Will Women be Sacrificed for Oil?
Afghan Women's Rights Overlooked as Multinational Gas Companies Vie for
Afghan Pipeline
Women in Afghanistan, who are prohibited by the Taliban army from going to
school, leaving their homes without a close male relative, earning money,
and are beaten for not wearing the head-to-toe "burqa," may be condemned to
permanent gender apartheid if international oil and gas companies make a
deal with the Taliban.
Oil and gas companies, including Unocal of California, have welcomed the
so-called "stability" brought by the Taliban, which took over Kabul, the
Afghan capital, in September 1996. For the past few decades a number of
rival factions have thrown Afghanistan into chaos with their fighting.
Bridas International of Argentina, Delta of Saudi Arabia, and Unocal are
bidding to build a pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to
Pakistan. Mario Lopez Olacireegui, managing director of Bridas, said he is
not concerned about the Taliban's human rights violations. "We are just an
oil and gas company," he said. "We are not bothered by human rights or
politics."
Drugs also play a role in the Taliban's power. According to the United
nations, Afghanistan is one of the world's top producers of opiates, and
90-95% of the opium poppy areas are controlled by the Taliban, leading to
speculation that the Taliban uses drug money to buy weapons.
Women are 65%-75% of the Afghan population because so many men have been
killed during the decades of civil war and Soviet occupation. There are
currently an estimated 60,000 widows in Kabul, most with children to
support, out of a total population of one million. Prohibiting women from
working has impoverished tens of thousands of families and has hurt boys'
education as well, because most teachers were women. In addition, there are
50,000 to 60,000 street children in Kabul according to Aashiyana, a Swiss
charity that provides education, hygiene and classes for 600 street
children.
The Taliban claims they are following Islamic doctrine in prohibiting
women from working and going to school, but many Islamic scholars have said
the group has a misguided view of Islam, according to Zieba Shorish
Shamley, chair of the Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in
Afghanistan. "Islam dictates that education is mandatory for both males and
females," said Shamley.
To date only two countries have recognized the Taliban government: Saudi
Arabia, which provides funding to the group, and Pakistan, which provides
military training. Pakistani ambassador Aziz Khan said the Taliban could
bring "peace" so that oil and gas pipelines could be laid. Khan urged other
countries to recognize Taliban rule. Both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are
allies of the United States.
Women who protest their situation are beaten and killed, including 150
women who were beaten with chains and whips for peacefully asking that the
women's bath houses be opened again. Women have been shot at for leaving
their homes without a male family member to seek medical care for
themselves and their children. Even women doctors and nurses, who received
permission from the Taliban to work, have been harassed and beaten, as have
women workers with international relief organizations such as CARE.
The Taliban has also imposed harsh rules on men, who must wear beards and
who are forced to pray at a mosque five times a day. Ethnic minorities,
artists, teachers, and doctors are also subject to harassment, beatings,
and imprisonment.
See our Take Action section to write letters to the State Department and
the United Nations on women's human rights in Afghanistan. To receive
information via e-mail from Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in
Afghanistan, send an e-mail message to: zieba@aol.com.
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