Starts with the Children
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=77695
Until we are able to either convince the enemy that this will not be tolerated (via dying) or we are able to convince the local people that they need to step up and not allow this to happen, progress will never be substantial. The people of Afghanistan are largely illiterate and the coalition forces are trying hard to change that. We have built school after school over there. Businesses, private citizens and even civil groups have worked hard or donated money and items to supply schools or at least supply village children that don’t have a school yet with the necessary supplies.
The story in the link above just sickens my heart, because I was there and I saw what little to nothing these kids had in everyday life and how an open courtyard underneath the blistering sun served as a school because there was nothing else. The Taliban and their supporters only attack these schools because they allow females to attend. When I was there, I was on more presence patrols than I can even count, and the first thing we would ask people was “where is the school?” And if there was one we then asked “are girls allowed to attend”. If the answer to both was “yes”, then we knew there was a good chance that no Taliban lived in the village. That did not mean no bad guys lived there, it just meant no Taliban lived there. If the answer was “no” to one or both of those, especially the second question, then we knew with certainty that Taliban either lived there or came through often enough that the local people would not even chance allowing a girl to attend school.
The kids of Afghanistan have it hard enough. Just being born there has the odds stacked against them. If they are a girl then they have a hard life no matter where they turn until they return to the earth. I always felt the most sorrow for the little girls because I knew dogs were treated better than them and that were born into a life of abuse, unfairness and hardship. Now that we have essentially kicked the Taliban out, our country along with all of those of the coalition forces are trying to spread education and maybe give those little girls a fighting chance one day.
Until we can kill all Taliban and send them home to Allah, little girls will never have a chance at a life.
