Grab and Keel

“We are each other’s business: we are each other’s magnitude and bond.”

Gwendolyn Brooks

While the ACLU fights the good fight regarding Afghan and Iraq prisoner abuse, other things are happening in Afghanistan. Those concerned with human rights must turn their attention to events of a different but equally serious nature.

In October, Chris Sands reported the following:

North slipping into different kind of hell

Chris Sands, Foreign Correspondent

Last Updated: October 20. 2008 9:52PM UAE / October 20. 2008 5:52PM GMT

[JOWZJAN, Afghanistan // Samiya was on her way home from a sewing lesson when it happened. She was only 13 years old and did not have the strength to stop the woman and two men from bundling her on to the back of a motorbike….]

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081020/FOREIGN/870521554/1002

Carol Mann, who runs FemAid, reported recently in Project Syndicate on the trials of Motherhood in Afghanistan:

Afghanistan’s Dying Mothers

by Carol Mann

[Roughly 75% of Afghan newborns that die do so because of lack of food, warmth, and care. Unloved little girls fare the worst. In Afghanistan as a whole, a woman dies of pregnancy-related causes every 27 minutes – and perhaps even more frequently, because many such deaths go unrecorded. Many, perhaps most, are under sixteen years of age.

The Taliban – blamed nowadays for just about all of Afghanistan’s ills – have officially been gone for nearly seven years, so why are conditions still so abysmal?…]

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/mann1/English

Last week IRIN reported that Karzai has outlawed street begging. Since many of these beggars are women and children, this promises to be a difficult period. Although he has instructed the Interior ministry to send the appropriate persons to orphanages and Red Crescent Care homes, it is not clear how those who qualify will be recognized over those that should be imprisoned. Nor is it clear how those chosen will truly be treated.

AFGHANISTAN: Beggars will be arrested

Photo: Abdullah Shaheen/IRIN

The government plans to stop the use of children and women for begging purposes

KABUL, 5 November 2008 (IRIN) – A resolution by the ministers’ council – chaired by Afghan President Hamid Karzai – has outlawed street begging and instructed the Interior Ministry to arrest beggars and send them to orphanages and care homes run by the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS).

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81298

Women who beg often have been abandoned and have no other resource for survival.

Perhaps you think, we are doing our best and allowing Afghanistan to decide it’s own social/societal affairs. We are, after all, fighting a war to allow Afghanis their own freedom of choice. Why should we care about this aspect of Afghanistan? We care because we are there. We care because we followed the best advice of our leaders in the performance of a war upon Afghanistan’s soil. In doing so we deeply impacted Afghani society.

You many remember that in 1999 US women’s right groups became involved with issues regarding the Afghan Government, then the Taliban. Groups such as NOW and the Feminist Majority, asked President Clinton not to recognize any Afghan government that discriminates against women.

Then in November of 2001, as part of the war effort, President Bush signed into law: […“S. 1573, the Afghan Women and Children Relief Act”. This law specified amounts of US relief and money to be provided for assistance through 2006.

$80 million total was part of the relief package to benefit women and for Afghan human rights oversight ($15 million per year for FY2003-FY2006 for the Afghan Ministry of Women’ s Affairs, and $5 million per year for FY2003-2006 to the National Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan)….]

A similar bill, of 45 million, and introduced in January of 2007, passed the House and at the same time was introduced by Barbara Boxer as S.147 in the Senate.  It was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where it has languished since.

The Feminist Majority gives Joe Biden, as current chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, kudos for his efforts to get the first bill passed in 2001. I see nothing on their website referring to the current bill and referencing the Senate. As we know, both Obama and Biden will shortly be engaged elsewhere, so the chair and at least one other seat are up for grabs. Barbara Boxer is currently the only woman on this committee of 19.

Photo by: http://www.femaid.org/

Assuming you think we should help Afghani women, this raises several questions: what can be done to expedite the bill? Why has it sat for almost a year? Why has the Feminist Majority been less vocal, and should PUMA’s be involved? Can we a least write letters to our senators, and tell them what we think? Why was the current bill cut to almost half of the last law, when the need is still there?

Have we exacerbated the problem by diddling around about the current bill? The last duration of the last law was through 2006. What is the good if the effort has to wait more than two years for the next influx of  money to arrive?

On another note, if we wish to promote the 30% solution, the Foreign Relations Committee certainly seems a good place to start. The two next most senior Senators are Dodd and Kerry. It’s not a guarantee, but I imagine one of those two is likely to be chair. At least one of the junior ranking Democratic senators, Casey, strongly opposes abortion rights, meaning he could potentially side with Republican viewpoints in matters pertaining to women. So it appears that the committee is delicately balanced at the moment, or stuck.

Perhaps given that 80 million has been spent, thus far, on empowering Afghani women, protecting children and other Humanitarian causes in Afghanistan, perhaps it seems enough. We want out of these wars. That another 45 million is on the table is too much. The world is in economic crisis. Why should the US spend the money? Let’s put it in a different perspective. The October report from the Dept of Defense, (DOD) indicates that 173 billion has been spent in Afghanistan thus far, 20% of the total Iraq/Afghani war. Since the second bill is still in limbo, it does not count in the figure. As such, an estimated .04% has been spent on changing the lives of women and children.

This sop indicates to me that we care no more than those Afghanies, who brutalize these women. Imagine if that sum were even 10%, Imagine, if we spent some of our war making money toward the use of farm subsidies for abandoned women, What if we gave farm subsidies to men with the caveat they not grow opium poppies and provide education for women.

We are stuck to the tar baby and we have the wrong perspective. This is evident in the recent reports, wherein Obama plans to add more troops but fails to mention humanitarian efforts or women.

November 11, 2008

US commander welcomes attention on Afghan mission

David Mercer

The man who heads U.S. efforts to train and equip security forces in Afghanistan says he welcomes the attention President-elect Barack Obama says he will give on the war in that country.

Maj. Gen. Robert Cone told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Obama’s plans add to the significance of that teaching mission, one which will include 2,700 Illinois National Guard troops by the end of the year.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/us_news/2008/Nov/11/us_commander_welcomes_attention_on_afghan_mission.html

Until we change, we will continue to get news like THIS.

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