What About Afghan Women?

Nicholas D. Kristof asks in a New York Times opinion article if the US intervention in Afghanistan really helps the women there? His conclusion is that the US military involvement in Afghanistan is hurting women more than helping them. He mentions a woman, Aisha, who had her nose and ears cut under the direction of the Taliban from her husband. From reading this, one wonders since the Taliban encourages violent mutilations for women who are deemed "promiscuous" shouldn't the US's stance against the Taliban and a good idea?

Kristof would say no because he doesn't see the US's assistance effective. He mentions a woman, Pari Gol, used to wish the Taliban would be defeated and first encouraged the US's role. However, her husband and daughter were killed in US air strikes, and she is now living in a mud shack. She no longer believes in the US's ability to help, and still hates the Taliban. In this case, the US's involvement not only ruined this woman's life, but it helped spread a negative public opinion of the US that permeates further than this one woman. As well, Kristof makes the point that the culture in Afghanistan, mainly in the South, is what keeps woman restricted not the Taliban. So the US's goal of ridding Afghanistan of the Taliban seems pointless in his mind when the issue goes deeper than the Taliban.

So instead of using US force agains the Taliban, Kristof suggests using aid work that doesn't involve westerner's on the ground to help Afghan women. This idea makes sense to me. In certain regions if one has obvious western aid, that aid will be outright targeted by the Taliban. This is seen by western donors insistence that their be plaques referencing them on the buildings the create. As Kristof says its like putting a sign up that says "burn me down." He mentions micro financing as a good option, specifically the program BPeace that supports women entrepreneurs. This way the woman there are taking charge, and the Taliban are more accepting of this idea. Fatima Akbari has seen great success with collaborating with the Taliban as she has been able to spread her BPeace backed women business classes to Taliban controlled ares. Kristof makes a lot of good points about the ability for westerners to best help in a less obvious manner. What makes me uneasy is his acceptance of working with the Taliban. He said he believed that working with them is a good idea if it furthers woman's goals. I wonder though if working with the Taliban will be an effective long term strategy? They have very strong opinions on how women should act, and yes so maybe in some instances they cave in an allow some rights for woman, but is this just a simple appeasement. Maybe I'm being overly cynical, but I don't have confidence that working with the Taliban is the best option because I just don't believe they will be willing to ever give significantly more power to women. I see where Kristof is coming from, but I worry that he blurs the line too much with his willingness to work with the Taliban, and takes too harsh a stand on the US military intervention in Afghanistan.