Brutalized Afghan woman arrives in Los Angeles for reconstructive facial surgery
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A U.S.-based burn specialist hopes to restore the face of a young Afghan woman who was brutalized then abandoned by her husband and brother-in-law. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238,00.html
Months after being brutalized by her Taliban fighter husband -- with approval from the local Taliban -- a young Afghan woman arrived in Los Angeles last week for reconstructive surgery on her face.
Her crime: She ran away from her husband’s abusive home.
Her punishment was meted out by her husband. She was held down by her brother-in-law while her husband slashed away with a knife, slicing off part of her nose and ears. She was left in the mountains near Uruzgan to die but was rescued by U.S. troops and treated at a military clinic for two months, according to a New York-based non-profit, Women for Afghan Women, which operates a women's safe house in Kabul.
Known only as Bibi Aisha (Miss Aisha), the 18-year-old was welcomed at Los Angeles International Airport by representatives of the internationally famous Grossman Burn Centers to settle in before her reconstructive surgery.
After reading of her plight and that of other Afghan women in a cover story in the Aug. 9 issue of Time magazine, and seeing her on television, Dr. Peter H. Grossman, co-director of the Grossman Burn Centers, knew he could help her.
The foundation paid to bring Aisha to Los Angeles, found a host family for her and is funding her treatment.
Grossman told the Los Angeles Times that Aisha‘s treatment could include “a prosthetic nose or reconstruction of her nose and ears using bone, tissue and cartilage from the rest of her body.”
“What I’d love to be able to do with Aisha is to give her a permanent solution from her own body,” Grossman said.
In Afghanistan's Taliban-controlled territories, Islamists following Sharia, or "God's law," have complete domination over women.
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I don't think we have been getting the full picture on Afghanistan. For 8 years it was all but pushed aside and minimized by the Bush Administration. The fundamentalist Taliban grew stronger. Strong enough that it could get horrible concessions from President Karzai that included legal rights to brutalize women. Our government must make much stronger demands on Karzai regarding the human rights of women. He is a low-life that has proven he cares only about his own personal power and wealth. If our goal is to end brutality toward women we should be honest about it and divert more resources to that end instead of legitimizing Karzai who is no friend of the U.S. We must work more effectively with those who are victims of the Taliban and stop legitimizing Karzai and his Taliban coalition.
These people (brain washed war students) are still being used by the Pakistani Generals that wants the war to continue so the Generals can enjoy receiving millions-billions and only spend a small amount to continue the war against the Afghan Government/US.
The years of brain washing in Pakistan for these fighters of the wars needs to be reversed, but it will be hard and will take just as long as it took to brain wash them to kill and become Islamic Extremist and go back to civilization. It is very hard to clean an addict of drug or religion and take the person back to normal to take care of themselves/their family/their country/people of the world/nature instead of hurting other humans. They believe that they should tell people how to behave. Everyone goes to his/her own grave and will answer to whomever in the next world-if you believe in life after death or God.
We need to educate people that all humans are equal. It does not matter what their country, race, or religion is. International Laws should be followed. Do not steel, kill, lie, and hurt others! Afghanistan needs more government workers to be able to follow up and hold people responsible for their actions. Additional international forces are needed to catch those in giving and receiving bribery. Again, education is needed to encourage people to do the right thing and more people are needed to hold them responsible for their actions.
I wish other news sources would report what RAWA does and when they need a spokesperson on what is happening in Afghanistan, they should go to these women. Especially our Senators should visit with RAWA instead of military.
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