The Great Discremenation

Humans don’t take kindly to outsiders especially when they look differently. History is heaped with the corpses of those who were lynched, bayoneted or gassed because of their race, religion or nationality. Throughout the history the one group has imposed its racial superiority on another. Imperialism has imposed various forms of apartheid and racial segregation in all four continents. Today, most westerners and some Afghans think that the days of racism are gone. Racism belongs to history and they now have respect for all people, disregarding their skin colour. Since the international intervention in Afghanistan, Americans and the rest of the international community have presented their military and political presence to support democracy and human rights and frankly they got me believing in it for five years. I hear say that discrimination is today deeply institutionalised than any other time before. Westerners are in control of Afghanistan and they exercise discrimination on a mass scale. I am an educated person and I deal with foreigners who run organisations in Afghanistan. one would think there might be racism when western troops handle ordinary afghans on the street but not in formal level but it does exist. An afghan earn less and will not be employed in key positions in foreign organisation who are to serve Afghans. I am lately looking for a job and I have applied for many with foreign organisations; understandably enough I only apply for jobs I like but they seem to be only reserved for foreigners even I match the criteria. I do not get a response from most of the employers. I have applied lately for a job as a TV Producer with ISAF. I was denied the job without considering my qualification because I am Afghan, it is only reserved for westerners. People earn less because of their race or their sex, I think this is unfair and many people agree with this. No western institution, apparently, should be enforcing discrimination of earning based on race or sex but ISAF do and I wrote to NATO headquarter to say this is indecent and a bad policy but they didn’t care to reply.
Let’s look at sex discrimination first, according to a recent summary by the economists Michael Clemens (link to the publication http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/16352 ) white men earn 27 per cent more in the US than white women. That figure compares the hourly wage of full-time workers with similar qualifications and experience. Again making best efforts to compare like with like, the economists found that white men earn 7 per cent more than black men in the US. Look back to 1939, and the like-with-like wage premium for whites in the US was 60 per cent. In modern Pakistan, meanwhile, men earn three times as much as equally qualified women. I do not have any figures for Afghanistan but I promise you it will not look good. None of these numbers is trivial: most are appalling.
It is even possible to calculate the implicit wage loss suffered by US slaves. Several economists have attempted to do this by comparing the “compensation” – food, clothes, shelter and perhaps some medical care – received by slaves with how much one slave-owner would pay another to rent a slave. Of course, low wages were hardly the chief reason that slavery was an atrocity. Yet had slaves earned for their labour what slave-owners paid each other for it, the wage would have been three or four times higher than the basic subsistence owners saw fit to provide.
There is a huge gap between what slaves would have earned in a free labour market and what in fact they were forced to accept. But the gap is dwarfed by the difference between what my income as an Afghan with a Master degree and five years of managerial experience in Afghanistan and Westerners with a Bachelor degree with no Afghanistan experience could earn in Afghanistan. in the letter, ISAF recruitment refers me to apply for local jobs; local jobs are paid ten to twenty times less than the job I applied for. Recruitment discrimination practiced by ISAF and almost all other foreign organisation in Afghanistan cause a greater loss of wages than racial and sexual discrimination – and even greater even than slavery. This is what I call the great discrimination.
You could say my argument has an agenda and I am playing this but don’t doubt the numbers; have a look for yourself and see the differences between jobs offered for Afghans and those for westerners http://www.nato.int/isaf/services/vacancies/index.html, I see no reason to doubt the numbers. The high wage to an Afghan benefits Afghanistan directly and indirectly, directly an Afghan would contribute by paying high taxes and indirectly an Afghan will spend the money in Afghanistan.
The face of nationalism has changed in the twenty first century; it is economical today which doesn’t mean it is better than twenty century nationalism. Probably better than it is extreme forms exposed as Nazism. National states impose restriction on employment and labour markets to benefit their national economy; this is at the cost of many people barred from accessing better wages, consequently more opportunities in life. nevertheless what I am talking about is different to economic nationalism. I am talking about not having access to jobs in your own country. in my own country, merely because of my nationality I am precluded from employment in many positions.
This leads me to say that discrimination is today institutionalised. Is this the modern form of racism? Foreign organisations employing Afghans at considerably lower wages privileges westerners over Afghans in their own country and it is no better than arbitrarily privileging whites over blacks or brown. I understand how a liberal westerner working in Kabul could not see things like this. They are in a cyst of their own and they have certain ideas of equality and Afghans. Westerners working in Afghanistan despite their claim of humanity and all the rest of things which goes with liberal westerners seriously lack empathy, they do not understand how these discrimination effect an Afghan who is equally qualified but institutional barred from being economically equal with westerners in his own country and not allowed to travel to the west.

MORE ON SUICIDE...

In my last post I tried to explore the reasons for suicide. I emphasised there is a strong element of unhappiness and dissatisfaction behind suicide whether its by women who can’t bear their miserable lives anymore or it’s a child or a man who targets foreigners and the government. There is a deep element of unhappiness. below I am using a story which first appeared in RAWA website, this is shows what the reason for family suicide could be, its injustice and tyranny. As for RAWA I don’t agree with their stand. I don’t think their methods are going to bring about any change and they have got a lot of issues substantially wrong. Having that said, I appreciate their role in the wider social hierarchy, the general public, politicians, journalists and many more tend to conform to tradition and dominant power while RAWA protests and I think that is a good thing, the fact that they protest against norms and injustice is a good thing. it might be that RAWA is a habitual protester and they will always find something to protest against but currently there is plenty to protest against.

Warlords gang-rape 12-year-old girl, her family threatens to commit mass suicide if justice is not done. Uncle of the victim accuses the police chief to have links with the gunmen responsible for such crimes.

A 12-year old schoolgirl was gang-raped by five gunmen in Sarpul province in Northern Afghanistan.

The girl and her family asked Hamid Karzai to prosecute the rapists and take their case seriously. They threatened that if they are not provided justice, the whole family will commit mass suicide to get rid of such life. They say, the local authorities keep silence on such cases and did not act to arrest those responsible.

While crying, the rape victim told journalists that she was raped in a village called Baghabi in Sarpul province. She says five gunmen poured into their house in mid-night and after beating and abusing the family members, gang-raped her.

Ali Khan, uncle of the girl told Ariana TV that he has reported the case to the police and visited the police chief a number of times to ask for justice, but they do not pay attention to the issue and even abused and threatened him to be silent otherwise he will be jailed. He accuses the police chief to have links with the gunmen responsible for such crimes. But General Abdul Khaliq Samimi, police chief says they have arrested three people connected to the issue.

