Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sam Brownback (D-KS) held a press conference at the Capitol yesterday to urge the Bush Administration and the United Nations to ensure that the women of Afghanistan play a central role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Senators Boxer and Brownback, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, were joined […]
Afghan Women: Solution for Afghanistan’s Future
By Eleanor Smeal Feminists have succeeded in drawing the world’s attention to the fact that women have been the first victims of the Taliban. We now must make it clear to the world that Afghan women are an essential part of the solution for a peaceful, democratic Afghanistan. The defeat of the Taliban means the […]
Where Are the Women: Female Experts on Afghanistan Missing from TV Media
The Washington Post reports that out of the 98 television programs to publish their guest lists in the Post this month, only 12 were to feature women as experts on the post-September 11 crises. The lack of women given airtime, however, does not correspond to women’s expertise on the issues. Television media may not be […]
Anti-Abortion Priest Convicted; Tries to Escape to Afghanistan
Reverend Norman U. Weslin, found guilty of violating a court-ordered buffer zone in front of a Buffalo, NY abortion clinic, was sentenced last week to five months in jail. At the sentencing, however, Weslin informed the court that he had contacted the Pentagon about serving as a military chaplain in Afghanistan and that the Pentagon […]
Powell Considers Post-Taliban Afghanistan
Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to discuss, among other issues, the future of Afghanistan if the Taliban is ousted as a result of the U.S.-led war on terrorism. While Powell openly condemned the Taliban, according to the Washington Post, he also suggested that aspects of the Taliban may be […]
Fate of Post-Taliban Afghanistan Uncertain
After negotiations with U.S. and other global officials, the Northern Alliance has postponed its plans to stage a takeover of the Afghan capital, Kabul. Pakistan and the United Nations have been urging that the U.S. not support a military offensive by the Northern Alliance to gain Kabul, fearing that the Alliance will assume control of […]
Many Vie for Control over Post-Taliban Afghanistan; Women’s Lives Hang in the Balance
Already in the media, debate has begun about what and who would constitute a post-Taliban Afghan government. Some favor allowing Afghanistan’s former king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, negotiate a new representative government by calling a loya jirga, a grand assembly that could possibly determine Afghanistan’s new leadership if the Taliban is ousted. The Taliban has held […]
FMLA Activists Participate in Back-to-School Campaign for Women in Afghanistan
Before the Taliban militia came to power in 1996, women and girls made up 50% of the university student population and 70% of all school teachers. Soon after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, however, they banned women and girls from attending school. Today, Afghan women students and teachers risk their lives daily to run […]
Refugees Flee Afghanistan: World Doors Being Closed
With more and more refugees fleeing Afghanistan, it’s becoming impossible for refugees to find countries willing to grant them admission. Most recently, Australia has refused entry to a Norwegian ship carrying hundreds of refugees, most of them from Afghanistan. Over 400 refugees were rescued on Monday from a sinking Indonesian ship. According to the United […]
Woman Journalist Documents Holocaust-like Events in Afghanistan
Last night on “CNN Presents,” British journalist Saira Shah risked her life entering Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to document on film the horrific treatment of women and girls, unimaginable destitution, and the mass murder of ethnic minorities. Shah is one of few journalists to go to the front-lines of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The piece confirmed that the Taliban’s […]
UN Threatens to Stop Bread Aid to Afghanistan
The United Nations World Food Program gave the Taliban until June 15 to agree to allow Afghan women to help implement a survey that ensures the UN’s food aid is getting to the neediest people in the capital city of Kabul. The Taliban has refused on the grounds that allowing Afghan women to work violates […]
Taliban to Force Religious Minorities in Afghanistan to Wear Yellow
The terrorist Taliban regime has requested a religious edict or “fatwa” to force non-Muslim religious minorities in Afghanistan to wear yellow garb so they may be singled out by all. “This latest edict is reminiscent of the Third Reich that required Jews to wear a yellow star of David on their clothing, and we all […]
US Provides $43 Million in Humanitarian Aid to Afghanistan
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell yesterday announced $43 million in humanitarian aid to people in Afghanistan. The move comes after the barbaric rule of the Taliban military regime combined with severe drought and extreme temperatures caused hundreds of thousands of Afghan citizens to flee their homes. As many as 800,000 Afghans are thought to […]
13 Senators Urge Powell to Send Emergency Funds to Afghanistan
Led by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), 13 U.S. senators joined in a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell urging the U.S. to immediately send $30 million in emergency relief funds to aid the hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, primarily women and children, who have fled their homes to escape the brutal rule of […]
Special Issue of Elle Magazine Focuses on Women in Afghanistan
The most recent issue of the French women’s magazine Elle is completely devoted to covering the women of Afghanistan, the abuses they suffer under the ruling Taliban regime, and the dehumanization they endure. The cover of the fashion magazine shows an Afghan woman, completely covered in the traditional burqa, with a thick piece of mesh […]
UN to Increase Appeal for Aid to Afghanistan
The United Nations (UN) has decided to revise it’s appeal for 2001 far beyond the $250 million it earlier requested to aid the hundreds of thousands of starving, displaced people in Afghanistan after examining the country’s current humanitarian crisis. The original $250 million appeal was mainly for programs within Afghanistan and did not include funds […]
U.S. Officials Visit Afghanistan to Assess Humanitarian Need
Breaking from its ban prohibiting officials from traveling to Afghanistan, the U.S. sent three representatives, two from the State Department’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and one from the U.S. Embassy, on a humanitarian mission to Afghanistan to view the devastation, starvation and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The three are traveling with the World Food […]
Crisis in Afghanistan Deepens
One million people are at risk for famine in Afghanistan and millions more are in the most desperate poverty imaginable, according to the United Nations. The Taliban’s barbaric rule, the most severe drought in decades, sub-zero winter temperatures, military incursions which have displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and a lack of humanitarian aid have […]
UNHCR May Send 1.5 Million Refugees Back to Afghanistan, Despite Gender Apartheid
The new head of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees Ruund Lubbers announced possible plans to return 1.5 million refugees to Afghanistan. Lubber intends to negoiate with the Taliban and provide the militia with assistance as part of the plan. Paradoxically, Lubber claims that many of the people who have fled Afghanistan may no […]
Taliban Demand Woman BBC Correspondent Leave Afghanistan
Taliban Annihilate 5th Century Buddhist Statues Taliban officials announced today their complete destruction of two ancient giant Buddhist statues. Following the announcement, Taliban officials ordered “the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) to remove its correspondent Kate Clark from the country within 24 hours.” Kate Clark has served as a BBC reporter in Afghanistan since 1998 and […]
