Females, once considered worth less
than scum by Muslim males, are now coming into their own in Afghanistan,
thanks to a democracy planting ongoing. There is no other answer but
to recognize that it is because of the Bush administration and US
assistance in that Muslim country that much progress is being made
on numerous levels. The female advance is particularly interesting
and laudable.
There are 582 females now running for office in the September
18 elections. That’s awesome beyond imagination. Yet it is fact.
Prior
these very women were under threat from the Islamic killers international
who wanted to snuff out any semblance of personal liberties. Now these
women are courageous enough to put their names on ballots for public
office in Afghanistan. It’s unheard of. It’s practically unbelievable;
nevertheless, it is reality.
However, with the jubilation there are
still Taliban holdouts who say they are going to slaughter any females
who run for office. An Afghan woman UN election volunteer was attacked
this summer in Kandahar province. She was able to escape unhurt, but
the situation is a warning. The tussle continues. Freedoms do not
come easily. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes perseverance.
Though
the American liberals cannot seem to understand patience in time,
let alone courage in perseverance, due to their constant litany of
woes regarding the Bush administration democracy plantings, there
are Afghans who do very much understand these personal qualities.
They cherish them and put them into action. While the likes of Ted
Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi continue their political tirades against
the Bush freedom spread, those in Afghanistan stay the course. While
Cindy Sheehans continue their political opportunism rants, Afghan
women in particular see goals unseen by such blind feminists as the
Cindy types.
So it is that these Afghan women expect to have their
names there in plain sight, regardless of the threats from Muslim
murderers global. They will not be daunted. And some of them expect
to be elected to serve in a political office.
"Before U.S.-led forces ousted them from power in 2001, the Taliban barred women from working and girls from studying. Women were unable to travel without a male relative accompanying them and if they were caught outside without wearing an all-encompassing burqa, they were often beaten.
"’The
militants phone me all the time, threatening to kill me. One day while
driving, two men on a motorbike even pulled up next to me and pulled
out a gun to intimidate me,’ said Shaheeda Hussain, an independent
candidate in southern Kandahar city.
"’But I am determined to
work for women's rights. I've been campaigning to other women in their
houses and my supporters have pasted my posters on walls around the
city,’ she said."
Would that American liberals had like courage. That
they would learn from the grassroots patience in time experienced
by these Afghan women who daily are under siege for standing their
ground for personal liberties.
While American liberals enjoy every
day such freedoms without question, they war against planting a democracy
for the Afghans. While American liberals breathe in fresh liberty
air every dawn, they set landmines for every Republican working night
and day to assist those in other countries with the freedom spread.
It’s
interesting the contrast, isn’t it?
Copyright© 9/2/2005 by J.
Grant Swank, Jr.
Joseph Grant Swank, Jr. is an author of
5 books and thousands of articles in various Protestant and Catholic
magazines, journals, web sites, and newspapers, as well as a
writer of a weekly religion column for PORTLAND PRESS HERALD newspaper,
Portland ME. He is a graduate of accredited college (BA) and seminary
(M Div) with graduate work at Harvard Divinity School. He is also
the winner of First Prize Writing Contest which yielded a three-week
guided tour of the Middle East. Married for 44 years with 3 adult
children, Mr. Swank is Pastor for New Hope Church, Windham, Maine.
His
website is truthinconviction.us/weblog.php
