they still could work. The Taliban government does give a small salary to the out-of-work women. However, with inflation escalating rapidly and the salaries remaining fixed, it is not enough on which to survive. In order to earn enough many to subsist, many women are turning to prostitution. Since four witnesses who saw the act are required under Islamic law, it is virtually impossible to prove the act. In addition, to protect themselves, many "entertain" Taliban for free. (Ilyas) The face of prostitution is quite different in Afghanistan, as the women do not wear the revealing clothing their American counterparts wear. All women are subject to a strict dress code requiring them to wear burqas, garments that cover every square inch of their bodies and leave only a small mesh square to see out of. Wearing the garment can be very dangerous for some women, especially if their eyesight is poor or they have asthma. According to the Physicians for Human Rights newsletter, wearing the burqa can lead to rashes, headaches, hair loss, and an increased chance of heart problems. In pre-Taliban society, rural women did not wear the burqa because it interfered with farm work (Marsden 93). Urban women wore western clothing with a veil over their heads. In only a few towns in southern Afghanistan was the burqa ever widely used. One woman is quoted as saying that "The burqa comes from an entirely foreign culture" (Crossette 4/10/98). Men are no longer allowed to take women's measurements (Bearak), so women must continue to wear their tattered garments and pray nothing happens to ruin them. Should the garments be unfit to wear, they will be prisoners in their own homes since they cannot leave home unless they are fully covered. To allow even an ankle to show is to await a beating from the Taliban's religious police. Education in Afghanistan is largely a thing of the past. In 1998, the Taliban ordered all girls' schools to be closed. No girls older than eight may attend school now, and then they may only learn about the Qu'ran. Kabul University, once open to men and women alike, now shuns women. Boys are also suffering from Taliban edicts, as most of the teachers were women before the 1995 takeover. The male teachers that remain are seldom paid, so they often do not come to class (Crossette 4/6/98). As a result, more and more children are being forced into work to support their families. The future of Afghanistan looks increasingly bleak, since illiterate children cannot grow up to be the doctors and leaders without the proper education (Crossette 4/6/98). Along with education, the health care situation of today is deteriorating. Another law of the Taliban stipulates that women cannot leave the house without a male relative, nor can male doctors treat them without a male relative present. With men unable to treat them and most women unable to work as doctors, many find women themselves unable to get health care in a fatal catch-22. Of the 160 Afghani women that Physicians for Human Rights surveyed, 71% stated their health had worsened since 1996. Certain hospitals are designated as being specifically for women; however, these lacked basic amenities such as running water and medicine. Pregnant women must often share their hospital beds, and some receive no treatment at all, even if they are admitted (PHR). Humanitarian agencies used to lend their aid in Kabul until the Taliban decreed that they live in dangerous, abandoned buildings at the edge of town. Fearing for their lives, most volunteers had fled Afghanistan by the end of July 1998. The equipment they brought now remains to gather dust, as no one knows how to operate it. (Bearak) Though the physical health of the Afghani women is easiest to observe, the mental health of most of them is in considerable decline. The Physicians for Human Rights survey indicates that 97% of the women in Kabul exhibit the symptoms of major depression. Several women have attempted suicide rather than continue their meager existence as prisoners in their own homes. Women who were once high-ranking officials now beg on the streets and watch less qualified men take over their jobs. All citizens also are required to view various atrocities in the sports stadium, such as amputations, decapitations, beatings, and hangings (PHR). Officially, the United States condemns the Taliban's policies. The president has pledged assistance for the suffering women, and the First Lady has spoken out about their situation at the December 1998 Human Rights Day celebration (Inderfurth 3/9/99). The US Assistant Secretary of South Asian Affairs, Karl Inderfurth, has raised the issue of women's rights with Taliban officials personally. Also, the US Government refuses to recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan. President Clinton issued an executive order on July 6, 1999 forbidding trade with the Taliban as well. The US has sent aid in the forms of UN relief efforts, private humanitarian agencies, and overt assistance. More than $150,000 has gone to