As the war in Afghanistan approaches its final years and the
removal of all U.S. and NATO
troops scheduled for 2014, promoting the education of Afghan women should
become the central focus of U.S.
policy in the region. Increased female education in Afghanistan will create sustainable
and long-term stability and development.
For the past few
decades Afghan women have been left out of mainstream society. The consequences
have been detrimental. Essentially, excluding almost half of its population
from participation in school, politics and the economy has caused significant
problems throughout Afghanistan.
The results include a high illiteracy rate, a low life expectancy and extensive
poverty. Additionally, Afghanistan
is plagued with one of the highest infant, child and maternal mortality rates
in the world. For example, the child mortality rate for children under the age
of five is 257 per 1,000 live births. Moreover, one in eight women dies from
complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Life expectancy in Afghanistan is
only 44 years.
Since the United States entered Afghanistan in 2001, billions of
dollars have been spent on fighting the Taliban, stabilization, and
reconstruction projects. The U.S.
government claims that the reconstruction projects are crucial to its
counterinsurgency strategy and for winning over the Afghan people. Yet the
government agency in charge of tracking the projects cannot identify where
exactly the money was spent. This causes big problems for the military strategy
of the United States and
leaves the U.S.
unable to identify whether the projects are winning over the Afghan people. But
the bigger issue is that perhaps the U.S. strategy is not the right one.
Reconstruction projects will not address the issues plaguing Afghanistan
such high illiteracy and high infant, child and maternal mortality rates. The
strategy that the United
States should pursue is one focused on
educating women, which in turn will create sustainable and long-term stability
and development.
One of the most
powerful tools in overcoming the many challenges facing Afghanistan is
through education with a specific focus on educating girls. Educating the women
of Afghanistan
is crucial for its development and stability for several reasons. First, an
educated girl is more likely to teach her mother and eventually her children
how to read. Educated adult women are more likely than men to promote education
for their families and their communities. Secondly, when women are educated,
the population and infant mortality are reduced while the quality of health
increases. Additionally, an educated mother is less likely to condone or give
her blessing for her son to join a terrorist organization. Likewise, before a
man goes on Jihad it is important to receive permission from his mother; an
educated woman is less likely to encourage this.
Therefore, the United States
should channel money into development programs that work with locals to promote
education. This can be done with USAID programs that are already training
midwives in the region. The majority of the funds should be allocated to the
rural areas because 80 percent of Afghanistan's 30,000,000 people
live in rural areas. For any kind of development or humanitarian assistance, the
locals, especially the elders, must be in charge of the decision making.
Without creating personal relationships, befriending and understanding the
needs of the locals, no outside organization or government will be successful
in the region.
Educating girls
in villages throughout Afghanistan
will be a challenging task but one worth pursuing. With the Taliban opposing
any education for females, many schools and female students have been attacked.
Despite these setbacks, girls continue to attend school. After all, educating
girls in Afghanistan
is not a Western imposed value but rather something the locals themselves
desire.
Basia Bubel is a
graduate student at New York
University.
This article was submitted for the atlantic-community.org's
competition: "Empowering Women in International Relations." It coincides
with the 10th Anniversary of UN resolution 1325 calling for an
increased influence of women in all aspects of peace and security. The
contest is sponsored by the U.S. Mission to NATO and the NATO Public
Diplomacy Division.
You can read more submissions from the competition here.
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April 2, 2011
Jeremy Wysakowski-Walters, University of Łódź, Gold Contributor (84)
your last comment reference not being only a western value is perhaps the over-riding plus. I totally agree that this should be a priority.