PART 2: CANADA IN AFGHANISTAN – WHAT SHOULD OUR ROLE BE?

Who Are Our Troops Struggling Against in Our Efforts Who Are Our Troops Struggling Against in Our Efforts to Help Afghanistan?to Help Afghanistan?

Is this a fight Is this a fight

worth fighting?worth fighting?

Key Questions:Key Questions:oWhat is an What is an insurgency?insurgency?o Who are the Who are the Taliban? Taliban?

INSTRUCTIONS: WHO ARE THE TALIBAN?• Fill in the following

slides which ask questions about the Taliban in Afghanistan by clicking on the following Wikipedia link.

• You will also be asked to find school appropriate photos to illustrate the information you will be asked to find. You will have to create hyperlinks to the pages where you found your photos.

http://info-wars.org/2009/04/26/american-taxpayers-finance-the-taliban/

WHO ARE THE TALIBAN?Read the first paragraph on the Wikipedia

page about the Taliban and then answer the following questions.

1. What does the word Taliban actually mean?

It means “Students” in Arabic.

2. When did they form the government of Afghanistan and who forced them from power?

They formed a government in 1996 and the Taliban was forced from power by Operation Enduring Freedom.

3. Click on the links for the following concepts and then define them in your own words:

Insurgency: A rebellion against the

government or another sort of authority.

Guerilla War: a war that is run by armed civilians that use military tactics.

4. The Taliban as a social and political “movement” (group) is made up of “volunteers” from which Afghan tribe and people of what neighboring countries to Afghanistan?

A. PakistanB. Saudi ArabiaC. United Arab Emirates

5. Where does the US government believe that the Taliban’s headquarters is (city and country).

Quetta, Pakistan

TALIBAN LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION

1. Who is considered by many as the current “leader” of the Taliban? Mullah Mohammed Omar

2. Follow the link to his page and then answer the following questions: This man is on the US government’s

most wanted list for what 3 activities?1. Sheltering Osama bin Laden and Al- Qaeda2. Directing Taliban insurgency against NATO

forces3. Directing the Karzai Administration

What is one of the only physical details really known about this man? He is missing an eye.

How did he get this physical feature? He lost it from the Soviet invasion and

radicalization in either 1986, or the 1989 ‘Battle of Jalalabad’.

There aren’t many pictures of him and little is known of him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Omar

ORIGINS OF THE TALIBANScroll down the main Taliban

Wikipedia page until you find the heading Origins in Order to answer the following questions:

1. What are the two competing stories about the creation of the Taliban?

1. a movement originating from Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan

2. The CIA and ISI Helped provide military service to help the Taliban become created.

THINKING QUESTION: Of the 2 stories a supporter would choose

to believe which one? The Second one

Of the 2 stories an opponent would probably choose to believe which one?

The First one.

http://www.lumsreview.com/2009/04/the-taliban-cancer.html

TALIBAN TREATMENT OF WOMEN For the following slides

please follow this link Taliban Treatment of

Women1. Read the very first paragraph

and then summarize the Taliban’s quotation about its reasons for harsh treatment of women below: 1. To make a safe environment for

women where they will become pure and have incredible dignity, to a sacred level.

Under the Gender Policies heading, summarize the 8 points about the treatment of women by the Taliban provided:

1. Women travel only with blood relatives and with a Burqa.

2. Women do not wear high heels and should remain silent when walking.

3. Women must be quiet in public, no stranger should hear their voice.

4. All Ground and First floor windows must be painted over and screened so no one can see the women from the street.

5. No visual interpretation or representation of women is allowed, no pictures.

6. No place’s name should include ‘women’ or ‘woman’

7. Women can’t go on balconies8. Women can not have a presence in media.

DRESS CODE AND MOBILITY 1. Scroll back up the page to find the

definition of “mahram”. An unmarriageable kin with whom

sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous. Punishable.

What are some other restrictions that women faced regarding moving around the cities and countryside in Afghanistan under the Taliban? (3)

1. No riding bicycles or motorcycles

2. Can only ride in a taxi with a mahram

3. Women must ride on buses designated for their gender.

Why would an all girls’ orphanage be practically a prison under this system?

The girls were locked in because they would have no mahrams of any kind as they are orphans.

Dress code stuff: What is the name for the traditional

outfit that women had to wear in Taliban Afghanistan?