UN food relief, along with more than 100,000 tons of wheat. The US Foreign Disaster Assistance has donated nearly $7 million for earthquake relief. In 1998, more than $3.3 million has been donated for programs aiding women and girls (Inderfurth 4/14/99). Unfortunately, this is not enough. Hundreds of women and children continue to die every day. With the 1997 decree that women could not receive humanitarian aid themselves, the millions of dollars in aid we pour into Afghanistan is simply not getting where it needs to go. The conflict is creeping into Afghanistan's neighbors as well (Inderfurth 3/9/99). As the alleged supporter of human rights in the world, the United States cannot just sit back and allow these atrocities to occur. More direct involvement is necessary. By implementing the following three-fold plan, the United States could help restore the rights of women and potentially bring peace to the troubled region. First, the humanitarian agencies must be allowed to operate unhindered. In addition to relegating them to the dangerous outskirts of Kabul, the Taliban have bombed the city of Bamian knowing full well that UN relief agents were in the area (Rubin 1/9/97). Some agencies have had to suspend their operations as a result of the Taliban decrees (Marsden 107). Without the help of humanitarian agencies, the situation in Afghanistan will not improve and will likely deteriorate further. Secondly, the United States should aid people who want to flee the country. Many would-be refugees have been forced to remain in their squalid conditions simply because they lack the funds to leave. Though Pakistan and Iran are not the most exemplary countries in the world, their Islamic governments are not anywhere near as strict and oppressive as the Taliban regime. Children may there receive the education denied in their native country and prepare for skills and occupations that will be sorely needed when they are permitted to return. In conjunction with this, funds should be given to the countries housing the refugees to help support the increasing burden on their resources and decrease animosity toward the United States. The third measure that should be taken is to aid resistance to the Taliban. Although they control 85% of the country, their forces have about the same strength as the forces in the North called the Northern Alliance (Inderfurth 4/14/99). By giving aid to the Northern Alliance, the Taliban could likely be overthrown and then women could regain their former place in society. Although this could mean more violence in the short-term view, over a long-term period Afghanistan would become a better place to live. There are several reasons this plan of action could work. First of all, Afghanistan is not critical to trade as China is. Aiding Afghanistan would allow the United States to uphold its ideals of universal rights without damaging its prospects of international trade. Second, Afghanistan is not terribly popular with its neighbors. Iran has severely criticized the Taliban and has even gone so far as to blame the United States for their rise to power (Marsden 130). Uzbekistan has feared the Taliban would attempt to spread its influence beyond the borders of Afghanistan. Russia has stated that Taliban victory would pose a serious threat to the Central Asian Republics (131). India has refused to recognize the Taliban government and indicated that official recognition would constitute international interference (132). By helping the opposition rid Afghanistan of the Taliban, the United States could also improve relations with the bordering countries. Finally, by becoming directly involved, the United States could further some of its other national interests. According to Mr. Inderfurth, "Afghanistan has become a breeding ground for international terrorism" (3/9/99). Due to the constant warfare present in the region, terrorists have learned many tactics they carry with them to other countries. Afghanistan-based terrorists have committed their crimes in places as distant as Europe and the United States (3/9/99). Also, Afghanistan is the second-largest producer of opium in the world. Heroin and other narcotics produced from the Afghanistan are exported to Pakistan, Europe, and even the United States. "Almost all the opium produced in Afghanistan comes from Taliban areas" (3/9/99). Thus, by forcing the Taliban from power, both terrorism and narcotics trafficking could be greatly reduced. The United States policies toward Afghanistan are ineffective and need to be revised to further the human rights ideals it holds. The Taliban's atrocities must be ended now to improve the quality of life for not only those in Afghanistan, but also for those in neighboring countries. Gender apartheid can be ended, and the millions who have fled Afghanistan can return to their former homes. Works Cited Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of A Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. Amnesty
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