From day one of game on for invading Afghanistan, one of the most compelling parts of the why we must invade and now apparently stay indefinitely in Afghanistan narrative has been that it will save the lives of women who are being brutalized by the Taliban. And brutalized they have been and continue to be. But the real story is that Afghan women have been and are brutalized by just about everyone, not only the Taliban.
On the Feminist Peace Network blog and in articles, I have pointed to stories of Afghan women being set on fire or setting themselves on fire to escape horrific personal situations more times than I can count. There is nothing new in this, but it is nonetheless good to see this feature piece on this atrocity in The New York Times.
What I think is most notable about this piece is that first, it portrays immolation as the intimate, personal violence that it is, there is no attempt to paint this as something perpetrated by the Taliban, nor an effort to paint this as a reason for the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. Given that Afghan women’s lives have been used all too often as a deliberate call to war, the framing of this piece is quite welcome.
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