In a new blog entry over at the Feminist Peace Network, Lucinda Marshall takes on the notion that continued US military presence in Afghanistan is beneficial for women's human rights. She gathers evidence--including MADRE resources we've previously posted on this blog--to clearly demonstrate that the war in Afghanistan was never intended to protect the rights of women. Rather, US military presence has undermined women's rights by contributing to the resurgence of the Taliban and prolonging a war that continues to cause widespread civilian suffering.
You can read the blog entry in full here. Here are a few excerpts:
War today is not fought on some obscure battlefield. It is fought in cities and towns where people live. When hospitals and homes and fields and schools are destroyed, there is no place for women to obtain medical care, or a warm shelter to call home, food to put on the table or a way to educate themselves or their children.[...]
At the end of the day, militarism is not about upholding human rights, it is about asserting control and the cost of that is always the loss of life and liberty for those who have the misfortune to be in the line of fire. The U.S. is not waging war in Afghanistan for the benefit of Afghanis and their welfare is purely incidental to that mission.
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