...Women of Afghanistan ANT 101 May 3, 2010 Women of Afghanistan Afghanistan is a very rugged country with various ethnic, religious, and tribal groups (http://www.iiav.nl). It is also a country that is rich in culture and tradition. But very little is known about the women that live in Afghanistan. No one really knows or understands how a women’s day to day life is. In Afghanistan most women are kept hidden away in their home and they are not allowed outside. Today the only thing that people hear or know about Afghanistan is that the United States is at war with a country that has known very little peace over that last one hundred years. Afghanistan is a place where time stands still and very little changes. One of the things that has not changed or has changed very little over the last one thousand years is the everyday life of women. The Afghan people are very simple and in some remote villages they have very little comforts. In some places midwifes assist mothers in the birth of their new born babes. They also bring water inside their house in pales, and they maintain their houses clean for their husbands. Most Afghans live their lives in a very traditional and private way; they have several customs and traditions that have been passed on from one generation to the other for hundreds of years. These people do not require or ask anything from the western world or from their government. They rarely let outsiders into their culture and this has led to many...
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...Women’s Rights in Afghanistan Afghanistan is one of the worst countries to be a woman. Girls’ schools are frequently attacked, high-profile women’s rights advocates have been targeted and killed, and violence against girls and women continues to be a major problem (“Women in Afghanistan”). More females die during pregnancies and childbirth than almost anywhere else in the world. Life is hard for women fighting for their rights in Afghanistan. The Taliban, an extremist militia, seized control first of Herat and then Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on September 27, 1996 and violently plunged Afghanistan into a brutal state of totalitarian dictatorship and gender apartheid in which women and girls were stripped of their basic human rights. Upon seizing power, the Taliban regime instituted a system of gender apartheid effectively thrusting the women into a state of virtual house arrest. Under Taliban rule, women were stripped of all human rights – their work, visibility, opportunity for education, voice, healthcare, and mobility. When they took control in 1996, the Taliban initially imposed strict commands that banished women from work force. They closed schools to girls and women and expelled women from universities. The Taliban prohibited women from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative. They also went as far as to ordering the publicly visible windows of women’s houses painted black and forced women to wear the burqa (or chadari) – which completely...
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...Women of Afghanistan Afghanistan is a very rugged country with various ethnic, religious, and tribal groups (http://www.iiav.nl). It is also a country that is rich in culture and tradition. But very little is known about the women that live in Afghanistan. No one really knows or understands how a women’s day to day life is. In Afghanistan most women are kept hidden away in their home and they are not allowed outside. Today the only thing that people hear or know about Afghanistan is that the United States is at war with a country that has known very little peace over that last one hundred years. Afghanistan is a place where time stands still and very little changes. One of the things that has not changed or has changed very little over the last one thousand years is the everyday life of women. The Afghan people are very simple and in some remote villages they have very little comforts. In some places midwifes assist mothers in the birth of their new born babes. They also bring water inside their house in pales, and they maintain their houses clean for their husbands. Most Afghans live their lives in a very traditional and private way; they have several customs and traditions that have been passed on from one generation to the other for hundreds of years. These people do not require or ask anything from the western world or from their government. They rarely let outsiders into their culture and this has led to many misconceptions of how women are treated and how...
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...lives of women in Afghanistan compared to lives of Women in the UK. Issues with women and their rights have been a massive problem for many years. There are still many parts of the world where women are seen as inferior to men and suffer from violence and abuse, physically and mentally. I will be looking at differences of the lives of women in the UK and women in Afghanistan. Women in Afghanistan experience a lot of inequality due to their gender and although the rights of women in the UK are as equally important as the rights of men, some women still also experience inequality. It is reported that the women of Afghanistan rights and quality of life were ranked second to the lowest country out of 165 countries investigated. There are many factors that cause difficulties for women in Afghanistan, some being, child marriage, lack of education, few job opportunities and groups such as the Taliban. Many women struggle to be heard and have to follow what the families want them to do. In the UK women are much more included in society and there are laws that stop the exploitation of women. Education for women has always been a problem worldwide, however as society has developed, girls and women are much more entitled to an education. In the UK the literacy rate of women is 99% with all young girls being expected to attend a free full time education up to the age of 16. However it is very much different to the education of girls and women in Afghanistan. The literacy rate for women if Afghanistan...
