I don't think anyone is going to like what I'm about to say. Tim suggested I write it here anyway. I have to suspect his motives--does he want me to stop talking about this stuff at home? Not that I do, very often, because it distresses him. He can't bear to hear of people under subjugation when he can't actually do anything to help them. But sometimes the topic comes up, such as when the national dialog goes screeching off into the territory of the Afghani War and Obama's recent announcement that he will be committing 30,000 more troops to the battle, bringing the current total on the ground to 100,000 or so. Everyone's talking about it. Tim's against it, of course. Coming from a military family and having military friends, he's against anything that puts our people at risk. I pointed out that we still don't have jobs and post-war care properly arranged for all of our people who are already in service, and it would be good to bring them home when the Veteran's Administration and the economy are cleaned up enough that veterans to come won't be getting the shit deal they've had so far. (I too have military family and friends.)
He finally noticed, though, that I hadn't said anything about the President's announcement, and asked me flat out what I thought. I reminded him that Obama had said he was going to prosecute the Afghani war more thoroughly when he campaigned, and I disagreed with him then, but I also understood from the way Obama talked about it that he was actually going to do what he promised. I explained to Tim that I didn't understand how people were so shocked by his intentions now when he'd told them that this was his plan a year ago. Tim recognized that, while true, this wasn't an answer, and he leaned on me again.
So I told him.
I am not at all unhappy there will be more Americans on the ground in Afghanistan. The more pairs of non-male-Islamist eyes there are in Afghanistan, the happier I will be. I cannot imagine American soldiers standing by while (this link not safe for work)
women are publicly beaten. It is my hope that the
malfeasance in public office will undergo a clean-up with an increased American (and international, with an increase in NATO troops) presence in Afghanistan. With any kind of Western military rule, I hope there will be a cut-down in
public whipping and stonings, as well as child rape.
( More follows )Every day this most extreme interpretation of Islam gains more and more followers throughout the world, and more and more women and girls are brought into its grip. What can we do? How can we help? Funding for shelters and organizations helps, but we're talking about
entire nations of women here whose well-being and lives are at risk at the hands of men who claim the rights of ownership, yet will treat their cars better than their female relatives. We'd like for the women to help themselves, but how can you help yourself if you don't even know that you have a right to do so? That you have as much value as your tormentors? That there are opportunities in the greater world for you, if only you can find them?
I know our soldiers can't stay forever. Maybe they can stay long enough to teach the women--and the men--of Afghanistan that women have value and purpose. That women can even hit, and kick, and shoot.
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