President Obama has drawn some praise for his suggestion that the US might be prepared to talk to the moderate Taliban in war-torn Afghanistan. It might be a good idea although it has to be said that the country is almost certainly a narco-State and a failed one at that. No less importantly, Patricia Lalonde [the chairwoman of Mobilization for Elected Women in Afghanistan (MEWA)] in a piece "Did anyone ask Afghan women?" in the IHT asks whether the women in Afghanistan would be prepared to have any Taliban-influence in their country.
"I have just returned from Afghanistan and I am struck by the news: There’s talk about negotiations with the moderate Taliban. President Barack Obama announced it this week, and the message has been relayed by European leaders.
Let us first be clear: Either we’re talking about those Taliban whose moderation means 10 lashes instead of 100 for women who show their ankles, and maybe we can negotiate them down to five, or we’re talking about rebels who are victims of current misery in their country and find themselves loosely affiliated with the Taliban. If the latter is the case, let’s not call them Taliban.
The Afghan women I know cannot conceive of a ‘‘moderate’’ Taliban, not to mention negotiations with them. The Taliban are the Taliban, Islamists who advocate a fundamentalist and extremist ideology in which the role of the woman is to be muzzled and illiterate.
Many of these women already fought a battle against that role when the Taliban were in power. They won that battle.
Democracy is working for them. Girls go to school. Women comprise 25 percent of the Afghan Parliament and they are doing a remarkable job. They are learning “politics’’: a recent budget vote on funds earmarked for women in various ministries met with opposition from the male deputies, whereby the women rose and left the chamber. The women got the budget they wanted."
Read the complete piece here.
"I have just returned from Afghanistan and I am struck by the news: There’s talk about negotiations with the moderate Taliban. President Barack Obama announced it this week, and the message has been relayed by European leaders.
Let us first be clear: Either we’re talking about those Taliban whose moderation means 10 lashes instead of 100 for women who show their ankles, and maybe we can negotiate them down to five, or we’re talking about rebels who are victims of current misery in their country and find themselves loosely affiliated with the Taliban. If the latter is the case, let’s not call them Taliban.
The Afghan women I know cannot conceive of a ‘‘moderate’’ Taliban, not to mention negotiations with them. The Taliban are the Taliban, Islamists who advocate a fundamentalist and extremist ideology in which the role of the woman is to be muzzled and illiterate.
Many of these women already fought a battle against that role when the Taliban were in power. They won that battle.
Democracy is working for them. Girls go to school. Women comprise 25 percent of the Afghan Parliament and they are doing a remarkable job. They are learning “politics’’: a recent budget vote on funds earmarked for women in various ministries met with opposition from the male deputies, whereby the women rose and left the chamber. The women got the budget they wanted."
Read the complete piece here.
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