Burqa

What was the main reason for this strict control of women's’ dress?

Did not what the women to have any sexual appeal.

http://photos.last-video.com/photos/burqa

EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION Were women allowed to work at all

under the Taliban rules (tricky question)? No they were not allowed to be

employed, however household chores and work in rural areas was allowed. Also female health professionals were allowed to continue working, along with some humanitarian workers.

What industries were particularly hit hard by the Taliban’s work policies for women? Pick 2. Education Medical Care

Were women allowed to be educated under Taliban law? What age did they have to stop going to school? They could go to school to the age of

8, from there on they were unable to be educated.

Find the quote that illustrates that the Taliban actually thought that they had increased women’s rights in Afghanistan. "The Taliban’s act of giving monthly

salaries to 30,000 job-free women, now sitting comfortably at home, is a whiplash in the face of those who are defaming Taliban with reference to the rights of women. These people through baseless propaganda are trying to incite the women of Kabul against the Taliban".~Mohammad Omar

HEALTH CARE AND FORCED CONFINEMENT Give 2 reasons it was really tough

for women to receive health care when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. As there were mainly only male

doctors, and the Taliban forbid a man to touch a woman even under these circumstances, women had to travel a long ways to reach a hospital with a female worker.

Women were unable to use public baths in order to clean themselves. Many of these women had no other means of cleanliness.

A study done in 1991 concluded that roughly what percentage of Afghan women they surveyed were showing signs of mental distress and depression?

97%

Describe 3 other cultural prohibitions that were imposed on women or about women if Taliban ruled Afghanistan

No nail poilish or make-up Place names with the word ‘women’ were

modified to exclude it Women could not participate in sports of

any kind.

PUNISHMENTS FOR BREAKING TALIBAN LAWS Read the information about the

types of punishments women (and men) were subjected to in Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule and summarize 2 extreme examples below: A woman was publicly executed for

allegedly murdering her abusive husband, prior to the execution she was put in prison for three years and tortured.

A young girl was moved to a new family that the baad had promised her, she ran away due to the violence, the punishment was that of cutting her nose and ears off. After they left her for dead in the mountains.

Who is the woman in the photo on this part of the web-page? Zarmina

What is happening to her? She is being executed

Where is it happening? Ghazi Sports stadium

What crime is she accused of? killing her husband after he beat her.

What happened to her for 3 years before this event? She was tortured in prison as an effort

for her to beg her innocence and put the crime on her daughter, the reported offender.

What organization took the film this photo is a screenshot from? RAWA

WOMEN’S RESISTANCE TO THE TALIBAN Explain what the Golden Needle

Sewing School was. An underground school for women.

Women would attend three times a week to hear lectures. This was allowed only because the Taliban believed that they were simply sewing.

How did women “sneak in” 2 details. They hid pens and paper under their

burqa and sewing tools Used the excuse of sewing as a cover

up.

Why was the area that this school was in one of the most oppressed by the Taliban? 2 reasons. It was a cultured city and mostly Shi’a

and the Taliban opposed both of these things.

What is RAWA? The Revolutionary Association of the

Women of Afghanistan

Who was the founder of RAWA and what happened to her? Meena Keshwar Kamal

She was assassinated for her political activities.

What does RAWA work for? 3 main things. Human Rights of Women Social Justice for Women Secular Democracy

NOW THAT YOU KNOW … Write a personal reaction on this slide (3-4 sentences) in which you express your

opinion about the treatment of women in Afghanistan by the Taliban. How does it make you feel? Why?

I feel a little disappointed in our society after learning all this. We brag about our accomplishments as a race, yet we are unable to even treat each other with decency. This isn’t much different than the events in Rwanda from my point of view. This is also, in my eyes, another form of political corruption. Which, obviously, happens very often.

DO WE …

As citizens of a country in which we are relatively free, safe, and equal do we have the responsibility to help places like Afghanistan become more like us? Why or why not? Explain your answer in 3 – 4 sentences.

In a way yes, yes we do. Because they are human too. But the term ‘help’ can be interpreted wrong. For example, we are to stay in Afghanistan after the turmoil has blown over and we are simply imposing our beliefs because we think that, that is ‘helping’. I don’t believe, that, that is acceptable. Maybe we should ask the people that are innocent citizen’s what would be ‘helping’ and form a country that is what the people that ACTUALLY live there would want. Maybe then, we would be helping.