When Vogue Magazine Spent Time In Afghanistan

Although hard to believe, there was actually a time in Afghanistan, albeit very short-lived, where women had equal rights weren't forced to hide under burqas and were actually allowed an education.  Most of that happened when the Marxists took control of the government in 1978, but even back in the mid 1920s attempts at modernization began and continued up until the Taliban took control and women were shoved back into their burqas, and their homes.

Vogue Magazine even made a trip there in the late 1960s, strange as that might seem, back in the days when Kabul didn't seem much different than any other westernized foreign city.  I came across that tidbit of information in an interesting article written in 2010 on The Polyglot blog. Chicago-based Alex Aubry writes:

"Given the amount of images and headlines devoted to Afghanistan over the past three decades of war, one would be forgiven for concluding that a rich culture and civilization had never existed there; let alone a long history of cultural exchange with the West.

Yet back in 1969 Afghanistan was part of the hippy trail, an exotic destination for both the world’s fashion elite and young Americans and Europeans looking for adventure. What they found was a vibrant, modern Kabul teaming with traffic and stores selling the latest furniture and fashions. But there was also the centuries-old bazaars, a stately museum and Mughal gardens waiting to be discovered. A half-century ago, Afghan women pursued careers in medicine, men and women mingled casually at movie theaters and university campuses in Kabul and factories in the suburbs churned out textiles and other goods.

This was the Afghanistan that the Vogue team encountered upon landing at Kabul’s International Airport in 1969. The result was a fashion story titled “Afghan Adventure,” which appeared in Vogue’s December issue that year. In addition to photographing models amongst ancient ruins and colorful bazaars, the accompanying article also featured the Capital’s bright young things; amongst them a young fashion designer named Safia Tarzi."

Make sure you read the rest of the article, it's fascinating.

Westernized Afghan women in the 1960s in a record store

Fast forward to Taliban days, and even now.

I feel for the women who had a taste of freedom and then had it mercilessly wrenched away from them.

Afghan Women Sold Like Cattle

It's obvious that women are considered second class citizens in many Muslim-majority countries, where they have fewer rights and freedoms than males. But in God-forsaken Afghanistan they are looked upon as commodities to be traded or sold like animals to the highest bidder. And it's not cheap to buy a wife/slave/maid, the women often fetch a good price, at least by Afghan standards. And although illegal to buy and sell women, it still happens all the time.

Hajji Rais Khan, a white bearded resident of Nangarhar’s Dur Baba district, needed only to remove his false teeth and hand over 3,000 dollars to conclude the swift purchase of a young woman for his bride.

Two other local families had quarrelled over the terms of an already implemented swap of daughters for brides. One of the fathers then learned that instead of the girls being returned home by mutual arrangement, his counterpart had simply sold on his 20-year-old daughter to an old man for 4,000 dollars. He vowed in retaliation to sell the girl in his care to “a man with no teeth”.


“I went there and removed my plastic teeth and told the man that my wife passed away two months ago and that this girl was my destiny,” said Khan. “He gave her to me for 150,000 afghanis (3,000 dollars).”

A disturbing aberration perhaps, were it not for numerous and corroborated accounts of such sales of women like livestock. These are distinct from the entrenched Afghan custom of arranged marriages for fixed dowries, and often result in the victim being sold into a life of drudgery or passed on to further buyers.


A widespread practice in bygone times, the purchase and sale of women is today not uncommon in six of Nangarhar's districts inhabited by members of the large Shinwari tribe, say officials and rights advocates.

“Women are sold in different districts of Shinwari (areas) of Nangarhar and we have taken up cases on various occasions,” said Sabrina Hamidi, the director of the women’s rights advocacy department at the Independent Human Rights Commission in the eastern region.

“I removed my plastic teeth and told the man that my wife passed away two months ago and this girl was my destiny. He gave her to me for 150,000 afghanis."

The practice continued as a result of “illiteracy, poverty and abhorrent traditions,” said Hamidi.

And after women are sold, contact is usually severed with their own family, often for the rest of their lives, which makes the women extremely vulnerable . Once sold, the woman effectively belongs to her buyer, his to work, abuse or resell as he sees fit.