On February 18, 2008 a fourteen-year old girl named Bashira was gang-raped by three men in the same province. One of the rapists is Najibullah, the son of Haji Payinda, a member of parliament from Sar-e-Pul.

Sayed Noorullah, father of Bashira told Tolo TV on July 19, 2008 that the case against the rapist has not been followed property by the court, because the rapist is son of a member of parliament and they bribed the Forensic Medical Investigation department to show the 22-year-old rapist as being less than 18 to escape the charges based on law.

Sayed Noorullah threatened that if the rapists are not punished, he will become “a dangerous suicide bomber” and take revenge himself.

Gang-rape and sexual abuse of young girls in the Northern provinces of Afghanistan by local warlords is very common but only few cases are reported by media, because it is usually risky for the journalists who report such issues.

Sayed Norullah father of 14-year-old Bashira: “I will become a dangerous suicide bomber to take revenge if the court fails to provide me justice.”

Why Suicide and suicide attack is happening in Afghanistan

Modern way of living and utilities has penetrated deep into Afghan society, even the most conservatives in the remotest village has some access to media, modern transportation, agriculture utilities, health care and medicine and many more appliances. While their values and social structures remain tribal or traditional. The penetration of modernity has been embraced by Islam, Islamists never said ‘NO’ to modernity to achieve their ends, most fanatics such as mullah Omar and Sayyaf, Rabani or Mujadadi uses modern tool to extend their influence on the community. The modern way of life has provided opportunity for some to secure a better life and for others to be worsen as the so called leaders have influenced them by using modern utilities. The tightly knit of society has been broken as everyone struggle for their survival. The means of survival have also changed; people are relying less and less on agriculture and husbandry. Its no more possible because of the drought and natural disasters. Those who have better life are either in business of poppy or have sons in a foreign country or a professional occupation. Te lives of many Afghans have got better today in material term, the poverty of our grandparents are now unimaginable for many Afghans. The society has become more injustice too. The society does not offer the chance to escape from traditionalism, nor the prospect how to make such an escape. Individuals have to accept greater risk and uncertainty in their lives.

Its absolutely wrong to attempt to explain self-emulation by five hundred women last year and over a hundred men most of men in suicide bomb attacks as behaviour and characteristic of individuals. Its not the action of innately disturbed people. These suicides have social causes.

Afghanistan in its traditional form could be seen as working in terms of mechanical solidarity. Afghan society in traditional and tribal form is integrated, or held together, by the fact that Afghans had similar beliefs and values and they have similar roles. In traditional Afghan society all people do similar things, similar job and they live similar lives, doing little farming or something. In traditional afghan society identities are clearly defined in terms of roles and family background.

Afghan society is not traditional in the sense mentioned above. Afghanistan for most has changed, the home which was work space is no more. people to have better life work in a different place than home, work is not controlled by family. People like sayyaf or mullah omar control the village or people work in the cities.

There is no solidarity in Afghan society. People have to struggle to live via other means, while it’s Russians, or mujahdeen or Americans or Taliban or someone else trying to control their lives. The norms in society are old and rotten it does not provide a good framework for individual to act. As a result most individuals are corrupt and their moral structure does not lead them. the society has not lost the morality or it has not been loosen. The only answer afghans think will work is to strengthen norms this is supported by the so called leaders because this serves their purposes. Afghanistan has become corrupt and hypocritical. Life for many has become hard especially for women.

There is a conflict in Afghan society, we as Afghans failed to respond constructively and fix this failure that is why first Russians and now the rest of the world came to fix it. not because they care about Afghanistan but because Afghanistan have caused some serious problems to the rest of the world. The demands of the self proclaimed leaders have conflict with each other and as a result they are in constant conflict and because they have no political intelligence the only way they settle conflict is through bloodshed, and that has turned them into criminals. Individuals have abandoned the social norms but they maintain to conform with it. Afghans support the goal of what is said by the criminal leaders. They do not follow any other route. While they think the goal is not good enough for them but they like the means for achieving it. Afghans are deeply unhappy about their lives, some blame others, others seek god and they commit suicide and kill others for their imagined gods. Some afghans conform, they don’t want to protest, they think the protest route end up not in the desired location. Some are deeply unhappy that includes the 500 women who committed suicide last year.

This is Gr8 Britain

One in four citizens of Glasgow are ‘income deprived’; twenty five percent of Glaswegians live in poverty.  

A young man is sitting on a crowded pedestrian divert from the path beneath the construction site; with his back to the litter he is holding a green disposed cup in his hand, the same colour as the litter and most likely where it came from. I see a few coins at the bottom of the cup as he holds it both hands above his head.

‘What do you need it for?’ I asked.

‘You got any coins to spare?’ the man asked

‘You didn’t answer me’

‘You didn’t answer mine’

I come across a bunch of guys who look for extra coins everyday and the attitude varies very little. Some do start to talk with me if I give them what they ask for.

This is the Great Britain, one of the richest countries of the world. In Britain roadside young people are not only considered to be obstructing the traffic but metaphorically the society too. The glamorous wealth of British society has enabled many to conduct an expensive lifestyle with an increasing role for consumption as a status of lifestyle.

The poor, the ones who can’t sustain themselves has a low status; Britain places urgency in dealing with them because they are seen in a condemning and derogatory condition.  How a society talks and deals about the poor, and the definition of the group, says much about their understanding of the underlying causes of poverty. This is where I get lost; because there is a lot of wealth in Britain. This does not necessarily mean that the majority is less vulnerable to poverty, but through hard work maintain their job and status. Those who can’t are susceptible to moral condemnation and to blaming them for their own situation. I find the issue of poverty a very political one in Britain; judging by the overwhelming number of research papers building dozens of definitions for poverty. I got lost understanding a reality which I have spent all of my life struggling with it and people in the wealthiest country of the world experience it on daily basis. It’s getting dark and I am going to have a drink now and hopefully not going to meet any poor there.

 

It’s a nice morning and I feel real good about today. I just finished writing a poem which I am so proud of that I can’t hesitate not to quote for you.

My dazzler candies are melting

While lying next to tea on the table

I feel like in the shower

while I am at the table

My dazzler sweets smell like soap

I am a poor man on the street number two

I need to hide from my misfortunes 

I broke into the green absinthe jar

When I took a mouthful sip

    it made me feel wobbly

I am a poor man on the street number two

This morning when I woke up

I saw my last cupcake gone away

The seagull who whisked it

looked more in need than me

I am a poor man on the street number two

The man who said the prayer

       thought God has super ears

The mute man in yawning silence

Threw away eternal pious

I am a poor man on the street number two

My old fellow in the new jeans pair

Asked me to wipe off the scowl

I whispered low under my lips

If you can’t wait for me to ride off the poverty

                                  then

                                I am a sad man on the street number two

As for the rest of the day I was thinking to head out and continue on my thought about poverty where I left it yesterday.

