Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the Taliban's morality laws, which severely limit women's roles in society, are a form of systematic gender persecution.

Speaking to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Türk criticised new rules that ban women's voices in public and enforce strict dress codes, including mandatory full-body coverings.

"I shudder to think what is next for the women and girls of Afghanistan" Türk said.

The Taliban, who regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, have systematically continued the repression of Afghan women. They have excluded women from public life, education and most forms of employment.

Despite their initial promises of a more moderate rule, the regime has since prohibited girls from attending school beyond primary level and restricted women's access to work and healthcare unless accompanied by a male guardian. Public punishments for not adhering to the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic dress codes have also been reported.

"I want to make clear my abhorrence of these latest measures which include forbidding even eye contact between women and men who are not related and imposing mandatory covering for women from head to toe, including their faces" Türk told the council members.

Institutionalising gender discrimination

The Taliban have yet to respond to the UN's statements. However their latest actions, including banning women's voices from public broadcast and tightening restrictions on travel, have drawn widespread international criticism. The Taliban's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has enforced these rules which further isolate Afghanistan from the global community.

Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, also addressed the council. He warned that these policies are institutionalising gender discrimination and could have long-lasting impacts on Afghan society.

Bennett said he had talked to Afghans in several provinces. They had described a visible increase in the presence of morality inspectors and tightening restrictions, particularly on people's freedom of movement.

The UN has called for greater humanitarian assistance, with 24 million Afghans currently in need of aid. Yet the Taliban's policies, along with international sanctions, have hindered the flow of much-needed support.

Sources

AP News

Speaking about the conflict in Palestine and Israel after praying the Angelus in St Peter's Square this week, Francis asked the world to "think of the children" who suffer as a result of war.

For "all the children affected by this war, as well as in Ukraine and in other conflicts - this is how their future is being killed" Francis told them.

He reminded them that many children were taken hostage on 7 October during the Hamas attack.

In God's name stop!

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says of the over 200 hostages held in Gaza, 33 are children.

"May they return to their families" the Pope prayed.

"May the hostages be freed immediately."

Francis begged that "avenues will be pursued so that an escalation of the conflict might be absolutely avoided."

This is urgent "so that the wounded can be rescued and help might get to the population of Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely serious."

The Gaza Health Ministry estimates over 9,000 people have been killed and 32,000 wounded in Israel's war against Hamas.

"I continue to think about the serious situation in Palestine and in Israel where many, many people have lost their lives" Francis said.

"In God's name, I beg you to stop. Cease fire!"

Widespread suffering

Besides those affected by wars, Francis reminded the St Peter's crowd that other parts of the world are seeing great suffering at present too.

He mentioned particularly the people of Nepal, to whom he expressed his closeness.

They suffered an earthquake that killed 150 people on 3 November.

He also prayed for Afghan refugees in Pakistan who are facing mass deportation.

Source

• Catholic Leader

On 20 July, the newspaper dedicated its front page to condemning the Taliban's decree that all Afghanistan's beauty centres must close down.

The beauty centre closure is a complete shutdown.

The Taliban decree is likely to negatively affect thousands of women-run businesses. Many have families and no other source of income.

The Kabul Chamber of Commerce estimates 50,000 women will lose their jobs as 12,000 businesses close.

The decree has sparked protests and widespread concern. Some 50 women even braved personal danger to protest in the capital city last week.

The Taliban dispersed them with gunfire and fire hydrants.

Afghanistan "has been plunged back into darkness for almost two years now," the article says. (The two-year time span refers to the Taliban's return to power in August 2021.)

Banning beauty centres is the latest in many Taliban efforts to control women's rights.

The centres "were one of the last spaces of freedom and gathering for Afghan women", the article continues.

"Women have been banned from working in NGOs; they have been barred from most secondary schools, universities and public administrations.

"They have been denied access to parks, gardens, sports centres and public bathrooms, while they are once again obliged to cover their faces when they leave their homes."

UN support

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is gravely concerned about how the Taliban suppressed the women's peaceful protest.

UNAMA condemned it as a significant setback for women's rights in Afghanistan.

The UN mission urges the Taliban to respect citizens' rights to voice their opinions without fear of violence.

As international attention remains on the unfolding situation, Afghan women's plight continues to draw global concern.

Observers are monitoring developments in Afghanistan, particularly in relation to the future of women's rights and gender equality.

The United Nations mission in Unama is also openly supporting the women.

"The news of the forced repression of a peaceful protest by women against the closure of beauty salons, the latest denial of women's rights in Afghanistan, is deeply disturbing,' the UN mission in Unama said in a statement.

