Women as Donkeys


The most significant event to occur in Afghanistan in recent days was the statement released by the country's National Religious Council (NRC) - its religious nobility - on future relations between Afghan men and women.

Now I don't know the full gender breakdown of the NRC - but I suspect it was dominated by the usual suspects - dessicated, old men in beards.

Anyway, what they wanted to say was clear - that Afghan men and women should lead completely separate lives - that they should not be educated alongside each other - that they should not be allowed to work alongside each other - or even seen together in public. 

Unless on the latter score they have permission from their fathers or husbands - or the appropriate male who is head of the Afghan household. 

In other words - permission from their 'owners'.

Because that's what it really amounts to - slavery and servitude by another name.

In the name of a religion or at the very least a fundamentalist interpretation of a religion - which accords Afghan women and young girls roughly the same social status as a donkey.

The most depressing aspect of this medieval mentality is that the views of the NRC were immediately endorsed by the Afghan President - Hamid Karzai. 

So we know now that in just a few years time - once all the UN influence and UN backed troops are withdrawn - that Afghanistan will revert to type and become a feudal society resembling something out of the middle ages.

All hopes of Afghanistan becoming a democratic country are long gone - ironically this is much more likely now in Iraq where - despite all its problems - there is a power sharing government and, as time goes by, the prospect of peace between rival political, religious and ethnic groups.

But in Afghanistan things are going backwards - not forward.

The original Afghan mission was to drive out Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda accomplices behind the 9/11 attack on America - which was a great military success within a matter of months. 

A great deal of UN backed humanitarian effort has been invested in Afghanistan since those early days - charities and many non-political organisations have been active in the country for years.

But civilians have continued to be the targets of murderous bombers, killers and kidnappers - as the Taleban have slowly re-asserted their dominance over Afghan society - and its repressive, male dominated, religious culture. 

All that's happening now is that the Taleban are waiting for American and other forces to withdraw - before taking over completely - which is why President Karzai is signalling that effectively he's on the same side as the 'insurgents'.

So it all seems like tragic waste of time and effort - quite apart from all the soldiers and civilians killed after ejecting Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden - the drug trade in Afghanistan has continued as normal, exporting human misery all across the world.

The big changes in Afghan civil society - education and employment for Afghan women and young girls, for example, will all be rolled back - as the country retreats  into the middle ages once again.

Maybe such an outcome was inevitable, maybe not - but one thing's certain in my mind anyway - I wouldn't shed another drop of civilian or military blood in Afghanistan - the die is now clearly set.  

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