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June 26th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
This campaign of intimidation is working politically. Karzai has begun to
accommodate the Taliban, backing the Ulema Council’s restrictive “code
of conduct” for women.
If still unmoved by these recent attacks, both American candidates should
spare a thought for fellow politician Fawzia Koofi, for whom dodging Taliban
bullets and grenades is part of daily life in her campaign to become
President of Afghanistan in 2014. Koofi is the first woman to have been
elected into Afghanistan’s parliament – in fact she was elected twice. Yet
she fears for her life; several years ago she was shot at while on the road
with her two daughters. Koofi remains caught between trying to shelter her
children from the Taliban’s threats and attempted attacks, and preparing
them to face life alone, should her tormentors be successful.
Koofi’s daughters are too young to remember a time when women were banned from
going to school, or forced by the Taliban to stay within the darkness of
their blacked-out windows, for fear of being “caught” in the gaze
of a man. They have no idea that their mother’s constant death threats are
an echo of the past – and a warning for the time when the Taliban reclaim
complete control of their everyday lives.
In 2004, Afghanistan’s constitution formally guaranteed girls the right to an
education, and the number of girls receiving an education has risen
dramatically. In 2010, almost half of the children enrolled into schools
were girls, according to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education. Nevertheless,
while the vast progress made over the past decade is real, it remains
fragile.
Koofi has seen the improvements brought to women’s lives since the regime was
overthrown by the US-led military intervention of 2001. However, she argues
that the West’s main objectives for entering Afghanistan – “to
help the people of Afghanistan establish a strong government, and for
security reasons” – have not yet been met. She says: “I
think the 2014 withdrawal is not realistic. The people in Afghanistan are
very anxious and confused. This planned withdrawal is based on ground
realities from the West, not based on ground realities in Afghanistan.”
But when asked what America’s policy would be towards women throughout
withdrawal from Afghanistan, a senior State Department officer gave a shrug
of an answer, dismissing women’s rights in Afghanistan as a “pet
project” rather than a priority.
Using women as pawns in presidential power struggles – both in the West and
Afghanistan and as collateral damage to the gains of withdrawal – is a far
cry from the freedoms the West claims to stand for. Obama needs to pick the
right side in the real war on women.
Emily Dyer is a research fellow for the Henry Jackson Society
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