generalspeaking

The Face of the Taliban

No sooner does the international community pledge a substantial treasury to the government of Afghanistan, of aid in the amount of $4.5-billion yearly (though the country's central bank and its government administration set that required figure at $6-billion on an annual basis), to continue to aid the country into modernity, than it exhibits yet again how mired in morally bankrupt antiquity it is.

The plight of women in Afghanistan is a sad and sorry one.  Under cultural, tribal, traditional Islamic mores women have few human rights.  And under Taliban rule, after the withdrawal of the Soviet occupation and before the liberation of the country from the Taliban by ISAF and NATO troops in pursuit of Osama bin Laden, women were unbelievably oppressed.

Basic human rights were denied them.  From having an education to earning a living to appearing in public without the full bodily-and-face covering of a burqa, escorted by a male relative, to having a male physician look after their health needs.  In the sole Kabul hospital where women could be treated under Taliban rule, there was no anaesthetic for surgical procedures, much less drugs for treatment, and female surgeons themselves were instructed on pain of beatings to operate fully burqa-clad.

Residents of the city were called to the public square to witness summary executions.  Although music and dance and entertainment for marriage and other types of celebratory events were outlawed, it became a public event under the Taliban to assemble, through social duress, to witness executions.  Any who were accused of abandoning Islam for Christianity were sentenced to death.  Women who were held to be prostitutes were sentenced to death.

A woman who was raped was considered to have been responsible for the rape, for having excited her rapist's appetite.  She would have the option of marrying him if he was willing to accept her, or of going to prison and remaining there.  Men were encouraged, through tradition, of taking multiple wives, and the women had no recourse to lodge complaints if they were beaten since that too was a normal part of being a woman in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have been absent the government for over a decade, but they have been so successful in recruiting new members despite ongoing clashes with the foreign military and the Afghan military that they have succeeded in recapturing huge provincial areas and exerting their control there.  A temporary stop until such time as they once again, defeat government forces entirely, with the departure of the foreign presence in two years' time.

In the meantime, they task themselves to ensure they don't become outdated in their treatment of Afghan women, succumbing to the pleas of the West to bring humanity to their mode of conduct. 

The latest assault on the sensibilities of the world at large has been the brutal execution of a 22-year-old woman, the wife of a Taliban who was accused of adultery with a Taliban commander.  Since women are customarily ill-treated, raped and tortured by men it does not appear that the Taliban commander was chided for having sought opportunity with the defenceless woman.

She was executed summarily before a crowd of over a hundred Afghan men who cheered and praised her tormentors whom they called "mujahideen". To the Afghans, 'freedom fighters', to the foreign community, terrorists.

Labels: Afghanistan, Heritage, Human Relations, Human Rights, Islamism, Political Realities, Sexism, Societal Failures, Values

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, July 11, 2012