A man in his late fifties is trying to play bagpipe. Behind his back is a black wall covered by graffiti and spam posters. The man has the bagpipe case in front of him on the footpath with some coins in it. I thought he is going to take a break in a  couple of minutes but he kept going, my curiosity was further stimulated and wanted to see how long can he go without a break. I spent a couple of hours hearing him play, he hardly took any breaks and his breaks were rather short. I found out he has played bagpipe since childhood and he makes a living with bagpipe now. ‘There is no other way except to put up with your job’ he said.

The black wall in the back is covered with youth gang graffiti. There are many, I didn’t try to memories the names but later I found out from a right-wing think tank group that Glasgow has 170 gangs, the same number as London despite being one sixth the size. The names appeared in the research, I recall from the street too, are Combat 18, X Cross Killers, Toryglen Nazi Circus and the Young Toryglen Toi there websites have Nazi insignia. The gangs are responsible for several murders in the last few years. The city's gang culture boils down to poverty and its associated features.

The image of an old man trying to make a living of an instrument in some street corner with a few coins and the wall tainted with violent gang marks symbolizes poverty for me in an understandable way. Except the sweet Celtic tone and the happy face of the man tells ‘No, you are in a foreign place’.

I am undertaking an MSc. degree in University of Glasgow. I come from Kabul and back there the image people have of Britain does not contain poverty. I asked some Afghans in Kabul, whether they thought any kind of poverty exists in UK?

I received varied responses but to sum it up. The description of poverty I got from Afghans and the kind of social structure and backwash which goes along with it, does not exist in the UK. ‘It has never happened in human history that a man would say I don’t want wealth anymore. To seek and acquire more wealth effectively is to be spunky which is a character of the poor.  Rich Britons ought to act poor to get richer; its one thing to act poor and another to be poor. If rich Britons stop acting poor that would be the end of their social order’ said Nisar. ‘You pick any Newspaper or listen to radio in kabul, the news if not about war then it’s about poverty. Does poverty news make a substantial portion of all, not few but all, media in UK?’ said Zahid. It’s the dream of the well achievers and richest in Afghanistan to make it to the UK. in the ordinary Afghan eye Briton is a place filled with the richest of the world.

Poverty in the UK is of course different than what I have experienced in Kabul; but there are plenty of resemblances too. Glasgow has many wards which experiences not only relative but absolute poverty. A study published by Oxford University reveals that Glasgow is home to sixteen council wards which are among the worst twenty in Scotland. Some of these wards are the worst dungeon in Europe; places like Keppochhill, Drumry and Parkhead. These places are not far from where I live; Drumry is about three miles from my place. I went to visit the place on fine Sunday morning. It’s very easy to tell that City regeneration plans have not yet reached Drumry, it’s a place with several huge shopping complexes and warehouses, football patches and Gulf clubs all for rich people. Luxurious cars of rich gulf player were arriving; empty beer bottles were telling me some people had plenty of fun last night. I got a bit lost and I stopped to ask a couple of guys if I was in Drumry. The guys asked me what was my bicycle called which I didn’t know; we found out it was an American cycle and the guys decided that they don’t like American bicycles and started to kick my bicycle, they cut the break cable but I made a swift move by mounting my bike and rode off before they start to get angrier.

The UK government seems to be struggling not only in tackling the poverty but even defining it. The new labour has shifted from redistributionist discourse of old labour to a social integrationist discourse. The government has abandoned tackling poverty to deal with social exclusion, seen as more damaging to self esteem and society and more likely to be passed down from generation to generation and result in the creation of a moral underclass. New Labour instead of return to redistributive policies that success governments pursued, it emphasis on social inclusion policy is on promotion of opportunities. However, social inclusion is largely understood to be inclusion through paid employment.

Now, why does it matter how the UK government measure poverty?

It matters because this abstract policy form the basis of action and poverty is dealt with, the government has come up with a three tier explanation of poverty.

1.      Absolute low income

2.      Relative low income

3.      Material deprivation and low income combined

If you fly a person from Kabul to assess poverty in Glasgow, the person will find Glaswegian counterparts who share a common understanding of poverty. That is because of the growing disparity between absolute poverty and relative poverty. Figures released by Scottish executive in 2006 indicates that the gap between the absolute poor and the relative poor has grown from zero in 1997 to 10 percent in 2005. In reality this means that I actually don’t find places like Drumry and another sixteen wards in Glasgow as poor as areas which are not identified as deprived zones. I find places like Govan, Maryhill, Possil and the Red Road in a more dire state. Teenage violence has spilled to streets in Govan, teenagers rarely go to school in Govan. Street fight is a common during school hours. Young boys in their 15 are throwing bricks at each other and are carrying steel bars. In Possil which is only a few miles from the city centre I met a young boy who hasn’t been to the city centre yet. Kim is a lone mother and she can’t afford to fix her shower, she can’t fix it and she doesn’t know how to get someone to fix it for her. Annie was lucky that she had a saving; it cost her £ 10000 to fix her broken leg. She slide down a stairs and broke her leg, she went NHS (National Health Service) but had to queue for six hours to get an X-ray. After suffering a lot of pain in her local hospital she chose to be hospitalised in Western Infirmary, near City centre but even then much didn’t change and she had to dig into her savings to afford treatment in a private hospital. NHS cost her one year lost in studies and almost her leg. Inequality coupled with poor health care has resulted in Glasgow to have the highest premature death rates in the UK. I can’t drive in Glasgow, therefore lose out on some part time opportunities to make my student life less financially tight. I can’t drive because I am shortsighted and illegal for me to drive without glasses. I can’t afford to buy glasses.       

      

The kind of poverty that is different in Glasgow than what I have experienced is relative poverty or deprivation. The government has developed a deprivation index which includes some 60 items which are essential to have British way of living; if such an index existed in Kabul, the list of items would be limited to bread, rice, oil, meat and a few other items. 

