For Punishment of Elder's Misdeeds, Afghan Girl Pays the Price

The New York Times:

ASADABAD, Kunar Province — Shakila, 8 at the time, was drifting off to sleep when a group of men carrying AK-47s barged in through the door. She recalls them complaining, as they dragged her off into the darkness, about how their family had been dishonored and about how they had not been paid.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[Tabasco]

07:01 PM on 02/17/2012

I can't begin to fathom why this kind of "tradition" still survives. It seems to lay right under the surface of deeply religious cultures. "This is the way we always did it". "There would be chaos if we didn't have these rules in place". "It's God's will".

You see it in tribal cultures, constitutional originalists, fundamentalists of every creed and politicians who blame everyone else for their own personal shortcomings.

It is the torch-bearers of these outdated 'norms' that should be kidnapped, raped, beaten and imprisoned. Things would change REAL quick.

Dear moderators. Try to keep your heads with this one.

[celere]

12:43 PM on 02/17/2012

timesrtough
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No it is not confined to one religion or cult. But, and here it comes, there is one very large religion/cult that currently actively, vocally and aggressively embraces and enforces that position. It sounds like "some folks" what to smear any/all religions in an attempt to hide their "protect at any costs pro-Muslim" outlook.
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We need to put public pressure on all patriarchal religions to clean up these ancient practices. We should not sit by and ignore abuses on the part of any group.

You admit that fundamentalism and patriarchal abuses are not confined to any religion. And if you're paying attention, you cannot ignore the fact that there are good, decent people in all the world's great faiths. This shameful local custom does not typify all of Islam.

Mankind's ills cannot be confined to a single group. To be so ready to single out an entire people for opprobrium and s,c,a,p,e,g,o,a,t,i,n,g is to give in to the worst within oneself. Throughout history, the greatest atrocities have been committed by those who began by thoroughly vilifying their victims. We need to keep our heads and resist the current movement in that direction.

[Blaze1111]

08:23 AM on 02/17/2012

Ah yes, a MAN was dissed...so the thing to do is kidnapped, beat and rape a 10 year old girl. Such manly men they are! Bullies that only know how to pick on little girls! I cannot wait for the return of the Divine Feminine! This world makes me weary!

[gutteringdawn]

07:51 AM on 02/17/2012

Why is that area so immune to progress? They haven't made it into the 18th century yet, much less the 21st.

I can only posit a poisonous culture cemented in place by the rejection of new information enforced by religion.

[saraiki portal]

07:34 AM on 02/17/2012

Talban will win this war one day inshallah only few mans and other site the army of word that is not good that is the power of islam that talban fighting to day by Saraiki Portal

[Symphysodon]

07:04 AM on 02/17/2012

How do you make change?

[HellBank]

07:38 AM on 02/17/2012

Vote for Obama!

[breakingpoint]

06:16 AM on 02/17/2012

democracy is messy

[rick raton]

05:26 AM on 02/17/2012

Not a problem here. Juts follow the Betrayus plan and we will win their hearts and minds.

[Sol76]

03:23 AM on 02/17/2012

How can any world leader talk about democracy in Afghanistan with a straight face? Between the drug trade, oil pipelines, rare earth minerals and religious fanatiscism there is not a chance for the future of this country and its people. The US and its allies should just pull out and leave these unfortunates to their fates. As long as the Taliban agrees to keep the drugs and oil flowing, we have no business being there.

[KIVPossum]

01:26 AM on 02/17/2012

This tradition goes back 2000 years. Let's face it, that area of the world is not ready to be part of the modern world. Walk away and let them be what they will be.

[kilchis]

03:39 AM on 02/17/2012

As long as they don't allow terrorists to train there.

[Esther21072011]

07:06 AM on 02/17/2012

And if they do - bomb them from above and turn it into a parking lot. The only way anyone will ever win against these people is to kill every one of them.

[jpk525]

11:42 AM on 02/18/2012

Tradition is not an excuse to harm women and children. No matter what religion, good people agree that an act of harm against women and child is the most vile of crimes.

[KIVPossum]

12:22 PM on 02/18/2012

no one said it was an excuse. It is a fact of life for that area of the world and we aren't going to change it with any amount of troops we send in. You can't shoot people into the 21st century

[Isaiah Ellison]

12:19 AM on 02/17/2012

This sounds like an absolutely horrifying scenario for a young girl to be in. I'm sure for many of them it doesn't stop at beatings, I shutter to think what happens to these girls in an environment where their sole job is procreation. At the same time, these people have figured out a way to hold their own against the most powerful, technologically advanced, and expensive war machine the world has ever seen. Before that, they beat the second most powerful, technologically advanced, and expensive war machine in the Soviet Union. Why is that? I wish more stories focused on how and why these people fight us then bad they are.

[deRobespierre]

11:19 PM on 02/16/2012

The republicans ideal world -- no real government, and a corrupt theocracy with 1 of every 8 women dying in childbirth.

[turboturd]

12:12 AM on 02/17/2012

Pro-life in action.

[Esther21072011]

07:07 AM on 02/17/2012

The democrats' ideal world - where it has nothing to do with Republicans, but they blame them for everything anyway.

[Sol76]

07:20 AM on 02/17/2012

I see what you did there, turning the tables like that, only it makes no sense because it is not Democrats that are trying to take rights from women on the pretence of morality under the banner of religion.

[scholasticus]

11:14 PM on 02/16/2012

This traditional justice goes back to the time of the Prophet, and long before him. The article is Reason # 347 to leave NOW. And the USA continues to act tough over there, forcing the natives to obey the Mayor of Kabool, Shah Shooja, .... I mean Karzai.

[Protocolor]

11:04 PM on 02/16/2012

When the ChiComs crushed this sort of garbage in Tibet, many in the West cried "Cultural imperialism! The Communists are destroying the Tibetans' cherished culture!"

Let's face reality, folks; There is plenty of primitive culture in the world that the world would be better off without. We have to get away from the notion that because a particular practice is wrapped in religious ritual or endorsed by religious doctrine that said practice is off-limits to civil authority.

[Sol76]

07:26 AM on 02/17/2012

Abolishing inhumane cultural practices is one thing but you need to replace them with something that makes people feel better for it. Maybe the more backwards communities hesitate to abandon practices like this because they look at our Western world and see spiritual emptiness in our way of living.

[flashfyre]

10:40 PM on 02/16/2012

They say only education can change the world. Bush passed laws about child abuse, the UN has, and it's in the news a lot. These are all recent developments.

These practices go back thousands of years. Change is happening around the world, but the big three JCM religions are deeply entrenched. It will take time, to say the least.