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

Is this a fight Is this a fight worth fighting?worth fighting?

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

Part 2: Canada in Afghanistan – What Should Our Role Be?

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? Taliban means “students” in Arabic.

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

It was formed in September, 1966, Operation Enduring Freedom forced them from power.

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

– Insurgency A rebellion involving arms against an

authority figure, but is not considered dangerous.

– Guerilla War A battle in which a small group of irregular

militia attack a large or vulnerable group with the use of 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?

They are an Islamist militia group followed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.

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

They believe it is located in or nearby 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-Qaeda militants years prior to the 9/11 attacks.

2) Directing the Taliban insurgency against NATO.

3) Directing the Taliban insurgency against the Karzai administration.

– What is one of the only physical details really known about this man?

He has one missing eye.

– How did he get this physical feature? He was wounded in either 1986 or 1989 upon

being wounded by a piece of shrapnel. He removed his own eye and sewed it himself.

It is hard to get pictures of Omar because there are few taken. None of the taken are official. He

rarely left Kandahar or met with outsiders.

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) Mullah Omar and 30 Taliban men saved 2

girls after they were raped by the governor. He was then hanged.

2) Two militia were fighting over raping a boy. The Taliban had saved him.

• THINKING QUESTION: – Of the 2 stories a supporter would choose to

believe which one? The first one. They believe in protecting women's

rights.

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

The second one. It seems like they favor men over women.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Taliban-herat-2001_retouched.jpg

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:

The aim is to help make women's purity and worthiness sacred once again. For them not to be sexually exploited.

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

1) Women aren’t to be on the streets without a blood relative. Must wear a Burqa.

2) Women cannot wear high heels unless their man is excited by the noise of them.

3) No stranger should hear a woman’s voice, so they must speak quietly.

4) All ground windows must be covered so no one can see the women inside.

5) Photographing, filming or displaying women in any public viewing is banned.

6) Any names that included “woman” in them was modified.

7) Women being on the radio, television, or public gatherings was banned.

8) Women were forbidden to be seen on their balconies or in apartments.

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, or a punishable taboo.

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

1) Unable to ride motorcycles or bicycles. Even with their mahrams.

2) Forbidden to ride in taxis without their mahram.3) Segregated bus services split men and women

coming into contact.

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

It was silent, because they had nothing to say, their emotions dawning on only their selves.

• Dress code stuff:– What is the name for the traditional outfit

that women had to wear in Taliban Afghanistan?

A burqa.

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

The face of women was a source of corruption.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Burqa_Afghanistan_01.jpg

Employment and Education• Were women allowed to work at all under

the Taliban rules (tricky question)? The majority of women were banned from

working at all, only women working in the health industry were allowed to stay.

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

1) Politics 2) Elementary education of children

• Were women allowed to be educated under Taliban law? What age did they have to stop going to school?

No, they had to stop schooling after the age of 8.

• Find the quote that illustrates that the Taliban actually thought that they had increased women’s rights in Afghanistan.

“No other country has given women the rights we have given them. We have given women the rights that God and His Messenger have instructed, that is to stay in their homes and to gain religious instruction in hijab”.

Health Care and Forced Confinement • Give 2 reasons it was really tough for

women to receive health care when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan.

1) They were not allowed to receive treatment from male doctors. The amount of women doctors was less and it became much harder for them to receive attention.

2) Women were banned from hammam, which many of them had been able to afford, due to a lack of it. Many became diseased.

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

71%.

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

1) Beauty salons were shut down. Nail varnish and make-up were prohibited.

2) The word ‘women’ was modified if displayed. 3) They were prohibited from playing sports or

entering clubs.

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:

1) When a Taliban raid discovered a woman running an informal school in her apartment, they beat the children and threw the woman down a flight of stairs (breaking her leg), and then imprisoned her. They threatened to stone her family publicly if she refused to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Taliban and their laws.

2) An Afghan girl named Bibi Aisha was promised to a new family through a tribal method of solving disputes known as baad When she fled the violence girls often suffer under baad, her new family found her and a Taliban commander ordered her punished as an example, "lest other girls in the village try to do the same thing". Her ears and nose were cut off and she was left for dead in the mountains, but survived.

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

Zarmina, a mother of seven.• What is happening to her? She’s being executed.

• Where is it happening? In front of 30000 spectators at Kabul’s Ghazi

Sport stadium.

• What crime is she accused of? Murdering her abusive husband.

• What happened to her for 3 years before this event?

She was imprisoned for three years, and extensively tortured.

• 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 in Heart, Afghanistan,

formed after laws of women unable to attend school were made. It was made of writers. Women would come three times a week, pretending they were going to sew, but hear lectures of literature from teachers at the university.

• How did women “sneak in” 2 details. 1) They would fill their bags with scissors and

material, looking as if they were going to be sewing. Also wearing their Burqas.

2) Children playing outside would alert them if the religious police were coming, giving them time to set up their sewing equipment.

• Why was the area that this school was in one of the most oppressed by the Taliban? 2 reasons.

1) It was a cultured city. 2) Mostly Shi’a, which the Taliban opposed.

• What is RAWA? The Revolutionary Association of the

Women in Afghanistan.

• Who was the founder of RAWA and what happened to her?

Martyred Meena. She was assassinated by the KGB.

• What does RAWA work for? 3 main things. 1) Increasing number of Afghan women in

social and political activities 2) Acquiring women’s human rights 3) Contributing to the struggle for the

establishment of a government based on democratic and secular values in Afghanistan.

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 believe the treatment of women in Afghanistan was cruel and unjust. It makes me feel angry that they

were treated this way, because it is very sexist. All human beings should be treated the same, no matter what sex they are. The Taliban thought that women were a source of corruption, because they distracted men and brought on sexual ideas. This is the exact same thing the other way around. They were treated as if they were items that needed to be protected until a man made them their own.

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.

Canada is a rich and prosperous country, perhaps one of the top ones. It’s our responsibility to help people that are less fortunate than us. Not only is it inhumane to not, but once they are on their feet, other countries can become allies of our own. They’re resources could even be an addition to our imports. We have the resources and people to prosper, so I believe it is proper to do so.