People could be deprived in many ways, home, work, neighborhood, family, travel, education, access to services. It encompasses a range of social and individual activities. The question I would like to raise is whether it is clever to impose employment, as the new paradigm tends to emphasis, on people who has multi dimensional poverty. The government seem to emphasis on the equality of status and opportunity rather than equality of outcome. This is presented as a more dynamic approach reflecting people’s starting points and possibilities for upward mobility during the course of their lives. It is also portrayed as a more ‘modern’ approach with some responsibility placed on individuals to invest in education and training and to strive for personal advancement. Equality of status and opportunity means ensuring that people are not constrained by their circumstances, thereby avoiding the waste of human potential. Inclusion is a related idea implying some degree of social solidarity and public policies to limit inequality in the opportunities people have to access jobs and other resources. Having a job can probably do more for people’s status and social equality than anything else. The extent of upward mobility is also clearly important, since some inequality of outcome may be socially accetable if it is transient and individuals have good prospects of improvement in the future, very similar to my situation. I live on less then £ 200 after housing which below 60% poverty median, but it’s not that hard on me because there is a prospect for improvement after graduation. Long term or recurrent poverty or unemployment with low expectations of progress is an important feature of social exclusion.

Inequality in income not only matters to the quality of life of the poor, but to society as a whole. It has been long known that absolute poverty and material deprivation cause ill-health for those individuals suffering. However, relative distribution of income may be even important in a place like Glasgow with areas like Brisbane, packed with millionaires. Inequality in Glasgow is linked to other social problems such violence, less involvement in community life, worst health and health care. Relative income matters because health and well-being are influenced by ‘psychosoical’ as well as material factors. The social influence of poor is even limited in their ghettos as Glaswegian millionaires drive around the poor neighborhood on their way to their gulf club. Glasgow is characterised by large status differences, by wide disparities in people’s sense of control and autonomy, this inequality generally tend to result in poorer social relations and low level of civic participation.

        The government does provide welfare support to assist the poor to escape poverty, but that is not the crucial issue. It’s the gap between the rich and poor across society. A redistributive strategy of promoting greater equality is not merely a zero sum game, let alone a net cost to society, specifically to millionaires, as the New Labour maintains. It helps to raise the average health, workforce participation rate and hence productivity of the population. 

Glasgow has the proportion of working age population on sickness and disability benefits of any city in Britain. Glasgow also has some of the largest and most intense spatial concentrations of poverty and exclusion in Britain. These have arisen primarily from the decline of the industrial employment base combined with sorting of different social groups through the housing system. People who are jobless and poor are often concentrated in run down peripheral and inner city neighbourhoods because this is where the lowest quality, least desirable council housing is. Sales of higher quality housing in better areas have contributed to a process of residualisation within the social housing sector and increasing polarisation across the city. Glasgow is a segregated city in terms of social class and this appear to be increasing. People living in poor neighborhoods suffer a range of hardships, poor people are in a worst condition if they live in a poor neighborhood; the local condition in a poor enclave negatively effect future chances of better life. it’s a question that I would like to put to poor communities whether they as first hand witnesses of poverty see their situation worsen by their neighborhood or actually the wider economic circumstances provides opportunity to improve.

        I would also like to look at the social connectedness of the poor communities, whether poor neighborhoods have a sense of community and has a social bond. Glasgow and also scotland in general is famous for having a strong sense of community, mutual aid and friendliness. But these patterns are not clear cut; often territoriality is supported by the institution of gangs which means it can be dangerous to stray outside one’s immediate area, all aspects of social connection is not positive. In some parts of poor neighborhood gangs have clearly drawn their border line on the pavements; crossing the line would mean intrusion into another neighborhood. Another aspect of social connectedness is sharing a common value enabling members of an urban society to support common objective and to share moral principles and codes of behaviour through which they interact. A simple way to look into this shared value system might be the use of media, newspaper or local radio. Civic readership may play a part in galvanising opinion and establishing a shared sense of dealing with poverty. A popular explanation of poverty has been to blame the poor for their own situation, for not taking responsibility, anti-social behaviour, distanced from social realities and criminal predisposed. This rhetoric comes along with the concept of a moral underclass referred to deserving poor. While in a poor enclave I visited a magazine shop to see what was on offer to read. Most of the magazines and papers are tabloids about fashion, gossips or celebrities. I skimmed from cover to cover of Star, Heat and Fun. They are all writing about same things but printed on different pages. These magazines are commercial form of gossiping, the topics range from: Kenny is with Claire, Laura had a crash on Tom, Sandra dumped Josh. The reason I couldn’t be engaged with any of the magazines is because I don’t understand what they are talking about; but the question I would like to ask myself before I start to care who Kenny or Laura is, why does it matter? Does it have anything to do with reality? 

I finally managed to get my glasses, I can now see in a distance. I found an internet based store which sells cheaper.

تلویزیونی مشترک فارسی زبان ایران، تاجیکستان و افغانستان راه‌اندازی می‌شود

دفتر مرکزی شبکه مشترک فارسی زبان کشورهای ایران، تاجیکستان و افغانستان در دوشنبه، پایتخت تاجیکستان گشایش یافت.

به گزارش ایسنا، در پایان نخستین دیدار گروه کاری ایجاد شبکه تلویزیونی مشترک فارسی زبان که روز گذشته در تاجیکستان برگزار شد سایموراد فتایف مشاور دولتی رئیس جمهور تاجیکستان در امور توسعه اجتماعی و روابط عمومی، علی اصغر شیردوست سفیر ایران در تاجیکستان و نادر احمدی معاون رئیس دولتی رادیوی افغانستان حضور داشتند.

قرار است نخستین پخش برنامه این شبکه تلویزیونی 8 اوت سال جاری همزمان با دیدار سه جانبه سران کشورهای فارسی زبان - امامعلی رحمان رئیس جمهور تاجیکستان، محمود احمدی نژاد رئیس جمهوری اسلامی ایران و حامد کرزای رئیس جمهور افغانستان- آغاز شود.

گفتنی است مذاکرات پیرامون ایجاد شبکه تلویزیونی فارسی زبان دو سال به طول انجامید که سرانجام در دیدار وزرای امور خارجه سه کشور در ماه مارس سال جاری در دوشنبه، روشی یکسان برای ایجاد شبکه فارسی در خاک سه کشور تصویب شد.

روابط با پاکستان

حامد کرزی رییس جمهوری افغانستان در این اواخر به صراحت وبا لحن تند اعلام نمود که ای اس ای یا استخبارات نظامي کشور پاکستان در ناامنی های این کشور دخیل است و باید از مداخله در امور داخلی این کشور دست بردارد.

