Kabul Isn't Kansas

I Could Scream is a new blog looking at women under Islam. Here is a recent post looking at women in Afghanistan.

But Kabul isn't Kansas, Dorothy. In Afghanistan just over half of the men are literate. Among the women, only a fifth of them can read.

The maternal mortality rate is 1,700 per 100,000 live births, and a quarter of the children die before their fifth birthday. By the age of 18 over half of the girls in Afghanistan are married, sold off by their families for reasons of survival.

Health care is practically non-existent. Safe drinking water is a rarity, and the lack of adequate sanitation leads to an increase in disease. Tuberculosis still kills in Afghanistan, and 64 percent of its victims are women.

And the coup de grace is the level of physical disability in this benighted country. Over one million people are disabled, many by landmines; Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. According to the UN Mine Action Programme, Afghanistan has more than 732 square kilometres of its territory mined and about 500 square kilometres of unexploded ordnance.

So imagine this: Your name is Sonali. You're a middle-aged widow in Herat. You can't read or write. You have tuberculosis, and one of your children is missing a foot. Your oldest son died when he was four, and you have already sold off your 13 year-old daughter. What is your next move?

One thing for sure, don't ask the UN for help, they'll rape what women are left.
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