Ignorance Is Bliss

White House counselor Karen Hughes led the first official delegation of American Women to Afghanistan, in order to bring the beleaguered country $3.5 Million in aid (about 15 seconds' worth of annual U.S. military spending, I guess). She said that she was "a little surprised to see so many women still in burqas. ... I hope it is a choice and not out of fear, but I think we heard in the meeting that there is still a substantial amount of fear."

Geez, a few minutes on the web before departure could've confirmed her fears. Both Human Rights Watch and RAWA (a group of Afghan women focused on women's rights) have posted extensive links and reports to their websites, detailing the dire situation faced by Afghan women (and the population in general) one year after "liberation". An HRW report released less than a month ago found that, "Afghan women and girls have suffered mounting abuses, harassment and restrictions of their fundamental human rights during 2002." Additionally the UN refugee agency says it is not encouraging refugees to return home because the country is still unsafe and living conditions are bad.

A year from now, they'll be saying the same sorts of things about Iraq...

Posted by Eddie Tews at January 13, 2003 07:06 PM