اقای کرزی گفته بود :" اگر حملات از داخل خاک پاکستان به افغانستان متوقف نشود، افغانستان پایگاه های شورشیان و تروریستان را در پاکستان هدف حمله قرار خواهد داد."

کشور پاکستان در اعتراض به این اظهارات رییس جمهوری افغانستان ، سفیر این کشور در اسلام آباد را احضار نموده و اعتراض رسمی خود نسبت به گفته های آقای کرزی را به اطلاع وی رساند. اگرچه دولت افغانستان چندین بار درگذشته ، پاکستان را به بی ثباتی افغانستان متهم کرده، اما لحن تند اعلامیه اخیر شورای وزیران افغانستان در نوع خود بی سابقه بوده است. که در مقابل، پاکستان همواره اتهام ارتباط برخی شبکه های اطلاعاتی و نظامی آن کشور با نا امنی در افغانستان را بی اساس خوانده و تاکیده نموده است که از امنیت و ثبات در افغانستان حمایت می کند.

اما عده از تحلیلگران سیاسی کشور اظهارات رییس جمهور افغانستان را تایید کرده به این عقیده اند، آقای کرزی باید مواردی را که اعلام میکند انرا در عمل پیاده و موضع گیری جدی در مقابل آن داشته باشد.

به گفته محمد حسن ولسمل تحلیلگر سیاسی کشور از ابتدای که این کشور به میان امده است ، هیچگاهی در مقابل افغانستان نظر نیک نداشته و همیشه به این کشور مداخله کرده که این دخالت ها اکثرا به مسله خط دیورند برمیگردد.

موصوف با انکه در مخالفت به سیتم کاری رییس جمهور قرار دارد اما میگوید :" من از این اظهارات و سیاست آقا کرزی در مقابل پاکستان سخت حمایت میکنم و امید وارم هستم که اقای رییس جمهور تا اخر در این مورد ایستاده گی نماید."

داکتر عبدالکبیر رنجبر یکی دیگر از تحلیلگران سیاسی و عضو ولسی جرگه نیز به گفته های ولسمل همنظر بوده اما میگوید که در شرایط فعلی اقای کرزی نباید چنین تند و برهنه صحبت میکرد باید از طریق جامعه جهانی این مسله را مطرح میکرد تا مردم از این ناحیه بیشتر متضرر نمبگردیدند.

اما وی تاکید میکند که دست ای اس ای پاکستان میتواند بیشتر از این به گریبان حکومت افغانستان دراز گردد، چراکه انها در طول سال های متمادی همواره دست به تخریب و ویرانی افغانستان زده اند. که بیشتر مردم افغانستان قربانی این حادثات گردیده اند.

همچنان زلمی وفامل کارشناس مسایل سیاسی اظهارات رییس جمهور کشور را کاملا بجا و مطابق فیصله نامه شورای امنیت سازمان ملل متحد میخواند، و میگوید هر کشور حق دارد از منافع خود دفاع نماید و هرگاه امینت در کشور اخلال گردد آن کشور حق دارد که دست به کار شود و لانه های تخریب کاران را از هر کشوری که باشد از بین ببرد.

به گفته وی همه دنیا میدانند که پاکستان در امور داخلی افغانستان در چندین دهه مداخله کرده و میکند که باید از طریق سازمان ملل و امریکا بالای آن کشور فشار آورده شود تا از مداخله دست بکشد. در غیر آن دولت افغانستان به تنهای موفق نخواهد شد، که اقدام نماید.

موصوف میگوید که اگر پاکستان در بی ثباتی افغانستان دست نداشته باشد چرا هر باری که حکومت افغاسنتان اظهار میکند که ای اس ای در بی ثباتی و نا امن کشورش دست دارد انها عکس العمل نشان میدهند،و آن نشان دهنده آن است که پاکستان خود تروریست وهم حامی ان میباشد. پس اگر چنین نباشد چرا آن کشور نمیخواهد از گفته های آقای کرزی حمایت کنند. چون رییس جمهور در اظهارات شان تروریستان و حامیان انها را مخاطب قرار دادند نه دولت پاکستان را.

همچنان در اعلامیه شورای وزیران افغانستان آمده است که در اعتراض به ادامه مداخلات سازمان اطلاعاتی پاکستان در امور این کشور، سه جلسه از قبل "همکاری های مرزی، همکاری های مشترک اقتصادی و همکاری های اقتصادی منطقه ای" را به حالت تعلیق در می آورد. اما حکومت افغانستان با تاکید بر پیوندها و دوستی میان مردم دو کشور و ادامه حمایت از حکومت منتخب مردم پاکستان، خاطرنشان میسازد که در برابر سیاست های تخریب کارانه سازمان استخباراتی (ISI) و مقامات نظامی آن کشور، با دفاع از حق حاکمیت ملی خود، تا ایجاد فضای بحث و گفتگو و یافتن زمینه های اعتماد متقابل، ملاقات ها و گفتگوهای دو و چند جانبه (با پاکستان) را به حالت تعلیق آورد."

تحولات اخیر بار دیگر روابط میان افغانستان و پاکستان را گرفتار تنش ها کرده و بسیاری از افغانها نگران هستند که ادامه این تنش ها، باعث افزایش تعزیرات اقتصادی در افغانستان خواهد شد . اما ولسمل همچنان در رابطه به تعلیق در آوردن سه کنفرانس که قرار بود در آینده نزدیک در دبی و اسلام آباد دایر گردد، میگوید :" از برگزار کردن همچو جلسه ها به تعلیق در آوردن آن بهتر است چرا که در گذشته ما نیز شاید دایر شدن این چنین جلسه ها بودیم ، ولی چیز های که وعده داده میشد در عمل پیاده نمیگردید پس بهتر است که به تعلیق و یا هیچگاهی برگذار نگردد چرا که به نفع این کشور نبوده است."

موصوف به این عقیده است که از نگاه اقتصادی چندان ضربه در این کشور نخواهد زد ، اگر بندر پاکستان بسته شود بنادر دیگر کشور های هم سرحد در مقابل این افغانستان بسته نخواهد شد چراکه این کشور روابط خوب با ایران ، تاجکستان و دیگر همسایه ها دارد.

