Ketab Jameel

on: Shiites in Afghanistan: Confident Reformers, by Martin Gerner

Strange how the article talks about the fact that other countries ("the West") have a distorted view of Afghanistan, specifically about Shiites appearing to be 'radical Muslims'... In my experience, the Sunnis have the reputation of being radical (especially on being 'conservative' in religion)... Either way, I do not understand what you would expect someone to believe when all they see is President Karzai signing off on this document as Law. (Many non-Muslims do not even know the difference between Sunni and Shia sects, if they even know those words in the first place, so you would have to start there, to be honest.)

Even the 200 women that protested was not enough to effect any change, was it? What else can be done to stop the people in power in Afghanistan from making laws that do not reflect the ideas of the people, if this is the case? Many of the people that leave Afghanistan due to lack of local education opportunities and disagreement with the government could also help if they stayed, but don't they also have a right to live somewhere where they can live as they choose?

It is a difficult question, having to choose between your love of your homeland and the option to emigrate to a country that may offer things that you can't do or have in the current Afghanistan. The Afghans that I talk to want to bring their children back one day to Afghanistan, for many reasons, but not until they are older. They do not see themselves moving back to live in Afghanistan permanently at this time.