It is urging the Taliban "to guarantee the right of citizens to express their views without suffering violence."

Source

• Osservatore Romano

But Parwana's laughter disappears as she returns home, a small hut with dirt walls, where she's reminded of her fate: she's being sold to a stranger as a child bride.

The man who wants to buy Parwana says he's 55, but to her, he's "an old man" with white eyebrows and a thick white beard, she told CNN on October 22. She worries he will beat her and force her to work in his house.

But her parents say they have no choice.

For four years, her family have lived in an Afghan displacement camp in northwestern Badghis province, surviving on humanitarian aid and menial work earning a few dollars a day. But life has only gotten harder since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan on August 15.

As international aid dries up and the country's economy collapses, they're unable to afford basic necessities like food. Her father already sold her 12-year-old sister several months ago.

Parwana is one of many young Afghan girls sold into marriage as the country's humanitarian crisis deepens. Hunger has pushed some families to make heartbreaking decisions, especially as the brutal winter approaches.

The parents gave CNN full access and permission to speak to the children and show their faces because they say they cannot change the practice themselves.

"Day by day, the numbers are increasing of families selling their children," said Mohammad Naiem Nazem, a human rights activist in Badghis. "Lack of food, lack of work, the families feel they have to do this."

Abdul Malik, Parwana's father, can't sleep at night. Ahead of the sale, he told CNN he's "broken" with guilt, shame and worry.

He had tried to avoid selling her — he travelled to the provincial capital city Qala-e-Naw to search unsuccessfully for work, even borrowing "lots of money" from relatives, and his wife resorted to begging other camp residents for food.
But he felt he had no choice if he wants to feed his family.

"We are eight family members," he told CNN. "I have to sell to keep other family members alive."

The money from Parwana's sale will only sustain the family for a few months before Malik has to find another solution, he said.

Parwana said she hoped to change her parents' minds — she had dreams of becoming a teacher and didn't want to give up her education. But her pleas were futile.

On October 24, Qorban, the buyer, who only has one name, arrived at her home and handed 200,000 Afghanis (about $2,200) in the form of sheep, land and cash to Parwana's father.

Qorban didn't describe the sale as a marriage, saying he already had a wife who would look after Parwana as if she were one of their own children.

"(Parwana) was cheap, and her father was very poor and he needs money," Qorban said.

"She will be working in my home. I won't beat her. I will treat her like a family member. I will be kind."

Parwana, dressed in a black head covering with a colourful floral garland around her neck, hid her face and whimpered as her weeping father told Qorban: "This is your bride. Please take care of her — you are responsible for her now, please don't beat her."

Qorban agreed, then gripped Parwana's arm and led her out the door. As they left, her father watching by the doorway, Parwana dug her feet into the dirt and tried to pull away — but it was no use. She was dragged to the waiting car, which slowly pulled away.

Since the Taliban's takeover, stories like Parwana's have been on the rise.

Though marrying off children under 15 is illegal nationwide, it has been commonly practised for years, especially in more rural parts of Afghanistan. And it has only spread since August, driven by widespread hunger and desperation.

More than half the population is facing acute food insecurity, according to a United Nations report released this week. And more than 3 million children under age 5 face acute malnutrition in the coming months. All the while, food prices are soaring, banks are running out of money and workers are going unpaid. Continue reading

However, today, I am sorry to say to girls that I do not have good news for you. You have grown up with the promise of a better future. Throughout your life, you have seen international forces in Afghanistan as they were stabilizing the region, with the promise of a better future.

Throughout your life, you were told about human rights and that they were also for women and girls.

• You were told that women can rule the world.
• You have seen the powerful women on the news.
• You have gone to school to have a better future.
• You have made plans for a better future.
• You have had dreams and hopes for a better future.

Then, in August 2021, all these promises, plans, dreams and hopes came crashing down one by one until there was nothing left.

After August 2021, you were told to stay home, as otherwise, you would not be safe.

You were told you could leave home only with a male chaperone.

After August 2021, you watched girls in sixth grade and below returning to school, but you know that their happiness is only temporary.

After August 2021, you were not called back to school for seventh grade or above.

You stayed home.

You know from your parents that under the Taliban reign between 1996 and 2001, women and girls were barred from school.

You wonder whether this is going to happen to you, too.

You wonder how you will be able to become a doctor or a lawyer without an education.

After August 2021, you watched as every piece of the country was taken over by the Taliban.