شورای وزیران افغانستان د ر جلسه هفته وار روزگذشته اش آشکار و صریح، نهاد های اطلاعاتی و استخبارتی پاکستان را برای برهم زدن ثبات در افغانستان متهم کرده، مسئولیت حمله خونین به سفارت هند در کابل را نیز بر گردن پاکستان انداخته است، داکتر رنگین دادفر سپنتا وزیر امور خارجه افغانستان گفت :" این کشوردر یک مبارزه ناخواسته با پاکستان قرار گرفته است. و اظهار این مطالب، نوعی از سیاست دفاع در برابر تجاوز است. فصل هفتم، ماده ۵۱ منشور سازمان ملل متحد حق دفاع مشروع به کشورها قایل شده و ما حق داریم با استفاده از تمام ابزار، از جمله ابزار تبلیغاتی، دپلوماتیک و اگر ایجاب کند، ابزار نظامی، از خود دفاع کنیم"

اما اقای رنجبر میگوید که روابط دیپلماتیک باید با پاکستان بیشتر از این تقویت گردد ، اگر جلسات به تعلیق می افتد ، خوب است که روابط را مستحکم تر و گسترش بدهیم و همکاری مشترک در از بین بردن تروریستان و القاعده میان دولیتن وجود داشته باشد.

اقای وفا مل نیز به گفته های ولسمل هم نظر بوده میگویدکه تاثیرات چندانی در تعزیرات اقتصادی افغانستان به وجود نخواهد آمد قسمی که همه آگاه اند وزیر امور خارجه کشور چندی قبل به کشور های اوکراین و روسیه سفر کرده بود که هر دو کشور وعده نمودند ،به افغانستان آرد و گندم میفرستند. و همچنان دیگر کشور ها نیز وعده های همکاری در این زمینه داده اند.

ولس مل این اظهارات کرزی را اعلان جنگ در مقابل پاکستان نمیداند اما میگوید در حال حاضر دولت افغانستان توانایی ان را دارد که از خود دفاع نماید چرا که نیروهای بیش از 35 کشور جهان در این جا حضور دارند ، اردو و پولیس افغانستان نیز نسبت به گذشته قویتر و فعالتر شده اند. که به همکاری آنها خوبتر می توانند از خود دفاع نمایند

روابط با پاکستان

حامد کرزی رییس جمهوری افغانستان در این اواخر به صراحت وبا لحن تند اعلام نمود که ای اس ای یا استخبارات نظامي کشور پاکستان در ناامنی های این کشور دخیل است و باید از مداخله در امور داخلی این کشور دست بردارد.

اقای کرزی گفته بود :" اگر حملات از داخل خاک پاکستان به افغانستان متوقف نشود، افغانستان پایگاه های شورشیان و تروریستان را در پاکستان هدف حمله قرار خواهد داد."

کشور پاکستان در اعتراض به این اظهارات رییس جمهوری افغانستان ، سفیر این کشور در اسلام آباد را احضار نموده و اعتراض رسمی خود نسبت به گفته های آقای کرزی را به اطلاع وی رساند. اگرچه دولت افغانستان چندین بار درگذشته ، پاکستان را به بی ثباتی افغانستان متهم کرده، اما لحن تند اعلامیه اخیر شورای وزیران افغانستان در نوع خود بی سابقه بوده است. که در مقابل، پاکستان همواره اتهام ارتباط برخی شبکه های اطلاعاتی و نظامی آن کشور با نا امنی در افغانستان را بی اساس خوانده و تاکیده نموده است که از امنیت و ثبات در افغانستان حمایت می کند.

اما عده از تحلیلگران سیاسی کشور اظهارات رییس جمهور افغانستان را تایید کرده به این عقیده اند، آقای کرزی باید مواردی را که اعلام میکند انرا در عمل پیاده و موضع گیری جدی در مقابل آن داشته باشد.

به گفته محمد حسن ولسمل تحلیلگر سیاسی کشور از ابتدای که این کشور به میان امده است ، هیچگاهی در مقابل افغانستان نظر نیک نداشته و همیشه به این کشور مداخله کرده که این دخالت ها اکثرا به مسله خط دیورند برمیگردد.

موصوف با انکه در مخالفت به سیتم کاری رییس جمهور قرار دارد اما میگوید :" من از این اظهارات و سیاست آقا کرزی در مقابل پاکستان سخت حمایت میکنم و امید وارم هستم که اقای رییس جمهور تا اخر در این مورد ایستاده گی نماید."

داکتر عبدالکبیر رنجبر یکی دیگر از تحلیلگران سیاسی و عضو ولسی جرگه نیز به گفته های ولسمل همنظر بوده اما میگوید که در شرایط فعلی اقای کرزی نباید چنین تند و برهنه صحبت میکرد باید از طریق جامعه جهانی این مسله را مطرح میکرد تا مردم از این ناحیه بیشتر متضرر نمبگردیدند.

اما وی تاکید میکند که دست ای اس ای پاکستان میتواند بیشتر از این به گریبان حکومت افغانستان دراز گردد، چراکه انها در طول سال های متمادی همواره دست به تخریب و ویرانی افغانستان زده اند. که بیشتر مردم افغانستان قربانی این حادثات گردیده اند.

همچنان زلمی وفامل کارشناس مسایل سیاسی اظهارات رییس جمهور کشور را کاملا بجا و مطابق فیصله نامه شورای امنیت سازمان ملل متحد میخواند، و میگوید هر کشور حق دارد از منافع خود دفاع نماید و هرگاه امینت در کشور اخلال گردد آن کشور حق دارد که دست به کار شود و لانه های تخریب کاران را از هر کشوری که باشد از بین ببرد.

به گفته وی همه دنیا میدانند که پاکستان در امور داخلی افغانستان در چندین دهه مداخله کرده و میکند که باید از طریق سازمان ملل و امریکا بالای آن کشور فشار آورده شود تا از مداخله دست بکشد. در غیر آن دولت افغانستان به تنهای موفق نخواهد شد، که اقدام نماید.

موصوف میگوید که اگر پاکستان در بی ثباتی افغانستان دست نداشته باشد چرا هر باری که حکومت افغاسنتان اظهار میکند که ای اس ای در بی ثباتی و نا امن کشورش دست دارد انها عکس العمل نشان میدهند،و آن نشان دهنده آن است که پاکستان خود تروریست وهم حامی ان میباشد. پس اگر چنین نباشد چرا آن کشور نمیخواهد از گفته های آقای کرزی حمایت کنند. چون رییس جمهور در اظهارات شان تروریستان و حامیان انها را مخاطب قرار دادند نه دولت پاکستان را.

