Well, kat, I don't necessarily believe the RAWA any more than I do Ms.Helms and the Taleban. I think both have made some good points, and both have also twisted the facts to further their own agendas. The RAWA site doesn't impress me much at all. It's full of factual errors and misleading information. (And maybe I just don't trust people who mis-spell "Herat" 50% of the time...) And much of their "documentation" is "Oh, this one woman told us this," or "This is a photo of an innocent woman shot by the Taleban." That's not proof. Unfortunately, over the last 30 years it has been pretty damned easy to get a picture of a dead Afghan. Is there any reason to take their word for it?

Also not proof, to me, is the information supplied by the infamously anti-Islamic American/European press. Or by the US government, which is also very pro-Christian, anti-Islamic, and anti-Semitic. (a fact first brought to my attention as a teenager, when my father, on a tour of the White House, was detained for 'looking Arabic.') And this is where most of your Taleban "facts" come from. Could it be that Ms.Helms wasn't ENTIRELY full of shit today?

Look somewhere between the positions of the RAWA and the Taleban for the truth. It's not as good for women (or minorities) as Ms.Helms claims, but it's also not as bad as the RAWA and much of the the Western press claim. And, god-dammit, there's worse things going on there. :)

Ah, and anyone who missed it can click here to hear this episode of TOTN, if they like. :)

And click here for the other Buddha-Taleban thread.

---Lepus Rex