Dedication to Education

The Taliban are doing anything to keep Afghanistan girls out of school, but the girls’ dedication toward their education is superseding to their threats and terrorizations. Using fundamentalist Islamic values as a motive, the Taliban forbid women to attend school, work outside of home or wear any other clothing besides burkas. Originally these were only threats imposed to the public, but as the Taliban kept seizing more control over the nation disobeying these rules could lead to grave situations. Now girls are not allowed to attend school and those that do are paying a high price. The Taliban have gone to such drastic measures that they are spraying acid, like in Shamsia’s case, or monitoring specific schools until they close, like in Malala’s case.
Even though they use traditional Islamic values as an excuse for their terrorizations, it is more likely that their real intentions are to keep women as “stupid things” to prevent them from becoming individual minds that can endanger their control. Women, being almost half the population in Afghanistan, have the potential to unite and rise up against the Taliban successfully. With a decent education, girls can learn how to form, express, and put to action their opinions. Fearing that with a good education there is more of a chance that the women will resist against their control, the Taliban are doing anything to prevent these girls from attending school.
However, what is more impressing then the assaults the Taliban are doing is the devotion many girls have toward their education. While many students in the U.S. are cutting classes, girls in Afghanistan are defying not only the Taliban’s orders, but their parents’ will and sneaking out of the house just to go to class. As many schools were close many girls convert their own rooms into miniature classrooms. Some girls, like Shamsia Husseini, that have already been attacked by the Taliban are also continuing to attend classes. Such intrepid actions demonstrate these girls’ staggering dedication for their education.
It is clear that for many girls the Taliban’s threats and terrorizations will not stop them from persueing a decent education. Such dedication should be admired. These girls, like any other girls in the world have the right to an education and they should not have to be fighting for their rights. Yet they are. And they are fighting against a very dangerous and violent group. They are being penalized for not doing anything wrong. Facing such unjust punishments with such bravery should be commended for.

No Modern Day Gestapo

For me to relate Nazi Germany to modern day Afghanistan would be going out on a limb and tying together laces of history that do not make for a tight knot. I believe that a strong argument claiming 1930’s Europe is identical to modern day Afghanistan does not exist. While wrestling to form an argument about Nazi Germany and Afghanistan, one might start by comparing the similarities between the Nazi Party and the Taliban. One might say that the Taliban kills innocent citizens just as the Nazis did, and that they instill fear into the hearts of those they rule over. One could say that the Taliban takes control of communication and commerce as if they were Nazis. Let me convince you that the Taliban is no Nazi party. For one, all of Afghanistan disapproves of the Taliban's tactics and mentality, as exemplified through the democratic government that is in place -- a clear message that the Taliban is not welcome. We must remember that the Nazi party gained party members in the legislature through Hitler's campaign tactics, and took control of the government through politics rather than force -- something the Taliban demonstrated in 1996 after defeating the Soviet Union. As Hitler took control of Germany through the government, he gained followers that helped him ingrain the Nazi ideals into the German core. The momentum of the Nazi party did not grow through gunfire, but rather through the excitement of the German citizens. The Nazis then continued to prove to Germans that they were the answer to all of their economic failures. They succeeded in raising the unemployment rate from a few million to a few thousand, and brought Germany from a loser of WWI, to a major world power leading up to WWII. Hitler had an organized police force and bodyguard in the S.S. and S.A., and with Heinrich Himmler, Hitler convinced the Germans that they belonged to a nurturing and politically enhanced nation that would one day belong to the middle class that built it. The S.S. and S.A. created job opportunities for the youth of Germany, encouraging young men to belong to something greater than themselves, which from an economic and political standpoint is a strikingly good idea. This is completely different than the Taliban because these new jobs were a contributor to the strengthening economy of Germany. The Taliban are far from prominent in the economy of Afghanistan. Instead they are helping with its demise. Although it may appear that my argument is applauding the Nazi Party, I am only proving that they had everything that the Taliban does not -- the support of their nation.