همچنان در اعلامیه شورای وزیران افغانستان آمده است که در اعتراض به ادامه مداخلات سازمان اطلاعاتی پاکستان در امور این کشور، سه جلسه از قبل "همکاری های مرزی، همکاری های مشترک اقتصادی و همکاری های اقتصادی منطقه ای" را به حالت تعلیق در می آورد. اما حکومت افغانستان با تاکید بر پیوندها و دوستی میان مردم دو کشور و ادامه حمایت از حکومت منتخب مردم پاکستان، خاطرنشان میسازد که در برابر سیاست های تخریب کارانه سازمان استخباراتی (ISI) و مقامات نظامی آن کشور، با دفاع از حق حاکمیت ملی خود، تا ایجاد فضای بحث و گفتگو و یافتن زمینه های اعتماد متقابل، ملاقات ها و گفتگوهای دو و چند جانبه (با پاکستان) را به حالت تعلیق آورد."

تحولات اخیر بار دیگر روابط میان افغانستان و پاکستان را گرفتار تنش ها کرده و بسیاری از افغانها نگران هستند که ادامه این تنش ها، باعث افزایش تعزیرات اقتصادی در افغانستان خواهد شد . اما ولسمل همچنان در رابطه به تعلیق در آوردن سه کنفرانس که قرار بود در آینده نزدیک در دبی و اسلام آباد دایر گردد، میگوید :" از برگزار کردن همچو جلسه ها به تعلیق در آوردن آن بهتر است چرا که در گذشته ما نیز شاید دایر شدن این چنین جلسه ها بودیم ، ولی چیز های که وعده داده میشد در عمل پیاده نمیگردید پس بهتر است که به تعلیق و یا هیچگاهی برگذار نگردد چرا که به نفع این کشور نبوده است."

موصوف به این عقیده است که از نگاه اقتصادی چندان ضربه در این کشور نخواهد زد ، اگر بندر پاکستان بسته شود بنادر دیگر کشور های هم سرحد در مقابل این افغانستان بسته نخواهد شد چراکه این کشور روابط خوب با ایران ، تاجکستان و دیگر همسایه ها دارد.

شورای وزیران افغانستان د ر جلسه هفته وار روزگذشته اش آشکار و صریح، نهاد های اطلاعاتی و استخبارتی پاکستان را برای برهم زدن ثبات در افغانستان متهم کرده، مسئولیت حمله خونین به سفارت هند در کابل را نیز بر گردن پاکستان انداخته است، داکتر رنگین دادفر سپنتا وزیر امور خارجه افغانستان گفت :" این کشوردر یک مبارزه ناخواسته با پاکستان قرار گرفته است. و اظهار این مطالب، نوعی از سیاست دفاع در برابر تجاوز است. فصل هفتم، ماده ۵۱ منشور سازمان ملل متحد حق دفاع مشروع به کشورها قایل شده و ما حق داریم با استفاده از تمام ابزار، از جمله ابزار تبلیغاتی، دپلوماتیک و اگر ایجاب کند، ابزار نظامی، از خود دفاع کنیم"

اما اقای رنجبر میگوید که روابط دیپلماتیک باید با پاکستان بیشتر از این تقویت گردد ، اگر جلسات به تعلیق می افتد ، خوب است که روابط را مستحکم تر و گسترش بدهیم و همکاری مشترک در از بین بردن تروریستان و القاعده میان دولیتن وجود داشته باشد.

اقای وفا مل نیز به گفته های ولسمل هم نظر بوده میگویدکه تاثیرات چندانی در تعزیرات اقتصادی افغانستان به وجود نخواهد آمد قسمی که همه آگاه اند وزیر امور خارجه کشور چندی قبل به کشور های اوکراین و روسیه سفر کرده بود که هر دو کشور وعده نمودند ،به افغانستان آرد و گندم میفرستند. و همچنان دیگر کشور ها نیز وعده های همکاری در این زمینه داده اند.

ولس مل این اظهارات کرزی را اعلان جنگ در مقابل پاکستان نمیداند اما میگوید در حال حاضر دولت افغانستان توانایی ان را دارد که از خود دفاع نماید چرا که نیروهای بیش از 35 کشور جهان در این جا حضور دارند ، اردو و پولیس افغانستان نیز نسبت به گذشته قویتر و فعالتر شده اند. که به همکاری آنها خوبتر می توانند از خود دفاع نمایند

Afghan women

by: sofya panova

“Women’s question” in Afghanistan provides a vivid illustration of ongoing emotional and sensitive debates on universalism versus cultural relativism, individualism versus tribalism, women’s rights versus community rights, secularism versus religious state, the nature of islamist movements versus development and the critique of orientalism. The afghan social structure is characterized by institutionalization of extremely restrictive codes of the behavior for women, the practice of strict gender segregation and ideology linking family honour to female virtue. Men (with no regards to their age) are entrusted with safeguarding family honour through their control over female members. They are backed by complex social arrangements which ensure the so-called protection and dependence of women. While most social scientists distinguish gender from sex and agree that gender roles are not biologically determined in Afghanistan there is no difference between sex and gender. In Afghanistan and much of the Muslim world, there is still a predefined stereotypical image of women with fixed idea of what is considered to be her proper behavior and appearances. Afghans are extremely serious about social codes and indicators and basically they live by them, often in denial, rather then by feelings, logic and so on. As a matter of fact a bunch of cultural prototypical patterns determine their actions and individuality. The woman position in the society with all its consequences is customarily justified by invoking Quranic prescriptions. The social role creation and adoption starts with birth (women are regarded stupid by birth (naqis-e-aql) and people still tend to celebrate the birth of a boy but not of a girl and continues through whole life experience. From the early childhood. Girls live in atmosphere of mistrust. They learn early that they are untrustworthy beings who constitute the danger for the tribe. For this reason girls have to be invisible, so work indoors for many becomes house arrest which can start in puberty. Afghan gender roles and women’s status work as property relations, where women and children tend to be assimilated into the concept of property and therefore to belong to men. Marriage is a transaction between households, an indicator of a status; it’s a way of ending feuds, compensating for blood, paying off debts, cementing alliances between families, increasing families prestige or accumulating wealth. Female is a perfect gift inalienably linked to the father by birth, but transferable for the practice of daily life – to her husband. Quite often a teenage girl on a horse in nice dress and covered in jewellery is sent to the house of the avenger. The avenger family can’t return the girl back, that would be against the code of honour, Nanawatey requires Pashtuns to protect all living creature and that includes your enemy.

