Malalai Joya's Irresponsible
Demand of US and NATO troop withdrawals
Khadija Ibrahimi
September 11, 2009
American and NATO forces have been in Afghanistan for almost 8 years, and a
lot has changed since the overthrow of the Taliban. No one can or will even
successfully argue that it's all been positive. There's no doubt that the
violence hasn't stopped and Afghan civilians continue to die as a result of the
war, and there is rampant corruption almost everywhere. However, there has been
progress in terms of women’s rights, major development activities such as new
buildings, hospital, schools and roads have been built in many parts of
Afghanistan, and many Afghan children, especially girls, now have the chance to
go to school. Ministry of Education numbers estimate that about 35% of students
in Afghanistan are girls; during the years of Taliban rule, that percentage was
zero. If girls did get an education, it was done secretly. The situation is not
perfect, but Afghanistan has improved for the better since the international
involvement in the country.
Unfortunately, there are some people in the media, and various Afghan
political figures such as Malalai Joya that claim the American entrance into the
war and overthrow of
the Taliban hasn't really been that great, especially for women. She claims life
for them is still just as oppressive and that the Americans should stop pointing
to the advancement Afghan women have made as an achievement due to their direct
involvement in Afghanistan. Ms.
Joya is even pushing for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, she really doesn't understand the impact of her request and it
seems she has forgotten the dire situation the Afghan people were in during the
Taliban rule over most of Afghanistan.
Ms. Joya needs to fully analyze her demand and be more responsible when she
gives interviews to journalists. Recent polls conducted both in the United
States and in the United Kingdom show that many of its people are growing tired
of the Afghan war. The voices calling for the withdrawal of troops are getting
louder and gathering more support. In the West, there is a saying, "be careful
what you wish for, because you just might get it". Ms. Joya is being irresponsible
with her comments. If the people of the West continue to hear such irresponsible
comments from people like Ms. Joya, who claim to speak on behalf of the Afghan
people, then it will only further encourage the American and British people to
put even more pressure on their governments to withdraw their troops.
Of course, troop withdrawals will please the Taliban supporters, but when
this happens, the Afghan people will lose. This will be disastrous for everyone,
especially for women and the historically discriminated minority groups like the
Hazaras. The Taliban are very much angry, and are looking for revenge against
the Hazaras. The Hazaras will suffer tremendously and perhaps be ethnically
cleansed as they are the Taliban militia's favorite target. The last time the
Taliban fought the Hazaras, hundreds, if not thousands of Hazara civilians were
killed. They were placed in mass graves, and many Hazara young girls were
abducted; they were most likely raped or sold to Arabs or Pakistanis as sex
slaves.
If Ms. Joya needs a recent reminder of Taliban brutality, I encourage her to
read about the innocent farmer whose nose and ears were partially cut off by the
Taliban because the man simply decided to cast a vote in the elections. There
were even scattered reports of people having their fingers chopped off because
they had voted in the elections. The Taliban used the purple dye on the finger
tips of the voters to identify them. If the Taliban were to come back, Ms. Joya
herself will be silenced, unless she can escape and leave Afghanistan. She may
be able to do that, but what about the millions of women that cannot? They will
be forced to bear the brutality of the Taliban. They will be required to wear
burqas, denied an education, and forced to live as animals instead of human
beings. Forget about running for office or daring to become a teacher, those
types of professions for women are not in the Taliban rule book. In the Taliban
world, as a woman, you serve your husband, sexually please him, bear his
children, take care of them, grow old and die. You are pretty much a possession
or quite bluntly just another animal on the farm.
Afghanistan's army is not ready and cannot effectively defend the country
against the Taliban alone, because with the Taliban, comes Pakistan and even Al
Qaeda. Without international support, the army will fall apart very quickly
under the might of the Taliban, since they will have plenty of military and
financial support from Pakistan. Since the army cannot defend the country, the
only other option is the various Mujahideen groups that fought the Taliban
before the Americans got involved. Unfortunately, many of those groups have been
disarmed, or are corrupt and can be bought off by the Taliban. Also, there is no
leader to keep them united and focused against the Taliban. Since the army is
not ready, and the Mujahideen groups have been disarmed and do not have a
unifying leader, there will be no one to defend Afghanistan from a Taliban and
Pakistani takeover.
Again, no one is saying the situation in Afghanistan is perfect, however, as
they say in the West, Rome was not built in a day. I urge those in the media as
well as those Afghans pushing for foreign troops to withdraw to be responsible
with their words, and not play an indirect role in pushing Afghanistan back into
the hell she faced under Taliban rule. Many of the problems and suffering the
Afghan people face every day can be linked to tribalism, and widespread
ignorance about the role of women in Islam. So, instead of harmful interviews,
perhaps, Ms. Joya can spend her time educating our people about the rights
women have in Islam, and uniting her fellow Afghans against ignorance and
tribalism.
Khadija Ibrahimi is a graduate student studying political science. She
can be reached at
khadija_ibrahimi@yahoo.com
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