Editor,
I am writing in response to Rebekah Casey's letter, published on Oct. 3, 2005. Casey states that America under the Bush Doctrine has brought freedom to the women of Iraq and Afghanistan. Leaving the complex and still uncertain experiences of Iraqi women aside for the moment, I would like to point out that the so-called Bush Doctrine has done little to bring freedom to the women of Afghanistan.
On May 30, 2005, Amnesty International reported that Afghan women and girls live with the risk of abduction and rape by armed individuals, forced marriage or being traded for settling disputes and debts, and also face daily discrimination from all segments of society as well as by state officials.
The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, which has been fighting for women's rights since 1977 - long before the United States deigned to help the women there - reports that the ruling Northern Alliance "has no ideological difference with the Taliban. Some of them may talk even about elections and women's rights, but in fact they are as much misogynist as the Taliban."
On May 2, 2005, Reuters reported that three Afghan women - one of whom was working with a Bangladesh-based financial aid organization - were found raped, strangled and dumped on the side of the road, along with a note warning women not to work with aid groups. On April 23, 2005, Reuters reported that an Afghan woman was stoned to death by a mob on the basis of being convicted of adultery by a local court.
These are stories that you will not find in the presidential press conferences or on our evening news. These are stories of women fighting and dying for freedom.
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Apparently the freedoms that women enjoy in Afghanistan do not include the freedom from being stoned to death for adultery, the freedom from rape, the freedom from forced marriage or the freedom from being traded as property to settle disputes.
Given the sterling example of current conditions in Afghanistan, nearly four years after the United States took an interest in this poor country, the women of Iraq have much to look forward to in the future.
Jonathan Strawn
UNM student