The woman is a dead end for her own patriline but she can make herself useful to her husband’s patriline – by giving birth. Woman’s role is being a giver of temporal pleasure and physical producer of man’s children, in each role she earns her worth by and through men. Afghan society is strongly dominated by sexual morality derived from tribal arab values dating from the time the prophet received his instructions from Allah. From times when women were property of their fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers or guardians. The essence of the women is reduced to her hymen. It’s most important part of her body and should be treated with more caution. The look of an Afghan girl must only meet the ground, she is not to look up; her eyes should not meet the eyes of a stranger on the street. Girl education starts with sexual education, sport and intense activities or for that matter any physical exercise should not be performed because they pose a risk to hymen. Sex education is a series of warning; shame and guilt sanctions girls’ behaviour. Afghan girls are trained to suppress her own desires to empty herself of authentic wishes and fill the vacuum with the desires of others. There are girls who broke rank but they vanished into thick air. marriages and rapes are still widespread especially in rural areas. UNICEF says child marriages are a reaction to extreme poverty, where families see daughters as a burden and as second-class citizens. 57 percent of Afghan marriages involve girls under 16, up to 80 percent of marriages in the country are either forced or arranged. Most marry far older men whom they meet for the first time at their wedding. Some girls are so young that they hold onto their toys during the wedding ceremony. As I said afghan men are controlling women, which is considered necessary as women are regarded as potential source of social anarchy and disorder. Supposedly they can’t control their natural drives including sexual impulses, while men are able natural inclinations in control. “Islamic sexual culture emphasizes the female as powerful, seductive temptress who consciously or unconsciously is driven to capture the hearts and souls of men and will distract men from focusing on god”. Basically woman means sexuality. Funnily enough as a part of living in denial some women got persuaded in this. I have witnessed several times women far from being attractive (not only by my standards) were behaving as if they were sexual goddess, worth kilos of gold and were even accusing male colleagues of sexual harassment (a though which would have never crossed a sound mind of an accused man). The central concern of Islamic sexual doctrine is prostitution and illegitimate children, meaning those born from prostitutes.
Afghanistan is one of the world's most conservative countries, yet its sex trade appears to be thriving. Sex is sold most obviously at brothels full of women from China who serve both Afghans and foreigners. Far more controversial are Afghan prostitutes, who are practicing anal sex to remain virgins. Beatings, cutting off noses, ears and feet and rape are increasingly common. Unbelievably, a woman often has to prove her lack of consent in a rape case in order to avoid being punished for it. Moreover rape may be treated as adultery and punished accordingly if a settlement cannot be reached between the two families concerned. So half of the women in afghan jail are imprisoned for “moral crimes” should not be there at all and would qualify as victims rather than criminals under any interpretation of international human rights laws, including those to which Afghanistan is a signatory.

Depression, mental health problems and suicides (especially self immolation) still occur on a very widespread level. Last year, almost 500 women chose death or disfigurement to a life of despair by setting themselves on fire to escape forced marriages, slavery or sexual and other types of abuse. Anyway, if any deviation to strict code of chastity is observed in an Afghan wife, her husband takes the blame. If a bride is not virgin, it's the responsibility of the husband to kill her. Social humiliation compels Afghan men not to take any risk with their wives and prohibit them from any genuine and spontaneous action. Afghan society affects husband attitude in regard to their wife. Work, entertainment and sport for men are highly competitive and pitiful. It doesn't allow men to express themselves positively, the general attitude in men circles is linguistically sexist and promotes an atmosphere that men does not want their woman even not to be mentioned at, let alone being part of it. Men are indirectly also victims of the culture of virginity. As a result of oppressive culture, boys and men are not raised by healthy, balanced and well-educated mothers. Because of the disproportionately strong emphasis on manliness and because of physical and mental separation of sexes, men hardly have an opportunity to develop the communication skills necessary for living harmoniously within a family. Since most women are excluded from education and purposely kept ignorant when they raise children they can pass only their limited knowledge and perpetrate a vicious circle of generation to generation. Many muslim girls are brought up according to the Koran to live submissively which make it very difficult to liberate themselves when they are older. It appears that women have internalized their subordination they no longer experience it as an oppression by an external force. Oppression and overall harsh conditions make women passive in life and to be guided by a sense of fatalism. Constantly being controlled by dogma, prescriptions, stifling culture of gossip every child (both female and male) has to learn his/her social skills in the culture of shame, which centers on the concept of honour and disgrace. Surprisingly women who have managed to master the survival strategies derive a certain pride from living this way. Some, apparently educated, learned how to exploit the concept of being inaccessible sexual goddess and coming out with ways how to sell themselves expensively and worthy. Ironically, the repression of women maintained to a large extent by other women. Even educated women often have difficulty relinquishing ideas that have been installed in the since childhood. In traditional families, it is often mothers who keep their daughters under their thumbs and the mothers in law who make the lives of their in laws very hard. The culture of gossiping is overwhelming. Apparently, it seems there is a way to break this vicious circle, which requires certain imagination and self-confidence and irony. A young and good looking woman would be saved from discrimination and sexist attitude if her gender identity contrast sharply with that assigned to women and if her gender appearance as a woman in public does not coincide with social indicator. As a matter of fact, one can win a lot of respect by building own unknown to the community identity. This is not only limited to appearance, women interpersonal behavior determines their social role too. As it was pointed out, woman role indications are attributed by society, so if a woman doesn't go by those indications and attributes people would not realize her gender identity. Basically in order to be respected one has to behave less like an afghan woman.

A woman can be as influential in Afghan society as a man if she adopts social expression inconsistent with woman identity. A good friend of my husband is now an Afghan Parliamentarian, Sharifa Zormant, who used to be a daring journalist. She is representing southern Afghanistan in national assembly - a woman is representing some of the most conservative people in the world. She was traveling in the back of a truck with men, sleeping in the same room with men and lived without her husband from time to time. She did all this because she didn't express herself as typical afghan women do. She has departed from the social woman role defined as the kinds of activities that society determines to be appropriate for women. Fanaticism surrounds advocacy and adversary of sexual arrangement in Afghanistan. Perspectives into sex are fanatic which is the reason for an inaccurate explanation and failure to explain some important realities. when clergy and statesmen press for sustaining status quo by approving and praising the sexual arrangement they fail to account for sexual deviations and the depression of a grey life for most Afghans. Afghan society only appreciates woman’s body and kills her soul while claiming to do vice versa. A lot of traditional muslims are inclined to view universal values such as freedom of the individual and the equality of men and women as exclusively western values. I believe in universal human rights. There is nothing “natural” about ethnic, gender or class oppression and it’s hypocritical to trivialize and tolerate these practices. Official spokespersons for Afghan and widely Muslim women are nearly all men who in the majority of cases tend to deny, trivialize or avoid the enormous problems of Muslim girls and women.