From the Afghan People for Americans
This film fulfills a pledge Esther Hyneman made years ago: to correct the misinformation that has done a great injustice to the country and people of Afghanistan.
Why this film is important.
Years of negative information about Afghanistan from mainstream media and the absence of positive information from their own government have convinced Americans that their country’s investment in money and lives has been a tragic mistake.
This widespread belief imperils the future of thirty million people in a fledgling democracy in an unstable part of the world and adds strength to the dangerously simplistic view that any form of nation building is doomed to fail.
During the past 15 years the Afghan people have been making progress in extending human rights to women. This is important news for women in the world and a potential victory for civilization. In 2011, TrustLaw judged Afghanistan the world’s most dangerous country for women. Men tortured women they judged defiant, sold young girls—even children—into marriages to old men, gave them to other families as recompense for crimes. Women who were accused of “moral crimes” (extramarital sex) were brought before male elders and sentenced to brutal punishment. They lacked legal aid and the right to appeal. “Honor” killings of women who shamed their family were performed by family members and communities. The preferred method: stoning to death.
While these horrors may still be perpetrated, a different mindset is taking hold in the country. From the Afghan People For Americans highlights women, men and youth who are fighting to make a difference. The progress in eliminating a social norm (violence against women) once considered so deep in Afghan culture as to be incurable tells women of the world, especially those who are victims of misogynist cultures, that if the most abused women on the planet can claim universal human rights for themselves, they can too.
This widespread belief imperils the future of thirty million people in a fledgling democracy in an unstable part of the world and adds strength to the dangerously simplistic view that any form of nation building is doomed to fail.
During the past 15 years the Afghan people have been making progress in extending human rights to women. This is important news for women in the world and a potential victory for civilization. In 2011, TrustLaw judged Afghanistan the world’s most dangerous country for women. Men tortured women they judged defiant, sold young girls—even children—into marriages to old men, gave them to other families as recompense for crimes. Women who were accused of “moral crimes” (extramarital sex) were brought before male elders and sentenced to brutal punishment. They lacked legal aid and the right to appeal. “Honor” killings of women who shamed their family were performed by family members and communities. The preferred method: stoning to death.
While these horrors may still be perpetrated, a different mindset is taking hold in the country. From the Afghan People For Americans highlights women, men and youth who are fighting to make a difference. The progress in eliminating a social norm (violence against women) once considered so deep in Afghan culture as to be incurable tells women of the world, especially those who are victims of misogynist cultures, that if the most abused women on the planet can claim universal human rights for themselves, they can too.
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