Back in the ring

Posted by CODEPINK Staff

It's round three today in the ongoing feminist debate around what's best for Afghan women -- Sonali Kolhatkar steps back into the ring with this AlterNet piece. She writes, in response to the Feminist Majority's now infamous position of  support for U.S. troops in Afghanistan to protect Afghan women, "While I fully agree with the FM that the US must stop supporting warlords, and pour resources into development and aid I disagree that dropping bombs, fighting ground offensives, imprisoning Afghans, and all the byproducts of war are somehow making women safer."

Quick recap of the debate: a few weeks ago, Kolhatkar, the host and producer of Uprising Radio and co-director of the Afghan Women’s Mission co-wrote (with Mariam Rawi, a member of the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan working under a pseudonym) this insightful critique a few weeks ago of FM's support of the U.S. war in Afghanistan as well as the argument that war there is necessary to help Afghan people, especially Afghan women. The piece was posted everywhere, including here. About a week later, FM president Eleanor Smeal posted this rebuttal piece to Huffington Post. She writes, "Without [U.S. troops] stabilizing the country, there can be no significant redevelopment effort."

It's curious to follow this conversation as, for so long, it seemed the feminist community was relatively silent on the war (s), or at least in any public forum, rarely linked feminist identity with an anti-war position. One wonders where the Feministing, Jezebel and other young feminist communities fall...