You watched as people were being killed or tortured. Thousands were fleeing. Thousands went into hiding. You are afraid, too. You smiled when you saw women protesting the reign of the Taliban.

That smile disappeared more with every whip they received for daring to protest.

After August 2021, you wondered whether you and your family could find a safe haven somewhere else where girls could have a better future. But you know that no nation is performing evacuations anymore.

You hear that nations do not want to offer resettlement for Afghans anymore.

You hear stories of the people left behind.

On this International Day of the Girl Child, I would like to tell you that there will be a future; however, I cannot make such a promise.

I fear for your future and I fear there is nothing I can do. For this, I apologize.

On Dec. 19, 2011, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 and so declared Oct. 11 the International Day of the Girl Child.

The day is focused on working toward empowering girls.

The resolution identifies that "empowerment of and investment in girls, which are critical for ... the meaningful participation of girls in decisions that affect them, are key in breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and in promoting and protecting the full and effective enjoyment of their human rights, and recognizing also that empowering girls requires their active participation in decision-making processes and the active support and engagement of their parents, legal guardians, families and care providers, as well as boys and men and the wider community."

• Ewelina U. Ochab is a legal researcher, human rights advocate, doctoral candidate and author of the book "Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East" and more than 30 U.N. reports. She works on the topic of the persecution of minorities around the world.
• This piece was republished from Forbes with permission.

How can any honest, moral, objective view conclude that all of the money wasted, goodwill lost, Americans and allies killed and countless innocent poor Afghan children, women and men sacrificed on the altar of war was worth it (see: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures).

In his famous speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" - delivered exactly one year before his assassination - Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. prophetically declared that "War is not the answer."

He added, "We must find an alternative to war and bloodshed." The war we are fighting "has strengthened the military-industrial complex." This war "has played havoc with our domestic destinies … it has put us in a position of appearing to the world as an arrogant nation. … The judgment of God is upon us today."

These words spoken by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. concerning the Vietnam War could just as easily be spoken about America's violent involvement in Afghanistan.

Yes indeed, like the Vietnam War, the armed conflict in Afghanistan, not to mention the known wars in places like Iraq, Syria - and God and the CIA only knows where else - "has strengthened the military-industrial complex" once again.

Weapon producing corporations like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics reap huge wartime profits at the expense of the poor and war-torn.

At Vatican II, the world's Catholic bishops prophetically declared: "Since peace must to born of mutual trust between nations and not be imposed on them through fear of the available weapons, everyone must labour to put an end at last to the arms race."

Furthermore, Pope Francis has repeatedly added his voice boldly condemning the arms race and those who profit from it.

Imagine the good that would be accomplished and the goodwill that would be established if we converted our weapon plants into factories that construct goods that protect and enhance life - especially the lives of the poor, vulnerable and the life of our common home planet Earth.

Instead of producing instruments designed to kill like M-16 rifles, F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, M1 Abrams tanks, and abortion vacuum aspiration machines - which are instruments of war used against unborn babies - we could massively produce humane products like low-cost house building kits, water pumps, water filtering kits, modern latrines, farm tools, wind turbines, solar panels, mass transit trains, affordable electric cars, schools and hospitals.

For those who think this is naïve, consider that the reverse happened during World War II. According to historian John Buescher, no American cars, commercial trucks, or auto parts were made from February 1942 to October 1945. "The auto industry retooled to manufacture tanks, trucks, jeeps, aeroplanes, bombs, torpedoes, steel helmets, and ammunition under massive contracts issued by the government".

The Catholic bishops at Vatican II taught that in order for peace to be built up, injustice must be uprooted - especially excessive economic inequalities.

St. Pope Paul VI famously said, "If you want peace, work for justice."

All Catholics, other followers of Christ - the Prince of Peace - and all people of goodwill need to pray, dream, dialogue, educate, plan and build a world where everyone is seen as a brother or sister and everyone's basic needs are met.

The world's Catholic bishops at Vatican II challenged us to put an end to the war by boldly declaring: "It is our clear duty, then, to strain every muscle as we work for the time when all war can be completely outlawed by international consent."

Are we finally up to it?

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

On 2 September, the social agency launched an appeal for housing, furniture and household packs.

"Every action, small or large, will greatly benefit the individuals and families fleeing a desperate situation and seeking safety in New Zealand," Prendergast said.

"Whether through parish newsletters, community or Facebook groups, CSS has received and continues to receive amazingly generous offers from people wanting to help," he said.

Prendergast told CathNews the archdiocese's assistance can be seen as a humanitarian response.

