Before I start, I just want to say this: I HATE THE "CLEAR ENTRIES" BUTTON. IT MUST BE DESTROYED.

Ok... I'm not typing all that over again. Here's my Reader's Digest Condensed Entry. (DIE, "CLEAR ENTRIES" BUTTON, DIE.)

Kat, I was being both sarcastic and serious. I agree with you that the lives of women in Taleban-controlled Afghanistan are difficult and unfair, but they are mere inconveniences in comparison with the conditions experienced by non-Pashtun Afghans of both sexes. Yeah, they can't go out without a male relative, and they can't wear nice shoes or practice prostitution. But I can't see why that is the issue that you, and most Americans, focus on, when hundreds of thousands have been killed or displaced for the sin of not being Sunni Pashtun hillbillies. They aren't uncovering mass graves filled with the bodies of Pashtun women, are they?

And actually, the Taleban have improved things considerably for women since they took power, a fact that even the RAWA admits. It could be, and was, much, much worse than it is now.

The only way to change things in Afghanistan is to remove the sanctions (current Islamic scapegoat Osama bin Laden isn't worth it) and help rebuild the country. Or we can continue with the sanctions, and let the people suffer. But that's not good for women. ;)

---Lepus Rex, flipping off the "Clear Entries" button as he exits.