Web Letters: Bearing Witness: The Afghan Tragedy

While it is inarguably correct that the women in Afghanistan suffer terribly in numerous ways as a result of the ongoing intervention of foreign powers into the country--in the form of US and Russian invasions--I think it probably inappropriate to focus on the suffering of women as a topic somehow separate from the vast suffering of all people living in that poor nation. After all, as much as the women suffer exactly as was described in the article, the men suffer as well--from all the pain of poverty, plus another special pain: each man of "military" age in Afghanistan, meaning probably 15 to 60 years of age, is in danger of dying either through direct participation with the Taliban, or resisting participation with the Taliban, or as an (un)intentional victim of the US military engaged in whatever operation.

The experience of women in Afghanistan is intolerable--as is the experience of everyone living there.

Seymour Friendly

Seattle, WA