Read the rest here.

I don't see any hope for women in Afghanistan, especially once NATO pulls out.

Afghan Taliban Asks Muslim World To Donate To Their Jihad Fund

The Taliban in Afghanistan have gone hi-tech. Though they might be hiding out in caves on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border, they actually have their own dedicated website, Voice of Jihad, that primarily serves as a means of reporting and glorying in all the infidel casualties that they're responsible for.  VOJ also has a  forum where you can 'ask a Taliban' a question.  But that's not all, they also have two email addresses (gmail and yahoo), and two cell phone hotlines where you can donate money to the cause. Yes, apparently they are in "desperate" need of funds to continue their jihad against the "infidel invaders" and the masses of fellow Afghans who just so happen to be in the way.

According to their on-line appeal:

This Islamic land is in the tyrannical grip of the combative infidel enemy, posing the greatest threat to the entire Muslim world.

As a result, in the light of Islamic sharia, all Muslims everywhere are duty-bound to join the Jihad with money and soul.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which stood up with Muslim Ummah’s physical and financial support, are still waging legitimate Jihad single-handedly with mere help from common sincere Islam-loving masses and is in dire need of financial assistance from the Muslim brothers worldwide for its military and non-military expenditures.

What may come as surprise, well worthy of mention, is the fact that the Jews and Christians in order to prolong and win the prevailing war on the ground, keep raising and collecting funds from their people in every corner of the world and calling on meetings and conferences for the very purpose.

Similarly, the Muslims, too, out of their true spirit of faith are not to forget their Muslim brothers defending and upholding the truth in Afghanistan and extend a helping hand in the form financial aid in the same way as they take part in Jihad physically.

Christians and Jews raising funds for the Western jihad against Muslims in Afghanistan?  Right.

Then comes the 'your damned to hell if you don't' guilt trip:

However, what if you were not prepared to fight in the way of Allah, either financially or in soul ? Prophet (sallallu alaihe wa salaam) says in Sahi Muslim "One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire or determination for Jihad died the death of a hypocrite."

Thus, save yourself from a greater hardship in the Hereafter and protect yourself against hellfire.

There is no life worth living except the life of the Hereafter and our hereafter depends on our present.

Let us save up for our Hereafter by doing our share of Jihad responding to the call of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and offer our monetary aid and donation to the financial officials of the Islamic Emirate so that it may be used to meet the requirements of the Jihad and Mujahideen fighting the invading forces on the ground in appropriate ways.

And here's the contact info:

In case of any contributions, please contact the financial commission of Afghanistan on the following Email address.

The financial commission

of the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan

0093772784374

0093798098813

financecm.iea@gmail.com

f_commission@yahoo.com

They get most of their funding from the booming opium trade, and more than likely some funds come from Pakistan (though the government denies it), but I guess they want more so they can keep killing those kafirs (non-Muslims).

And Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama think we can negotiate a peace treaty with the Taliban?

Source: Telegraph.UK

Afghan Taliban Commander Demands $100 Reward Money For His "Own" Capture

Here's another Darwin Award contender, this time out of Afghanistan.  I realize the bulk of Taliban fighters are uneducated and ignorant, but this is priceless.

Mohammad Ashan was a wanted man in Paktika province.  He's a pea-brained Taliban commander who had his face plastered on posters with  a $100 finders fee on his head. He's only a mid-level commander, so maybe that's why the reward offer was so low. But one day last week, Ashan, poster in hand, walks up to the local police checkpoint in Sar Howza district demanding the reward money- for his capture. You see, Ashan was allegedly behind several recent attacks, so Afghan security forces posted the "Be on the Lookout" posters (emblazoned with his name and face) all over the district.

 Some interesting comments from U.S. Officials regarding Ashan's actions :

“improbable stupidity,”
“This guy is the Taliban equivalent of the ‘Home Alone” burglars,”
“Clearly, the man is an imbecile.”

When U.S. troops went to confirm that Ashan had in fact come forward to claim the finder’s fee, they were initially incredulous.

