U.S. State Department Says Taliban Unable To Govern
The Taliban have demonstrated that they unable to effectively govern, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Alan Eastham. Eastham cited the Taliban's refusal to address the needs of the Afghan people and the fact that the Taliban have not taken into account the wishes of the international community with respect to terrorism, narcotics, and protection of human rights. “We feel strongly that a country which discards half of its population, which rules out any productive role outside the home for half the population, the female half, is not doing itself much of a service,” Eastham said. “If you deny the ability of half of the population [to be] educated, you're condemning the country to backwardness essentially. That is the point of dispute with the Taliban. It's not a question of disputing their basic societal tenets or even debating Islam with them. It is that to become a country which participates in the world, Afghanistan needs its women. That is our point on human rights.” Eastham also cited the Taliban’s role in opium production and terrorism as further evidence of their inability to govern.
The Afghan people are currently living under a brutal system of gender apartheid and ethnic and cultural genocide, and the situation is further exacerbated by the region’s most severe drought, which has left thousands of people without adequate food, water, and shelter.
6/18/2013 Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Voter Requirements - On Monday, the United States Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed register to vote.
In an opinion written [PDF] by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled that the Arizona statute violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, also known as the "Motor Voter Law") of 1993, which created a federal form that individuals can mail in to register to vote in federal elections. . . .
6/18/2013 Pakistani Women's University Bus, Hospital Bombed - A bus for a women's university in Pakistan and the hospital that treated victims from the blast were bombed on Saturday, killing 14 students and 24 others at the hospital.
The bus was transporting female students and teachers from Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University in Quetta, located in the southwestern part of Pakistan. . . .
6/18/2013 Taliban Attack In Afghan Capital As NATO Transfers Power - Yesterday, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) transferred responsibility for the country's security forces to the Afghan government after a bomb blast targeting a political official left three civilians dead in Kabul. . . .