"People are responding to people in need," and it is 'all systems go', as the region prepares to welcome these refugees.

Despite the early success, CSS remains keen to find rental housing for the Wellington-bound families over the next few weeks.

"Stable housing is crucially important to help these people to adjust and settle well into their lives ahead", the agency said.

CSS is targeting one-to four-bedroom houses, flats or units that can be rented for at least six months - ideally longer."

"The number of people who may come to Wellington is yet to be confirmed but a call for housing was made in anticipation of a housing need," Prendergast says.

"We are also seeking basic furniture and household packs for the families, including bed linen, towels, kitchen utensils, and pantry items such as rice, cooking oils, canned black/kidney beans, tea and coffee etc.

"Together we can help these people to settle well in the Wellington region.'

Several organisations are arranging help for people to settle in, Prendergast notes.

"Wellington Red Cross will be providing Red Cross volunteers dedicated to all individuals and families who arrive to support them on a daily basis."

In addition, Prendergast says the Afghan community is "very much involved" in helping welcome their compatriots from Afghanistan as are several local communities and government organisations in Wellington.

Between them, Prendergast says they're co-ordinating responses and support.

"As clarity is gained on numbers coming and when, the co-ordination of housing and setting up those houses will be ready to start."

Source

• Scoop
• Supplied
• Image: Stuff

The escape happened after South Vietnam had fallen to the Vietnamese communist forces in 1975, and my world descended into total chaos with an international embargo, wars against China and Cambodia, forced collectivisation and the insidious spread of what were termed ‘re-education camps' — but were really communist gulags.

My siblings and I grew up in a world of poverty, isolation, oppression and constant fear of what might happen to us or our loved ones.

Finally, my parents, who had escaped by boat themselves from North Vietnam in 1954, encouraged my siblings and me to escape.

The boat journey was risky, and there were far more people on the boat than it could carry safely.

By the third day, we'd run out of food, water and fuel and were at the mercy of the elements.

On the seventh day, we drifted near an oil rig, half alive and half dead.

Fortunately, we were rescued, and brought to a refugee camp off the coast of Malaysia, where I stayed for over a year.

In December 1981, I was accepted and brought to a country I knew nothing about: Australia.

Here, I built a new life, and worked hard to become a priest, a dream that I had held since I was 13 years old.

Growing up in war and later transiting in a refugee camp, all I wanted to do was to help people who suffered, and so in Australia I was finally able to follow that dream properly, eventually even becoming a Bishop, something I never would have imagined when I was clinging to that boat on the ocean.

Today, even though it's been decades since I fled the war, it all comes flooding back as I see footage of people clambering onto planes.

Some of the images of people dangling off the stairs to aircraft in Kabul were eerily similar to what happened in Saigon in April 1975.

My Catholic faith compels me to try to address these kinds of injustices, ones that remind me of what I and my loved ones experienced in Vietnam.

I believe in the universal and inclusive love of God, a love that seeks to embrace all people, most especially those at the periphery, who are experiencing poverty and injustice.

I also believe that people of faith, and Australians more broadly, must stand for social and moral issues, because this is the only way that we can build the world we want to see in the future.

And this is a pivotal moment for us to step up and support those in need in Afghanistan.

I hope to see the same level of bipartisan support for Afghan refugees now as there was for Vietnamese refugees then.

We must offer additional refugee resettlement places for Afghan refugees immediately, as we did in 2015 for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Canada has already committed to 20,000 additional places for Afghan refugees, and we could match this offer to show that we are ready to shoulder our responsibility to those in need.

We must extend the temporary visas of all Afghan citizens in Australia so that they will not be at risk of forced return to a dangerous country, and extend permanent protection to any Afghans on temporary protection visas.

Finally, we must support family reunion applications for Afghan Australians whose families are in danger.

We need to support the Afghan people.

And we need to live up to our international obligations, and also live up to our status as a prosperous society, one with a courageous past that welcomed previous waves of refugees en masse from Asia.

Australia has changed for the better with each successive wave of new arrivals because people like me have brought our determination and drive for a better future.

We need to honour this legacy by showing the Afghan people our compassion and solidarity because I believe that this is the true identity of the country I have made my home. In view of our involvement in the war in Afghanistan, we also have a moral duty to do so.

• Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv is the Bishop of the Diocese of Parramatta in Western Sydney and Chair of the Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service within the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
• First published in Eureka Street.
• Republished with permission of Eureka Street and the Diocese of Parramatta.

