Afghan Girls Traded, Sold to Settle Debt

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6767419,00.html

Monday July 9, 2007 6:46 PM


By ALISA TANG

Associated Press Writer

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) - Unable to scrounge together the $165 he needed to repay a loan to buy sheep, Nazir Ahmad made good on his debt by selling his 16-year-old daughter to marry the lender's son.

``He gave me nine sheep,'' Ahmad said, describing his family's woes since taking the loan. ``Because of nine sheep, I gave away my daughter.''

Seated beside him in the cramped compound, his daughter Malia's eyes filled with tears. She used a black scarf to wipe them away.

Despite advances in women's rights and at least one tribe's move to outlaw the practice, girls are traded like currency in Afghanistan and forced marriages are common. Antiquated tribal laws authorize the practice known as ``bad'' in the Afghan language Dari - and girls are used to settle disputes ranging from debts to murder.

[SteppingRazor]

1. Oh, ethnocentric irony! The practice is "bad"? Ya don't say?

:rofl:

[Igel]

7. It's a shoe-cabbage.

The word was originally chou-cabbage; "chou" in French sounds like 'shoe' and means 'cabbage'.

Actually, it's a better shoe-cabbage than most.

[aquart]

2. Women have no rights in Afghanistan.

And, can you imagine, it got WORSE under the Taliban? Which is why I never mind hearing that a Taliban man is dead, or tortured, or tortured and killed. I just don't mind.

And there are our pals in India, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. And let's not forget the girl orphanages in dear old China.

Patriarchy sucks everywhere.

[SoCalDem]

3. THIS is what "it" is all about, folks..

These patriarchal theocracies and oppressive regimes will NEVER "change" because modern societies want them to change the way they view FEMALES...and they will never do it.

Females in their societies are a commodity...a vessel for their twisted prurient desires....a product to be traded with other men..

[ThomCat]

4. And, it is implied that she's a virgin

because otherwise she'd have no value. She was traded to become a wife. So basically they traded virginity for sheep, with her ongoing service as a sex object and servant to back it up.
:cry:

[NNN0LHI]

5. And its one, two, three, what are we fighting for? n/t

[tanyev]

6. Mrs. Bush Highlights Women's Achievements in Afghanistan

Thank you for your warm welcome. It is, indeed, an extraordinary privilege to be with you today to celebrate the incredible progress that has been made by the people of Afghanistan over these past four years. I have especially watched with great pride as courageous women across your country have taken on leadership roles as teachers, students, doctors, judges, business and community leaders, and politicians. And no where is that more evident than on this University campus. The United States Government is wholeheartedly committed to the full participation of women in all aspects of Afghan society, not just in Kabul, but in every province.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050330-1.html