The war on women waged by Obama’s new peace partners

Obama has thrown his arms open to the Taliban:

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland — Calling for an “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process,” President Obama expressed cautious optimism about the Taliban’s surprise agreement to negotiate directly with U.S. officials toward ending America’s longest war and decades of bloodshed in Afghanistan.

U.S. and Taliban officials announced separately Tuesday that they would hold their first formal meeting in coming days in Doha, Qatar, the site of failed negotiations early last year, although they did not set a date. Afghan officials said they hoped to follow up with their own talks with the Taliban delegation.

U.S. officials said the talks would involve a new group, the Taliban Political Commission, which they said was authorized by fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to open an office in Doha. They said the makeup of the group is unknown, but it apparently includes or represents the Pakistani-based Haqqani network and other armed insurgent groups.

“This is an important first step toward reconciliation, although it is a very early step,” Obama said as he wrapped up meetings here with leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized nations. “We anticipate that there will be a lot of bumps in the road.”

Afghan President Karzi took umbrage with the decision and some feel he is justified:

On this occasion, however, Mr Karzai’s temper tantrum, and suspension of talks with the US within hours of Obama’s announcement, appears to be fully justified. As Afghanistan’s democratically elected president, Mr Karzai might at the very least expect to be involved in any discussions relating to his country’s future. He is also within his rights to object to the Taliban naming their office in Qatar, where the negotiations are due to take place, as the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”. The country Mr Karzai governs is no such thing, and his government has committed itself to a pluralist society, rather than one based on the narrow strictures of Sharia. The Taliban have even been allowed to fly their own flag over the building.

Obama is desperate for a solution- any solution. So much so that he gives the Taliban the upper hand:

Such is Mr Obama’s desperation to reach a deal with the Taliban before the last American combat troops return home next year, that he is prepared to go to the most extraordinary lengths to tempt them to the negotiating table – even if it means alienating a key White House ally. Consequently, on the day after Nato formally handed over control for Afghan security to Mr Karzai, the Americans find themselves in the invidious position of having the Afghan president refuse to talk to them about their own future role in his country.

Indeed, coping with Mr Karzai’s disaffection is the least of Mr Obama’s worries as he embarks on a last-ditch effort to do a deal with the Taliban before the mission ends. In the past, Washington has insisted on two pre-conditions before it would countenance talks: a cessation of hostilities and, crucially, a firm commitment from the group to cut its ties with al-Qaeda.

But Obama’s demands omit something democrats constantly accuse the GOP of doing- engaging in war on women. And it’s not a small thing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb2Gm2Q0MV8[/youtube]

The Taliban has been waging war on women for a long time.

The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan has decreased for the first time in six years, said the UN, but targeted killings by insurgents – particularly of women, girls and government employees – increased dramatically.

In its annual report on the protection of ­civilians in armed conflict, the UN recorded 2,754 Afghan civilians being killed in 2012, a decrease of 12% compared with 2011, and 4,805 being injured, a slight rise.

Improvised explosive devices laid by insurgents were responsible for 81% of casualties, with a 9% rise in the number of civilians killed or injured by IEDs.

“The decrease in civilian casualties [the UN] documented in 2012 is very much welcome. Yet the human cost of the conflict remains unacceptable,” said Jan Kubis, the UN envoy to Afghanistan.

The overall decline was attributed in part to one of the worst winters on record impeding fighting. Fewer suicide bomb attacks and a fall in the number of air strikes also helped ease 2012’s death toll.

But the report showed a 20% increase in the number of women and girls killed or injured. Deliberate targeting by the Taliban and other insurgents also tripled in 2012, said the UN. Most were hit while in their homes or working in fields.

The Taliban attacked Malala Yousafzai, a 14 year old women’s rights activist:

KARACHI, Pakistan — At the age of 11, Malala Yousafzai took on the Taliban by giving voice to her dreams. As turbaned fighters swept through her town in northwestern Pakistan in 2009, the tiny schoolgirl spoke out about her passion for education — she wanted to become a doctor, she said — and became a symbol of defiance against Taliban subjugation.

