Rawa: Nothing's Changed for the Women of Afghanistan

Everyone is aware of the Northern Alliances efforts to topple the Taliban. Photos from the Northern Front dominate many segments of the news each day. But there is another, quieter, yet no less heroic struggle going on daily inside Afghanistan. Rawa. The Revolutionary Association of The Women of Afghanistan.

These courageously determined women, living in an atmosphere of terror and repression, risk their lives daily to expose the truth about the Taliban. At their site: www.RAWA.org pictures of murder, torture, starvation and beatings are available for the world to see. Stories of pregnant women being beaten, raped and murdered, mass graves, and relentless starvation are written in detail. Specific names are cited in conjunction with particular crimes.

The penalty for getting caught smuggling out such information is death. The risks are horrendous. Yet for the last 5 years, they have courageously risked everything they have to bring out the truth. The truth about a male dominated society, ruled by lawless psychopaths, who care little for human life and make a mockery of the Islamic religion.

Thieves, rapists, mass murderers, and narcotics smugglers. This is the true Taliban. Afghanistan leads the world in opium production. According to reports, the Taliban brings in 7-8 billion dollars per year in heroin revenues. Although they claim they halted production this year, sources show the importing of chemicals to manufacture heroin still continue. The mainstream Afghani citizen receives no benefit from this money. While the Taliban build fine homes, drive new cars and eat nutritious foods, the populace starves to death, slowly, inexorably, day by day.

Whole villages have been destroyed by these thugs, Rawa reports girls as young as 8 or 9 raped and murdered. Many women are so humiliated and shamed they choose suicide. Rawa reports cases of women pouring kerosene over themselves and burning themselves to death, rather than live the way they do. Mass hangings in town squares, where children are forced to look, are common. Robbery and extortion are a way of life for these suffering souls.
Thanks to the bravery of these women, we now can see the truth of what this regime stands for. If you have any doubts about the United States position on the Taliban and it's master Osama Bin Laden, pay a visit to the site. If you want to understand terrorisms mindset, look at the pictures, read the graphic accounts of the repression of these Islamic fanatics. Carry the link on your site or in your e-mails. Purchase a coffee mug or T-shirt. Many of us have said we feel helpless, and don't know how we can help. Here is a real time way to make a positive impact and help save lives. Show the Afghani people we listened, we heard, and we care.