The girls in this photo are lucky because their parents can afford to send them to a school in Kabul. For most of these girls, their education will stop after primary school.
In the relatively progressive city of Kabul, small private schools have been established where girls from more liberal families can receive a few years of supplementary education after finishing primary school. These schools have male and female teachers, many of whom have only limited academic backgrounds. The girls are often insulted by boys on the street for going to school, but they do not let it bother them. They believe education is the only way to lead self-sufficient lives independent of men. They are the exceptions.
The girls in this photo are lucky because their parents can afford to send them to a school in Kabul. For most of these girls, their education will stop after primary school.
In the relatively progressive city of Kabul, small private schools have been established where girls from more liberal families can receive a few years of supplementary education after finishing primary school. These schools have male and female teachers, many of whom have only limited academic backgrounds. The girls are often insulted by boys on the street for going to school, but they do not let it bother them. They believe education is the only way to lead self-sufficient lives independent of men. They are the exceptions.
The Masjet-e-Jam Mosque – also known as the Friday Mosque or Blue Mosque – is the largest mosque in Herat and a stunning example of early Islamic architecture. The walls are adorned with glazed, hand-painted tiles. The mosque was built eight hundred years ago under the rule of Alexander the Great. At this time, Herat was of great military and economic significance and an important trading post along the Silk Route, the primary trade route between the West and the Far East.
The mosque is packed on Fridays and noon prayer attracts the most visitors. Half an hour before the service begins, the mosque fills with the hushed conversations of men of faith who stand waiting for the imam to start his sermon. During the prayer, the imam preaches on issues ranging from terrorism to politics to the relationship with the West. The mullahs strongly disapprove of Western presence in Afghanistan and encourage the people to respond with violence. Protests are regularly held after Friday’s noon prayer…
On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, was killed by a US special forces unit in Pakistan. Two months later, Barack Obama announced the gradual withdrawal of the 140,000 US troops stationed in Afghanistan. The Americans are now singing a very different tune, claiming that they “need to build bridges in Kansas not Kandahar now that we decapitated the leader of al-Qaeda.” The death of Osama bin Laden has given the United States a legitimate reason to withdraw. After all, the coalition forces originally entered Afghanistan with the knowledge that the Taliban was hiding the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. Now that he is dead, the Americans and their allies want to leave the country as quickly as possible. All troops should officially be withdrawn by 2014.
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