Military

DATE=02/12/2002

TYPE=EDITORIAL

NUMBER=0-09702

TITLE=EDITORIAL: CHALLENGE FOR AFGHAN WOMEN

INTERNET=Yes

CONTENT=THIS EDITORIAL IS BEING RELEASED FOR USE BY ALL SERVICES.

Anncr: Next, an editorial expressing the policies of the United States Government:

Voice: Four months ago, Afghan medical doctor Sima Samar [see-mah sah-mahr] was a refugee from the despotic rule of the Taleban. "I am still in love with that country," she told a Western correspondent. "I am dreaming of going back."

That dream is now a reality, thanks to Afghan resistance forces and the United States-led coalition that drove the Taleban and their al-Qaida terrorist allies from power. Dr. Samar is the new minister of women's affairs for Afghanistan's interim government.

When the Taleban seized Kabul in 1996, Dr. Samar was appalled at their cruelty. "There were no hospitals for women," she said, "no facilities for" childbirth.

Dr. Samar had established several hospitals and clinics, and dozens of schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Taleban leaders ordered her to close the schools and threatened her with violence. She responded, "Hang me and announce my crimes: 'she is giving pens and pencils and papers to girls.'" When the Taleban decreed that girls could be educated only up to the sixth grade, Dr. Samar changed the classroom numbering so that grade twelve became grade six.

In 1998, two of her hospitals were bombed by the Taleban. Taleban officials threatened her with death for treating women and wounded Northern Alliance soldiers.

Dr. Samar is one of many brave Afghan women. They include Dr. Suhaila Siddiqa [soo-high-lah sih-deek], now Afghanistan's minister of health. She also defied the Taleban by providing health care and schooling to Afghan women and girls.

Before the Taleban seized power, thirty percent of the civil servants and seventy percent of the teachers in Afghanistan's major cities were women. Driven from these professions and made virtual prisoners in their homes, Afghan women are now working to rebuild their shattered country.

There is much to do. Ninety percent of Afghan women are illiterate. Some one-million are widows -- many with children to feed. Life expectancy for women in Afghanistan is low. The U.S. and other donors are ready to assist in Afghanistan's recovery. That recovery must include freedom and dignity for Afghan women.

Anncr: That was an editorial expressing the policies of the United States Government. If you have a comment, please write to Editorials, V-O-A, Washington, D-C, 20237, U-S-A. You may also comment at www-dot-ibb-dot-gov-slash-editorials, or fax us at (202) 619-1043.