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...Brian Smith 12/6/13 Professor Books Afghanistan Afghanistan is arguably the most eye-opening, controversial country we have covered this year in our class. According to Roozbeh Shirazi’s Schooling in Afghanistan, Afghanistan can be described as “an amalgam of ethnicities, languages, and cultures resulting from the rise and fall of various historic empires”. Tamim Ansary goes on to describe the country as a “laboratory”. “So many currents have flowed through this territory from so many places over so many centuries.” (Ansary 2) Ansary then goes on to say that Afghanistan is “rife with contradictions”. It is those three words that strike me the most when Afghanistan is described: “rife with contradictions”. How can a country that is compared to a laboratory be so contradictory with itself? Let us look no further than the modern history of Afghanistan to find the answers. When looking at the modern history of Afghanistan, one cannot help but to start in 1878 when the British forces left Abdur Rahman Khan in charge as the Emir of Kabul. Khan’s goal was to “break down the feudal and tribal system and substitute one grand community under one law and one rule”. (Norton 48) Resistance was shown by the local chieftains and clan leaders. There was some participation in a succession of national councils, called loya jirga, in order to legitimize royal claims for ceremonial leadership. Later on in 1953, Prince Mohammed Daoud Khan...
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...evident throughout the novel. By examining the corrupted values, abuse, and discrimination visible in the society of Afghanistan, it becomes apparent how evil humankind can be. Hosseini portrays the struggles of two young Afghan women, Laila and Mariam, in war riddled Afghanistan. Both women are years apart by age, but are forced to marry an older man, Rasheed, who they do not know. The women learn to co-exist as they endure Rasheed's mental and physical abuse. The women in Afghanistan have to face arranged or forced marriages, poor education and restrictions brought on by the Taliban. The lack of respect and freedom of Afghan women compels them to fight for their rights to halt the inequalities they face in society. Corrupted values are detrimental to society by the fact that it takes away one’s freedom and a chance to live. Marriage is the voluntary union of two people, who choose to be together and nobody else for the rest of their lives. In the case of Afghan women, they deal with forced under-age marriages. Freedom is a basic fundamental right that every person deserves to have. The opportunities to speak, believe, and pursue happiness without any restriction defines freedom of a person. Some Afghan women have been wed off at a very early age, some at the age of thirteen to men much older than them. Although the legal age for marriage in Afghanistan is sixteen for females and eighteen for males, many people, particularly in rural...
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...Migration in Afghanistan 1. Introduction Afghanistan is home to the largest refugee crises experienced since the inception of the UNHCR. Decades of war have led millions to flee their homes and seek refuge in the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran, and for those who were able, further abroad. The number of refugees spiked in 1990 at 6.2 million. They began to decrease in 1992 with the fall of the government, but began to increase again in 1996 with the rise of the Taliban. In 2002, with the fall of the Taliban and the US-led invasion, record numbers of Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan. An international reconstruction and development initiative began to aid Afghans in rebuilding their country from decades of war. Reports indicate that change is occurring in Afghanistan, but the progress is slow. The Taliban have regained strength in the second half of this decade and insurgency and instability are rising. Afghanistan continues to be challenged by underdevelopment, lack of infrastructure, few employment opportunities, and widespread poverty. The slow pace of change has led Afghans to continue migrating in order to meet the needs of their families. Today refugee movements no longer characterize the primary source of Afghan migration. Migration in search of livelihoods is the primary reasons for migration and occurs through rural-urban migration in Afghanistan or circular migration patterns as Afghans cross into Pakistan and/or Iran. Afghans utilize their...
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...used its control over Afghanistan to enforce strict and unfair rules on the women and made harsh punishments if these rules were broken.(BS-1)The book, Under the Persimmon Tree correctly portrays that being a woman in Afghanistan has a lot more disadvantages than the men of Afghanistan who have more advantages.(BS-2)The author of Under the Persimmon Tree, Suzanne Fisher Staples uses the fact that the men of Afghanistan had more advantages than the women in Afghanistan, to develop and create conflicts and it also helps us to hear a voice that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to hear.(BS-3)From this book and the research that was done about the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women, helps us to hear the voices...
