afghanistan education

Imagine sending your child to elementary school, knowing there's a chance that brutal thugs might attempt to poison her -- because the very idea of your child receiving an education is so offensive to them.

You can easily see how the system of education in Canada could quickly break down under such awful pressure. Yet this is the situation that Afghans in areas threatened by the Taliban must deal with. An excerpt from The Courage Of Afghan Schoolgirls in the Toronto Star:

I visited the home of Sakina, one of those staff members, and met her daughter Marwa, who was one of the girls directly affected by the attack.

A 13-year old young lady from Vancouver has helped raise $300,000 so that girls can go to school in Afghanistan. This is simply incredible.

Well done, Alaina Podmorow. You've done more for women's education and civil rights in a few years than most people will achieve in a lifetime.

This is what can be achieved when ordinary people do extraordinary things. Our government ought to be taking notes, here:

When Alaina Podmorow was a shy nine-year-old, her mother asked if she'd like to go with her to a speech about how girls and women were treated in Afghanistan.

"At the time I thought, 'I'm not quite sure what this is about but I get to stay up late so I think I'll go to it,'" she says.

Four years later, having raised nearly $300,000 to help girls go to school in Afghanistan, she recalls eight words from that speech that she says she'll never forget: "The worst thing you can do is nothing."

The inspirational speech was given by Sally Armstrong, a Toronto-based author and human-rights champion who has chronicled the abuse of women under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and their struggle now for equality.

Poised and confident, Podmorow, 13, now gives inspirational speeches herself as the founder of the non-profit Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan, a fundraising organization that channels money for teachers' salaries and training through Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.

"I found that it doesn't matter how little or young you are, you can make this difference," she said in an interview during a conference on Afghanistan hosted by the Canadian Federation of University Women.

Canadians have long accepted the decision made in the House of Commonsin 2008, which called for an end to Canada's combat mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan, by July of 2011. Knowing the closing date to anopen-ended United Nations mission certainly simplified things in the minds of many people in this country. The only problem with this idea,however, is that nothing about the mission itself has changed, and the challenges we face there continue to be far from simple.

It seems to me that Canadians only pay attention to two aspects of themission in Kandahar these days: how many soldiers have been killed in combat, or how many days remain until Canada leaves. The problem withdwelling only in the past or the future is that it ignores the imperative of remaining focused on current mission objectives.

After the decision was made on a fixed exit date for Canadian Forcesin Kandahar, there has been a leadership vacuum on the mission that has required non-government organizations like the Canada-AfghanistanSolidarity Committee (CASC) to step in and advocate on behalf of the ongoing needs of Afghans.CASC has consulted within the Afghan-Canadian community, and broadly throughout the country of Afghanistan itself - including NGO's,agencies, former warlords, women's organizations, teachers, parliamentarians, journalists, and officials with NATO - in order tocome up with what we believe are Canada's remaining obligations.

An overwhelming majority of Afghans themselves have asked for ourcontinued assistance in developing their fledgling democracy, upholding the principles of equality and the rule of law, and thestruggle in providing a more representative and accountable government.CASC agrees that Canada's "battle group" can, and should, come home with honour, after a long and successful tour of duty. But thatdoesn't mean our soldiers can't play an effective and important mentoring role in the country beyond 2011.

The key to success in Afghanistan isn't necessarily victory throughtotal war, but has always been the sustainable creation of a stable and democratic government, and a strong Afghan National Army andpolice force who can provide security to the citizens of the nation.

We believe that Canada should maintain its proud leadership role withthe Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), including its polio eradication program, and engineering and construction projects. Suchhumanitarian causes are things the Canadian public can rally behind, and they also win us the admiration and respect of the local populace.

Even though our soldiers leave the field of combat, Canada's supportfor the ISAF mission should be unwavering and uncompromising, particularly on the issue of "reconciliation". The view of CASC isthat peace with the enemy should only be engaged with those whom accept the principles of human rights and the rule of law, thelegitimacy of the democratic Afghan government and the constitution, and the renunciation of violence against the Afghan people. Ofparticular importance is that the rights of women are not in any way, shape, or form to be compromised in suing for peace.

Canada's "new mission" should be to continue to support the Afghanpeople in their country-wide quest for the growth and development of a "democratic culture." The new mission must be to build upon the heavyinvestment that Canada has made in both money and lives in Afghanistan since 2002, with a sharper focus on the long-term results ofnation-building. We owe it to both Canadians and Afghans to see that the promises we made will be kept.

Contributed by CASC member Adrian MacNair, who blogs at Unambiguously Ambidextrous

Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee co-founder helps us understand the importance of continuing the international mission in Afghanistan the way in which the next generation can be educated to embrace a future free of the Taliban. This piece originally appeared in the Mark, in Teaching Peace: