We return to Afghanistan in the year 1985. Najaf and his family are living in the northern Afghan city of Mazar – e – Sharif having moved from the small village of Shar Shar. Najaf and his family become innocent victims of a bungled assassination attempt on the President of Afghanistan. Two high explosive Mujahedin rockets strike the family home, killing Najaf’s younger brother and brother – in- law. Najaf, his mother, and his older brother are seriously wounded. (Powerful image)…
In the story, the Taliban are trying to take control of Afghanistan. They do not let anybody get in their way. The taliban go around “ slaughtering men like goats, slitting them open and leaving their blood to soak into the ground” (staples, 12). Clearly, many people live in fear of these blood thirsty human beings. Also, the taliban “ lock the people of entire villages in their homes” but not only that, they “burn them to the ground” (staples, 12). The taliban just cares to torture people, they do not care the cost, who gets hurt or anything else. The taliban affects how people live their everyday lives, such as going to school, making money or working, and even daily events such as when there was a bombing at the Bazaar. Also they have very strict rules that seem extreme to people who live in the west and have different freedoms. Some of the rules include how long your beard is and clothing. At one point in the book Asma has an incident with a member of the taliban when she had very little skin showing, “your in violation of dress code, the man said to Asma” (staples,96). These rules take away the rights of many innocent people in the book. Many other rules are in place like “playing music, laughing out loud, keeping a bird to hear its song in the morning, putting pictures of beautiful scenes on the wall, reading books, flying kites” (Staples, 12). These rules are much…
Afghanistan is a place that is constantly at war and involved in conflict. The people there are used to it and it cannot be controlled or escaped. Najaf tells the viewpoint of foreign invaders and also of the people who live there. He also compares it to natural disasters- pushing forward the point that conflict and wars cannot be controlled. Afghanistan’s ethnicity is very diverse which a cause of conflict amongst its people is also. Najaf explains that although the country is divided within itself, its people will unite to fight against a common enemy yet will still remain divided.…
As I read the first two pages of chapter twenty I pictured what Amir had witnessed and felt an overwhelming feelings of empathy, sorrow and gratefulness that I would mostly never have to see that in my life and how when he walked through his old neighborhood all his old memories would forever be haunted by ruined and death ridden place he once called home. This is another window that shows the reader another daily event Afghan’s witnessed walking through there own or old neighborhoods. For example it said, “I had a friend there once,’ Farid said ‘he was a very good bicycle repairman. He played the tabla well too. Then Taliban killed him and his family and burned the village.” This quote was an example of one of the several thousand Afghan’s who have seen or heard of family, friends or neighbors killed by the Taliban for a plethora of unknown reasons. This two pages reveal to the audience one out of plenty troubling and horrendous ordeals that people dealt with for possible all their lives living in Afghanistan after the war.…
In the book Under the Persimmon Tree the author Suzanne Fisher Staples shows how cruel the Taliban can be. With the murdering, stealing, and ruining lives, Najmah’s life is ruined by the Taliban when they take her father and brother. “‘To repay us for having helped our enemy, you must come and fight with the Taliban.’” (Page 17). Because the Taliban has taken most of her family, Najmah’s…
Afghanistan is a war torn country located in central Asia. There are currently approximately 319, 000 internally displaced people in Afghanistan. (Encyclopedia of the Nations, 2012) The poverty is extreme, there are frequent natural disasters that tear down cities and villages, (Refugees International, 2001) and the people are in continual danger of violence. This violence includes constant suicide bombings, ambushes, abductions and rocket attacks. In 2009 there were at least 12 of these incidences every day. (Kazem-Stojanovic, 2011) They are living in fear of their lives 24/7. Due to a severe drought in 2011, there is a lack of food and therefore thousands are suffering from starvation. (Refugees International, 2001) There is also the current issue of the coalition forces deciding to take their troops out at the end of 2014. (Amiri, 2012) Citizens fear that once they are gone the Taliban will regain full control again.…
Before the Taliban is in power, there are bombs over Kabul everyday. These bombs destroy entire neighborhoods, and kill girls walking home from school. Tariq’s father’s health is failing, and staying in Kabul is not helping. Tariq and his family are leaving Afghanistan, and he has to leave Laila and the place he lived for his whole life. Tariq asks Laila to marry him and come with his family, but she has to say no. Laila is the only child left in her family, and if she left Kabul, it would destroy her parents. Tariq is also an only child, and if Tariq stayed in Afghanistan, his parents would have stayed as well, and they would have died in Kabul. Leaving her mother and father would devestate them, and if Tariq did not go with his parents, they would not leave, and then they would die in Kabul. The brutality of the Taliban and their bombs ripped people from their loved ones before they were even in power. One of the hallmarks of fascism is glorifying the state over the individual (Authier). The Taliban leaders demonstrated this by putting their cause of taking over the government before the lives of Afghan civilians. The Taliban also tears Mariam from her family: Laila, Aziza, and Zalmai. When Mariam kills Rasheed, she does it in self defense, and in defense of Laila. Mariam’s trial lasted 15 minutes, and it ended in a death sentence. There was no jury, no lawyer in her defense, no appeal, and no…
Lane, S. “Withdrawal from Afghanistan to start within months” The World Today, April 17, 2012…
Yet while our principles continue, unscarred and secure, the same is not true in Afghanistan. There, the peaceful teachings of Islam have been cast aside, and instead are used to promote violence. There, women have no rights to education. There, human trafficking and massacres against civilians have become common. There, leaders are self-appointed. We are fighting for their safety and protection as much as our own. The battle we share stems from a desire to fight those oppressing freedom, not civilians caught in the crossfire. Food, refuge, and medical aid will be available to our friends.…
The Taliban have created a war in their homeland, which in turn causes civilians to pay for their behavior, as “many people have been killed by American bombs” (Staples 172). The Americans have no choice but to bomb these areas to protect their own citizens, and sometimes civilians might get in the way. The lives of innocent Afghans have been ruined and “you can tell by looking at them that they have no food and little clean water, all they live on is dreams of their farms, which no longer exist” (Staples 186). The Taliban are greedy and have no feelings towards people other than themselves. Rumors have been spreading around villages that “they lock the people of entire villages inside their houses and burn them down and how they slaughter men like goats” (Staples 12). These terrible acts have turned lives upside down and brought havoc upon a once peaceful place. The people are constantly abused by the Taliban, and “many are missing a hand or a foot or an eye. So many of them have terrible wounds or scars” (Staples 185/186). The way the Taliban treat women is disappointing. Najmah has heard how they “whip women whose shoes make a sound on paving stone" (Staples 180). The Taliban have scared the women so much that they "hide their bangles away because if they're caught wearing any jewelry it will be stolen and they will be beaten” (Staples 180).…
The majority of Americans are uninformed about the injustice of the Afghanistan women in the many recent years. The women in Afghanistan didn’t always have a burka hiding their face from others in public. There was a time when the women had a life very much like today’s ordinary American woman. In the book, The Dressmaker, we get to know of how oppression changes the lives of each and every person in a family along with the changes in their community. For the community of Kabul changes lead to a financial and economical struggle. The women’s lives are transformed after the Taliban take control of Kabul. The rights of women are stripped from them and they are left with basically nothing. This change in the lives of the women brings more responsibility…
"The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens." Said by Barack Obama on May 2nd, after the death of Osama Bin Laden, the former leader of al Qaeda. That was the start of the "end" of the war on terrorism. How could this be, with still 99,000 U.S. troops still in Afghanistan? What are they doing over there in the desserts of the Middle East, having a party? No, they are dying for the war on terrorism, but the real world does not want to accept that fact, because they are too stubborn to realize that the war on terrorism is not over, will not be over, and cannot be over.…
In Afghanistan women basically have no control over their lives. The author of the article states, “Up to 80 percent of marriages in poor rural areas are forced or arranged” (www.trustineducation.org). Forced marriage is a complete denial of human rights. Humans are given the constitutional right of free will. As humans these women should be able to choose if they want to get married, and who they marry. But that right is overwritten when their fathers decide to sell them off to other men. Afghan women are seen as objects that can be sold and bargained for by men. Another injustice stated by the author, “Married girls do not continue their education and remain illiterate” (www.trustineducation.org). After these women are forced to be married they are also forced to discontinue their education. Education is another right given to humans. Afghan women are forced to stop their education so they can get married and take care of the children they are expected to birth. It is assumed that they will not need an education because their husband will have one. This is an injustice because this leaves women uneducated and unable to progress in their future career. They are expected to stay home, clean, and take care of the children while the men provide for the family. The author also states, “Young wives also have low status in the family and are more likely to be abused by their husbands and/or in-laws”…
The United States should not pull out in respect for those who have died, and those wounded. To disgrace and dishonor them by having their sacrifice put toward nothing is sorrowful and disrespectful. The United States should remain in Afghanistan until they have secured a military in the country strong enough to defend themselves and keep Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups stable. Currently, this is not the case because military leaders have stated that, “the Afghan national police had been a huge…
They are a religious based government and adhere to a literal interpretation of the Koran. Prior to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Kabul is described as very peaceful. Children could walk the streets alone, and people seemed content. Kabul was carefree, with its kite flying tournaments every month and with Amir reading Hassan stories daily, under the shade of the pomegranate tree. When Amir returns to Kabul during the Taliban occupation, Kabul is described as being in turmoil. “Rubble and beggars. Everywhere I looked, that was what I saw... Now, though, they squatted at every street corner, dressed in shredded burlap rags...the beggars were mostly children now, thin and grim-faced, some no older than five or six” P257. Public stoning were the halftime show at sports games, and public shootings became amusement for the beard patrol. “They drive around looking. Looking and hoping that someone will provoke them...on those days when no one offends, well, there is always random violence” P260. Collective Responsibility is the responsibility, of every member of a group without regard to an individual member's participation in decision making. If a problem arises in a country, as a group, the people should voice their dissent before the problem alters the course of history. With the example of the Nazis or with the Taliban, the…