Taliban Targeting Women in Afghan Election Registration Efforts
Those loathsome dudes, the Taliban, are doing their despicable best to squelch the women of Afghanistan, having killed two Saturday and an unknown number on Friday when 16 folks were gunned down for carrying – voter registration cards! The Friday attack was reported by various news sources as having resulted in 16 deaths, but then, no, a man claiming to represent the ousted militia called to correct this: It was 19 – not a mere 16, he claimed. This is like something out of a really, really bad Western, say, The Good, the Bad, and the Taliban, where the banditos brag to the world about how many innocent townspeople – including women and children – they’ve slaughtered. Yes, we’ll remember this, too.
Although the Taliban vowed continued efforts to destroy the upcoming elections, of the 4.5 million people registered to vote so far one-third are women. This is not bad considering the obstacles geographical, logistical, and, of course, sociological these women have to overcome to get registered to vote. And I’ll bet that voter turn-out will be better in Afghanistan in September than it will in the US.