THOSE KIND FUNDIES in Afghanistan are at it again, with a disturbing report from CNN, "Video: Taliban shoot woman 9 times in public execution as men cheer".
Officials in Afghanistan, where the amateur video was filmed, believe the woman was executed because two Taliban commanders had a dispute over her, according to the governor of the province where the killing took place.
Both apparently had some kind of relationship with the woman, said Parwan province governor Abdul Basir Salangi. "In order to save face," they accused her of adultery, Salangi said. Then they "faked a court to decide about the fate of this woman and in one hour, they executed the woman," he added.
Both apparently had some kind of relationship with the woman, said Parwan province governor Abdul Basir Salangi. "In order to save face," they accused her of adultery, Salangi said. Then they "faked a court to decide about the fate of this woman and in one hour, they executed the woman," he added.
The public execution is the latest and among the most shocking examples of violence against women in Afghanistan, but it is far from an isolated case.
Nearly nine out of 10 women suffer physical, sexual, or psychological violence or forced marriage at least once in their lifetimes, Human Rights Watch said in its 2012 annual report.
Nearly nine out of 10 women suffer physical, sexual, or psychological violence or forced marriage at least once in their lifetimes, Human Rights Watch said in its 2012 annual report.
Then there's another CNN report (just one of many), "Official: 160 girls poisoned at Afghan school".
A hospital in northern Afghanistan admitted 160 schoolgirls Tuesday after they were poisoned, a Takhar province police official said.
Their classrooms might have been sprayed with a toxic material before the girls entered, police spokesman Khalilullah Aseer said. He blamed the Taliban.
The incident, the second in a week's time, was reported at the Aahan Dara Girls School in Taluqan, the provincial capital.
Their classrooms might have been sprayed with a toxic material before the girls entered, police spokesman Khalilullah Aseer said. He blamed the Taliban.
The incident, the second in a week's time, was reported at the Aahan Dara Girls School in Taluqan, the provincial capital.
Par for the course, unfortunately. It's kulturkampf, of a kind, as a primitive mind-set rebels against the future, and it's going to be another fifty or seventy-five years to get the primitive into a 21st-century mind-set. And as we see with the American Gopper fundies, the Birthers and Baggers, some minds never change.
But we can, with time and patience (lots and lots of patience), create a world where these unfortunate women have a fair chance. But the solution cannot be military: the Muj love dying — it's the effect of TV and the Web and Rock and Roll and education that scares them, and these are the tools we must use.