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...Intercultural communication - Afghanistan Section 1: group’s identity, history and cultural traditions (500 words) Culture For thousands of years in Afghanistan the country has been invaded, civil wars and terrorist activities. The country has been overturned destroying much of the countries culture and tradition. The culture and way of life in Afghanistan has changed over the years leaving it with no other way to define it. There are many more differences than there are similarities throughout the country. Nearly all of the people are Muslim and this is probably the greatest similarity amongst them. Loyalty within the local tribes is a major issue, but even this is not true among all of the people. Today less than a quarter of the Afghanis are urbanized and over three quarters make a living in agriculture. The way of life is still reliant on the land and on community. For many of these farmers life revolves around the sunlight, weather, seasons, and also religion, which holds an important place in the lives of most people. The weekly and daily schedule is often dictated by the above mentioned items and there is little discretionary income to take time off of work, to travel, or to spend money on items they want. Although farmers grow a huge number of crops, one of the easiest to grow in the country is opium, which is easy to sell and makes good money on relative terms. This has led to some outside groups to fight this industry, but for many people this is a traditional crop...
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...Afghanistan : The Reality Why US is failing in Afghanistan and what should be its response National Strategy. There are a numerous strategic errors committed by US in Afghanistan in the past and these errors are haunting them now. The strategic errors committed are difficult to undo. But , correcting them will be worse. It’s like leaving Saddam in power after the first Gulf war and then tried correcting it with Gulf War II...with worse results and losing all the goodwill and invincibility they had built after the first gulf war. The coalition forces were welcomed by Afghanis when Taliban was dismantled because they looked powerful, asserting and someone who could improve lives of normal Afghani. Today, things seem different. They look powerless, difficult and worse something which is making ordinary Afghani life more difficult than it was under Taliban. For coalition forces , If someone like Taliban can make them look like novice in war-fighting then they have to take a hard look at their national, operational and tactical strategy. I would like to start with what is AIM of coalition forces....is it making life of ordinary Afghani more prosperous and peaceful or ensuring security of US. These aims look different but actually they are co-terminus. One will lead to the other but start point has to be to develop Afghanistan and not the other way around which Secretary of State Hillary enunciated a few days back. If the strategy is making Afghanistan prosperous and peaceful...
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...Afghanistan is approximately the size of the state of Texas. “Afghanistan is bordered on the north by Turkmenistan, Uzebekistan, and Tajikistan., northeast by China, southeast by Pakistan, and west by Iran.” (http://www.latifm.com) The population of Afghanistan includes many different ethnic groups. The strongest ties amongst these ethnic groups are religion. The different ethnic groups comprise a unique way of life in Afghanistan. Its current population is 32,738,376, and its capital is Kabul which is the largest city. In Afghanistan, Afghani is the monetary unit used, and the exchange rate is becoming a concern. The current political structure of Afghanistan is that of a monarchy both literally and symbolically. Afghanistan is currently attempting a conversion to democracy as what America has portrayed to the rest of the world. Although, these political structures are not the focus of our strategy, it will effect how the workplace is structured. Many Afghans believe men are the dominant species, and we will need to strategize our efforts to support the cultural beliefs of the natives. Executives that will survey and analyze this region will be men, and perhaps those with similar beliefs of the Afghans. This region will not be receptive of a female in a senior level management position. Artifacts are “the observable symbols and signs of an organization's culture, such as the way visitors are greeted, the physical layout, and how employees are rewarded.” (McShane and Gilnow...