On Tuesday, masked Taliban gunmen answered Ms. Yousafzai’s courage with bullets, singling out the 14-year-old on a bus filled with terrified schoolchildren, then shooting her in the head and neck. Two other girls were also wounded in the attack. All three survived, but late on Tuesday doctors said that Ms. Yousafzai was in critical condition at a hospital in Peshawar, with a bullet possibly lodged close to her brain.

The Taliban explained:

A Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, confirmed by phone that Ms. Yousafzai had been the target, calling her crusade for education rights an “obscenity.”

“She has become a symbol of Western culture in the area; she was openly propagating it,” Mr. Ehsan said, adding that if she survived, the militants would certainly try to kill her again. “Let this be a lesson.”

Fortunately, Yousafzai has recovered and has denounced the attack as cowardly.

Unfortunately, the attacks continue:

It’s the latest cruel tactic in the Pakistani Taliban’s battle to stop girls and women from getting an education: acid thrown in their faces to scar them for life and deter others from following in their footsteps.

A doctor who treated the victims of an acid attack on a college van in the city of Parachinar in northern Pakistan last month told CNN that two girls had been left with severe burns to their faces.

The Pakistani Taliban have taken responsibility for the attack in threatening pamphlets distributed around the city. They also warn local girls against going to school, Dr. Shaban Ali said.

“We will never allow the girls of this area to go and get a Western education,” said Qari Muhavia, the local Pakistani Taliban leader, when contacted by CNN by telephone.

The Taliban attacked a school bus filled with women students:

QUETTA, Pakistan — At least 25 people were killed in southwest Pakistan on Saturday when militants blew up a bus carrying women students and attacked a hospital treating survivors, officials said.

The bomb attack on a bus in Quetta, capital of the restive Baluchistan province, killed 14 women students, and another 11 people died in a blast at a city hospital around 90 minutes later.

The second attack hit the emergency ward of the city’s Bolan Medical Complex where the wounded were taken and was followed by a gun battle with militants holed up inside the hospital.

The standoff lasted for several hours and ended when security forces stormed the building, freeing 35 people who had been taken hostage, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar told reporters.

Quetta was the scene of two of the bloodiest attacks in Pakistan this year, both targeting Shiite Muslims, and the student victims were members of a women’s university popular with the minority community.

Nisar said the bus bomb killed 14 students and wounded 19.

Even HuffPo has noticed how bad the Taliban make things for women:

In Afghanistan, the United States and its allies continue to wage a war for a just cause. Today, some 68,000 U.S. troops are in that country, fighting against terrorism and the inhumane reign of the Taliban.

President Barack Obama wants America to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014, which would be 14 years after we first sent troops there. The Republican leader on the GOP presidential ticket, Mitt Romney, has called that deadline merely a “goal.”

What happens in Afghanistan in 2014 depends so much on who is elected president of the United States in 2012.

And what happens to the women and girls of Afghanistan depends so much on who is elected president of the United States in 2012 as well.

Will all the advances in freedom that women and girls in Afghanistan have seen since the U.S. involvement be erased when our troops leave?

Will there be more innocent victims like Yousafzai? How many more?

These are Obama’s new peace partners, and their goal sounds very much like Osama Bin Laden’s goal:

The Taliban statement made it clear that its fighters remained determined to unseat Karzai’s government and to “end the occupation” of NATO troops in the country.

Here’s a pretty good overview of life under the Taliban.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/emMrn9ja5iU[/youtube]

These are Obama’s new peace partners. These are the people with whom Obama plans to “negotiate.” This is the Taliban Biden described as “not our enemy.” At one time Obama called the war in Afghanistan the “War of Necessity.”

Now he just wants out and is ready to throw Afghanistan’s women to the wolves.

DrJohn

DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.

DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.

Except for liberals being foolish.