November 12, 2001
NBC TV reported from a part of Afghanistan "liberated" by the Northern Alliance.
Within about 1 minute, at least five women in burqa, led by at least one man, walked behind the journalist.
The burqa is the moral equivalent of the chains of slavery - it is a symbol of the enslavement of women in Afghanistan and in other parts of the world.
So much for the "Northern Alliance" being "liberators." The politics of oppression are still going on in Afghanistan. We are in a war against the Taliban, but we are helping people that appear to not treat half their population any differently.
The American government did not seem to care about the Afghani women since 1996, and still, now, does not seem to care.
November 14, 2001
In response to the title...maybe.
On this morning's news, I saw something I hadn't seen in over five years - the face of an Afghan woman in public in Afghanistan. That was kind of a relief.
But all day yesterday, I heard on the news dozens of times that men in Afghanistan were shaving their beards and listening to music. I didn't hear one time that women were throwing off their burqas.
Just to clarify - the burqa is not the same thing as a head scarf, which is traditional for Moslem women. The burqa is a head-to-foot garment which makes a woman almost completely invisible. It's even worse than the black chador mandated in Iran under the Ayatollah. The burqa also completely covers the face. A small, colored mesh area lets the woman see out, but does not let anyone see in.
November 17, 2001
I commend both the President and Mrs. Bush for taking the Saturday radio broadcast to discuss the situation of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
November 20, 2001
I heard an interesting Afghan woman on the radio this morning. She had been running an underground school for girls during the last five years. She theorized that the main reason the Taliban was so restrictive about women was because many of the Taliban were involved in terroristic planning. Women would be more likely to speak out against it. So to they had to be shut up.