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...written in English by Afghan writer. Hosseini's works reflect a wide range of important current events and contemporary issues about ethnic tension, women, family ties, Afghan immigrant, political and social transformation of Afghanistan from 1970s to 2013. Certainly, the war of Afghanistan are encompassing in all three novels. Hosseini had received many awards for his work, all of his novels became bestsellers and the first two novels The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns had been adapted into movies. In this thesis, I will analyze the abuse of power in Khaled Hosseini's novels. The first novel is The Kite Runner (2003). This novel presents a story of strained family relationships between a father and a son, and between two brothers. How they deal with the guilt and forgiveness. The novel sets the interpersonal drama of the characters against the backdrop of Afghanistan, sketching the political and economical toll of the instability of various regimes in Afghanistan from the end of monarchy to the Soviet –backed government of the 1980s to the fundamentalist Taliban government of the 1990s.it also includes the events of September 11,2011. The second novel is A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) traces socio- political and cultural history of Afghanistan, and illustrates excesses and abuse of government and family itself against women. Through Feminist viewpoint, the novel provides problems of struggle of Afghan female in a patriarchal male dominated society to find their identity...
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... | |Raising children |Many children are introduced to violence, abuse, exploriation, and negect in Afghanistan. For more than 30 years of| | |war, many of them have been killed (Swanson & Swanson, 2011). Hundreds of children are used as suicide bombers, and| | |are put in harms way daily. According to Swanson & Swanson (2011), “Conflict and political violence force millions | | |of children and their families to flee their homes and as a result displaced families spend years in situations of | | |uncertainty and insecurity” (para. 3). | |Role of genders |Discrimination is common among girls and women. Throughout early childhood, about 70 percent of school-age girls, | | |do not attend school, while 94 percent of girls are not even registered births (Swanson & Swanson, 2011). The men | | |are the soliders. They are taught at a young age how to kill. “in the minds of Afghan men, are already believed to | | |be potentially (or likely) promiscuous” (Afghanistan, n.d). | |Marriage |Marriage in Afganiston has a deep-rooted process. Men and women do not have many opportunites to meet eachother. |...
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...Years of violent conflicts, those between warring Afghan factions, the superpowers of Cold War Russia and now the United States and its allies, have left the rebuilding of Afghanistan in political and economic limbo. Many of the physical and social infrastructures are debilitated, the economy barely functions, the population's health and nutritional status is among the lowest anywhere, and internal security is lacking. Also, Afghanistan poses a potential threat to richer countries as an exporter of drugs and terrorism. This combination of factors makes the engagement in Afghanistan a particularly fragile one. In this paper, the following points will be expounded upon: theoretical approach, in regards to international relations; an assessment of the security situation in Afghanistan and an effective approach to combat the threats; how a struggling economy can be helped that is plagued with corruption; key components of identity for this nation, ethnicity, religion and women; and finally, some recommendations on how to get this nation back on track. There must be an investment in Afghan-led development and peacebuilding. Billions of dollars are poured into reconstruction and development in Afghanistan but have shown few results and often contributed to corruption and conflict. I remember procuring aircrafts and setting up missions to pickup pallets full of medical supplies, but days later, I tried to coordinate with my Afghani counterparts to see how their inventories of...
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...A Thousand Splendid Suns Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns Author: Khaled Hosseini Page Number: 367 Quote Page Number: 113 Author: Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat in Afghan government at that time and his mother taught History in Kabul. However, after the Soviet Invasion, Khaled and his family moved to the United States in the 1980s. In the US, he completed high school and went on to get his Medical Degree. He started writing while working published his fist book in 2004, which was The Kite Runner. Summary: A Thousand Splendid Suns is a story about two women and their lives in Afghanistan during the invasion of the Soviet of Afghanistan and the Taliban regime. It shows the suffering of Afghan citizens and their sacrifice in time of war. In this story, the two women named Mariam and Laila play an important role of a typical wife in Afghanistan who have to face torture and brutality from their husband and society. The story starts out by introducing Mariam, who is an unwanted teenager. In the story, she is forced to marry Rasheed, an abusive husband at age 15. Rasheed is a cruel man who breaks Mariam’s dreams and tortures her everyday. On the other hand, Laila is an attractive girl who lives just up the street from Mariam’s house. She is born to educated parents and enjoys the freedoms that Mariam is restricted from by Rasheed. She has a boyfriend named Tariq, but their plans to marry get destroyed...
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