“We asked him, ‘Is this you?’ Mohammad Ashan answered with an incredible amount of enthusiasm, ‘Yes, yes, that’s me! Can I get my award now?’” recalled SPC Matthew Baker.

A biometric scan confirmed that the man in Afghan custody was the insurgent they had been looking for.

He, of course, was arrested. Thank God for stupidity.

Afghan Woman Executed Over "Illicit Relationship", Man Goes Free

The latest from Afghanistan.

The information on Khaama Press is a little sketchy, but it seems a man and a woman were caught having an "illicit relationship", which in Afghanistan more than likely means they were not married- the woman was sentenced to death by tribal elders with the approval of her two brothers, and was subsequently executed within days. What happened to the man she was involved with? Nothing, apparently.  He had been jailed in Kabul but then released. Whether he was jailed because of the relationship or for unrelated matters is unclear. The point is- he's still alive, and she's dead.

Paktia province, where this occurred, is located in eastern Afghanistan, parts of which are still riddled with Taliban.  According to  the local police chief, Zalmai Oryakhel, her two brothers were arrested for being complicit, and he has no clue why her lover was freed.  He also claims the woman's killers have disappeared. Not surprising really,  since it's women who suffer the most under Shariah law. 

Although human rights activists in the region have condemned the execution, and urged Paktia authorities to investigate the matter, but it's unlikely anything will be done.  It was just a woman, after all.

Young Afghan Boy and Girl Killed After Acid Attack, No-One Claims Bodies

Here's another example of how religion and a twisted sense of honor is more important than the value of a life, or in this case, the lives of two young children. Dumped in the middle of nowhere, after being burned by acid, for unknown reasons.

Two children, unceremoniously dumped in the middle of nowhere.

GHAZNI: A 12-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy have been killed in an acid attack in Afghanistan, an official said on Saturday, with witnesses claiming it was because of their friendship in what is an ultra-conservative country.


The bodies were discovered on Friday in wasteland in the Esfandi area of Ghazni province in south central Afghanistan, provincial police chief Zorawar Zahid told AFP.


“Their bodies and faces were burnt by acid,” he said.


The police chief said officers were investigating the motive for the attack, but witnesses who found the bodies told AFP the two were probably killed because of their friendship.


No one has claimed the bodies, which are still in Ghazni hospital, police said.

What kind of parents would do this to their own children?

National Guardsman, Dad of 3, Sacrifices Life To Save Afghan Girl

No-one ever focuses on the many good things we have done over in Afghanistan, and  maybe that's because the media fails to highlight them. The Afghan people revolt over a burned Quran (inadvertently at that), urinating on dead corpses (not a good thing) and the horrific rampage of one lone soldier who flipped out.  They don't see these as isolated incidents (perhaps because they are too ignorant to make the distinction), so they blame the U.S. and turn to violence.  And all the good deeds get sidelined by the
bad.

So, it's all the more important for us to honor those who have sacrificed themselves for a mostly ungrateful country, since the mainstream media won't.

Like Spc. Dennis P. Weichel from Rhode Island, father of 3 young ones, who saved the life of a young Afghan girl and, as a result, lost his own.  The ultimate sacrifice.

While riding in a convoy in Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, Spc. Dennis P. Weichel Jr., 29, and his unit, noticed children collecting shell casings on the road ahead, ABC reports.

The soldiers urged the children to get out of the way, but one girl ran back to pick up more casings underneath a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle -- a truck that can weigh more than 16 tons.

To protect the girl from the massive vehicle, the Rhode Island National Guardsman lifted the girl out of the way, but the armored truck ran him over.

Weichel later died from injuries he sustained and the girl survived, according to the news outlet.

"Specialist Dennis Weichel's life was marked by bravery, selflessness, and commitment to others -- and unfortunately it was in demonstrating these remarkable characteristics that it was lost," Governor Lincoln Chafee said, according to WPRI. “And he will be remembered, and mourned, by people across our state as a great Rhode Islander.”

Weichel was posthumously awarded the bronze star and is survived by his parents, fiancé and three children.

Flags were flown at half-mast in Providence.

Rest in peace brave warrior.