Q: What's happening with the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council? You and other members recently met in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other dignitaries.
I'd like to thank Becky Norton Dunlop of The Heritage Foundation and Michelle Easton of the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute for inviting me to speak with you today about the U.S. government's approach to the role women can play in transitions to democracy.
The many cultures in Afghanistan have one thing in common: They shelter their women from the outside world. In order to reach the "hidden" 50 percent of the Afghan population, NATO and U.S. forces in that country have adopted a strategy used successfully in Iraq, the female engagement team (FET). The Marine version of the program was called "Lioness" training.
A year after President Obama's troop surge to Afghanistan, new poll results published yesterday in The Washington Post show that Afghans are less confident in the United States and its allies to provide security and are more willing to negotiate with the Taliban. More than half of Afghans surveyed nationwide said that U.S. and NATO should begin to withdraw troops from their country by mid-2011 or earlier.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) should start investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by various warring groups in Afghanistan since 2002 to help end a culture of impunity, says Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).
“Without genuine justice, Afghanistan will continue suffering from rights violations, war and lawlessness,” she told IRIN.
The costs of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are staggering, especially as they relate to social needs in the U.S. that are neglected because of military spending.
On Sept. 23, retired United States Army Col. Ann Wright met with a sizeable audience at the Interfaith Center to deliver a lecture titled "What Are We Doing in Iraq and Afghanistan? How Does It Affect Iraqi, Afghan and U.S. Women?"
An important interview that also reveals a lot about what Obama's surge in Afghanistan means on the ground: "American troops are much more in evidence now, much more active, causing far more civilian casualties. And since the Obama surge, if we can call it that, the civilian casualties have gone up about 25 percent. Six thousand were killed last year. The number is likely to be higher now.