The Western world's insatiable appetite to feed its cars and planes with petroleum products enriched these societies without developing them.

Their cultures and structures were still essentially as they were in the Middle Ages, and have not moved much further since.

Meanwhile, however, they have become economically powerful, and have used their wealth for ideological purposes.

In particular, they have extended the reach of their very conservative interpretation of Islam by founding and financing mosques and Muslim community centres wherever Muslim immigrant communities needed them, and supplying them with imams of the same conservative disposition.

This has undoubtedly hindered Muslim integration into British society.

It has made British Muslims, as a faith community, unhealthily dependent upon outside interests who are pursuing their own agenda.

There are many shades of opinion, many schools of interpretation, within the Muslim ummah, but the most aggressive one, backed by Saudi and Gulf State oil, is known as Wahhabism.

At the core this is the Salafi movement, advocating a return to the religious beliefs and practices of the first three centuries of Islam. It should be noted that Wahhabism and Salafism are Arabic, which the majority of the world's Muslim population is not.

The ideology which drives them tells them that is the will of Allah that the whole world should honour and worship him by keeping his laws, known as the sharia, and following the Quran and the Hadith, the sayings of the prophet.

The will of Allah has been frustrated so far in human history as other more powerful political forces have countered it, mainly centred in Europe and America.

In Wahhabi social theory, the main opponent of Allah is Satan, and those who oppose his will are therefore in league with him, that is to say, Satanic.

It is a world divided into Good and Bad, with not much in between.

The failure of the Muslim world to convert the rest to its ways is a source of deep and painful frustration and humiliation for ultra-conservative Muslims of the Salafi school.

The Taliban - the word literally means "student" - have studied this Wahhabi version of Islam in madrasas or theological schools, often in Afghan refugee camps over the border in Pakistan.

In Pakistan itself, as in India before partition, the main conservative tradition in Islam was known as Deobandi, against the more permissive and Sufi-based version called Barilvi.

Followers of the Barilvi school, who predominate in Pakistan, believe Islam must evolve and modernise; the anti-Sufi Deobandis, under Wahhabi influence, believe it should instead return to the fundamentals.

If it does not go voluntarily, they believe they have a duty to force it.

Some historians believe the British Raj in India encouraged the rise of the Deobandi movement in the 19th century on the principle of "divide and rule".

The significance of all this for the West is that it often finds itself as a spectator of, and clumsy intervener in, religious disagreements about which it knows little and cares less.

The basic Shia/Sunni divide it is aware of; Deobandi verses Barilvi it is not. Presumably from Lahore, the conflict in Northern Ireland looks similarly obscure and confusing.

What the West has largely forgotten is the enormous debt its civilisation owes to Muslim scholarship. Continue reading

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president says the government should provide at least 20,000 humanitarian places for refugees from Afghanistan in the wake of the current Taliban takeover.

In a letter to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Coleridge points out the "outpouring of concern for the people of Afghanistan" since the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control ten days ago.

Even though Australia has provided 8,000 places for Afghan people for several years, the current need to increase the refugee intake is pressing, Coleridge urges.

He told Morrison that although the additional 3,000 places it is offering "is a substantial commitment," more are needed.

Based on estimates from key humanitarian organisations and pledges from other countries, Coleridge suggested to Morrison that at least another 17,000 places need to be made available.

Coleridge also promised Morrison help from the Catholic Church in Australia.

"Australia has stepped up before in response to significant humanitarian crises and I urge your government to be generous," his letter says.

The Catholic agencies "stand ready to assist your government with the resettlement of refugees as an expression of our great concern for the people of Afghanistan."

Coleridge's letter emphasises the very real danger people in Afghanistan face.

He said many Afghans would find themselves vulnerable under Taliban rule.

He made particular mention of those who supported Australia's defence personnel when they served in Afghanistan. They included people who lost their lives, religious minorities and women.

"It would seem our moral duty to stand with those who supported Australian military forces as interpreters or in other capacities, who it seems likely will suffer reprisals and even death for their work," he continues.

"We should also offer refuge to other Afghans who are likely to suffer persecution or risk being killed because of their opposition to the Taliban, or because of their beliefs, values and way of life, including members of the Christian community.

"There is a particular risk to women, and Australia's humanitarian response should recognise and support their dignity and human rights."

Source

• Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference
• Image: BBC

Julianne Hickey, who is the director of Caritas in New Zealand, says the turmoil in Haiti and Afghanistan "requires a global response as these crises unfold against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Our global network of Caritas agencies enables us to reach out and help in most places around the world. Caritas is there working with displaced people and vulnerable communities in great need," she says.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has already pledged $10,000 each to Haiti and Afghanistan. It is also receiving donations to its general Emergency Fund which can be tagged for either or both countries.

