Venus View

AFGHANISTAN ALERT

Conflicts increasing

The war we forgot is still raging. Afghanistan is heating up with scarcely a word about it in the American press. If things do not cool off soon, the touted gains for women in that country will be obliterated.

We must keep long memories of the atrocities committed against the women of Afghanistan. Everyone knows the consequences when herstory is forgotten. Repetition of the hell on earth that was their lives under the Taliban cannot and must not be tolerated.

Misogyny and widespread, culturally supported abuse of women and girls is a fact of life in Afghanistan to this day. Despite the propaganda and lies fed to the American public by the Bush administration, the status of women, while improved, is still poor. The widely tolerated, institutionally supported violence against women and girls is a blatant violation of human rights and should be roundly condemned by both the United Nations and the United States.