Acid Attacks on Schoolgirls by Taliban Thugs

The world is reacting with outrage to an attack by Taliban henchmen against a group of Afghan schoolgirls.

According to the Associated Press,

“Afghan police have arrested 10 Taliban militants involved in an acid attack this month against 15 girls and teachers walking to school in southern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said Tuesday.

“Several” of the arrested militants have confessed to taking part in the acid attack, said Kandahar Gov. Rahmatullah Raufi. He declined to say exactly how many confessed.”

In the wake of the public outcry against the attack on the girls, the Taliban has denied responsibility for the attacks, but the difficulties placed in the path of girl’s education in Afghanistan is a matter of public record. The original support that brought the Taliban into power was due to their crackdown on the rape and abuse of women and girls by warring factions in Afghanistan. When they came to power, they banned Indian movies and music that would be considered tame in most of the world. (Unlike Hollywood, India has strict modesty codes for its films.) When the Taliban institutionalised its own variants on the abuse of women, that was a significant factor in their fall from public favour.
What is not widely known about the Taliban is their opposition to women going to school or working outside the home at all. An unforseen side effect of Taliban rule was the descent of thousands of homebound women into prostitution.

It can be seen that in Islamic countries feminists are defending basic human rights that have been taken for granted in the west. Under Islamic law, a marriage of as brief a duration as one hour can be contracted by a man who is single or who is already married. The opportunities this presents for religiously sanctioned abuse need no elaboration.

The abuses in Afghanistan are not as far removed from the western world as we would like to think. Europe’s population implosion has created a need for workers and payees into the social welfare system of EU countries. Most of the immigrants, both legal and illegal are from Islamic countries. This has fueled not only a crime wave but ethnic enclaves in which shaaria with its polygamy and harshly enforced modesty codes are becoming increasingly accepted in Europe, from the United Kingdom to Italy, Belgium and France. In some predominantly Muslim neighbourhoods women who refuse to take on the veil are slashed in the face in retaliation. A growing form of violence is not only attacks on synagogues but on churches as well.

The contest between communism and capitalism was waged through conventional means of political organisations functioning on behalf of Moscow and Beijing. Occasionally, guerilla wars and conventional wars were also waged, such as those in Bolivia.

Islam is tactically different in its approach. Along with conventional means of changing the world balance of power, it is employing immigration and polygamy as a part of its tactical repertoire. One country after another has extended recognition to polygamous marriages contracted in Islamic countries that allow polygamy.

According to Front Page Magazine, “A Scottish judge recently bent the law to benefit a polygamous household. The case involved a Muslim male who drove 64 miles per hour in a 30 mph zone – usually grounds for an automatic loss of one’s driving license. The defendant’s lawyer explained his client’s need to speed: “He has one wife in Motherwell and another in Glasgow and sleeps with one one night and stays with the other the next on an alternate basis. Without his driving licence he would be unable to do this on a regular basis.” Sympathetic to the polygamist’s plight, the judge permitted him to retain his license.”
The Front Page Magazine makes it clear that the above incident, though colourful represents an almost deferential attitude towards polygamy sweeping across Europe. The struggle for recognition of gay marriage in America paves the legal way for various alternatives to western monogomy. It should be stressed that a polygamous family with a high birth rate will impact markedly on a nation’s demographics.

When juxtaposed to the shrinkage of the European birthrate to below replacement levels, the possibility exists of a reactionary voting bloc ushering in major and unforseen changes into daily life in Europe.

Although not as frequent as elsewhere, America has seen “honour killings” and has according to the Front Page article between 50,000-100,000 polygamists, most of whom are probably Muslim and not Mormon.

Islamic fundamentalists have discovered the meeting point at which personal decisions become political. We in the west are accustomed to discussing the issues of marriage and lifestyle choices as strictly personal. We are also limited in our willingness to view immigration as a political tool.The Islamic fundamentalists have politicised these facets of our national life. In dealing with them we need to be able to think within their conceptual and tactical framework to understand them and come out ahead in any political contest. The struggle is not in far off Afghanistan, from which we may retreat at will, the struggle is at home