The two international crises - though of entirely different causes - have resulted in deaths, widespread destruction and homelessness.

In Haiti a 14 August earthquake killed more than 700 people and injured more than 2,800. Many others are missing. Churches, schools and hospitals are among the 1000-plus "razed" buildings razed to the ground.

Caritas Haiti has mobilised teams to reach areas most affected by the quake and is assessing the damage and the needs of people in different parts of the country.

"The entire Caritas Haiti network, especially the emergency team, is participating in coordination and aid operations in the three affected departments," says Caritas Haiti director Father Jean-Hervé François.

Francois says the country's needs are immense. Urgent requirements are basic: food, water, tents, hygiene kits and first aid.

Meanwhile, thousands of people in Afghanistan have been displaced and need support in the midst of a rapidly changing, volatile conflict.

The road to New Zealand's contribution to the Caritas effort in Afghanistan funnels through Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which is a US-based Caritas member. CRS has a 23-year history of providing humanitarian help in the country.

In addition, for several years Aotearoa New Zealand Caritas's reach has extended to helping provide rural development assistance in Bamyan province in Afghanistan. There, the charity has been promoting soil and water conservation to improve farming, and savings groups to provide food and earn income from crops, sewing and handicrafts.

Caritas will send donated funds to its partners on the ground in Haiti and Afghanistan. Donations can be made through the Caritas website www.caritas.org.nz or by calling 0800 22 10 22.

Source

• Caritas
• Image: World Vision

Francis made the appeal in his noon address as Taliban insurgents entered the capital Kabul and the United States evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter.

"I join in the unanimous worry about the situation in Afghanistan. I ask you to pray along with me to the God of peace so that the din of weapons ends and that solutions can be found around a table of dialogue," he said to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square.

Read More

The most active people are women, They are the bearers of a positive vision of the country's future, says Barnabite Fr. Giuseppe Moretti, who was a missionary in Afghanistan for 25 years.

"They are very intelligent and have a more open mentality than men. They try to fight slavery with principles of freedom, which is different from libertarianism: all this is even more effective when there are local organisations or associations that support these initiatives. The future of Afghanistan is certainly in the hands of women."

Moretti says the principles of integration and innovation carried out by Afghan women is an integral part of national history:

"One can believe, with good reason, that if King Mohammed Zahir Shah managed to implement the programme he had in mind, Afghanistan today would be one of the most open countries in the Middle East.

"The monarch had begun a process of modernisation, almost of ‘Westernisation', but respecting Islamic culture, which would have made Afghanistan a vanguard country under all points of view. But the story went differently."

Several associations supporting women's rights are perplexed about the results of the talks in Doha, Qatar, between US government officials and the Taliban movement.

The Afghan Women's Network is one of several support networks of women's organisations active in the country.

The Network has published a document officially asking the US to involve women in peace talks, so "their concerns and solutions are raised and included in all decisions and to respect, protect and implement their rights. The legitimacy and sustainability of peace depend on the full, equitable and meaningful participation of women".

The support networks fear the "price" of the agreements between the United States and the Taliban movement will be paid by the women themselves, with compromises that could represent a return to the repressions suffered in the past under a fundamentalist government.

Source

• Newsbook
• Agenzia Fides
• Image: UNAMA - UN missions

"This matter of Muslim persecution of Christians is a humanitarian crisis at this point," said Raymond Ibrahim.

He said the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom had even predicted that Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt.

Continue reading

Indeed, it was so successful that it should force us to reconsider the presumption that the war in Afghanistan was necessary in the first place.

The logic is simple: if bin Laden was killed during a secret mission in Pakistan - a country with which America is not at war - could he and his followers have been captured or killed via the same strategy, without entering into a fully-fledged war in Afghanistan?

In just war theory, the relevant criterion of jus ad bellum - the right to wage war - is the requirement that war always be a last resort. If war may be precluded by some less violent, less catastrophic option, then we are obliged to take that option. If military raids and strikes against al Qaeda targets alone in Afghanistan were a feasible option, they ought to have been preferred over a full-scale war with the Taliban.

Instead, a decision was made by President Bush to:

"pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."

Bush's attitude is understandable, but it constituted a departure from the just war criterion of "last resort".

Continue reading more of the Just War theory, Bin Laden and Afghanistan

Image source: 3AW