FreoGirl
Tintin, you do have a lot more real knowledge of Afghan society than I. However my point about the physical effects of carrying children too young is not based on an Australian girl, I was referring to the documented facts published by WHO and UNICEF on the subject (mostly studies in India - but I think we can agree that Indian and Afghan girls are similar). I believe (having listened to some of the dogma) that the reason girls are locked away is so that they are untouched. The younger they are, the better chances that there will have been no chance of 'things' happening. Women are generally locked away in Afghanistan and some other muslim countries because the men fear that given freedom the woman may sleep with someone else (Allah forbid!). This has become part of the social fabric. Even my own husband is extremely uncomfortable with me being alone with another man other than my family. It is quite a challenge for him to give me the freedom I have, and my husband is a fairly moderate muslim.I do have some correspondence that discussed figures of deaths from childbirth, along with other physical issues that result from a child giving birth, mostly India, but will try to put my hands on them and pm you.
tintin
FreoGirl,Afghanistan is, in spite of its many different tribes, has rather homogeneous society, cemented by its very orthodox type of Islam (with the exception of the Kuchis, who are also conservative Moslems, but their social organization is quite different from the rest). India has so many diverse ethnicities, the girl-bride must have other reasons. Anyway, I can appreciate the physical issues that result from a child giving birth, but one never knows enough. So, if you get a hold of the data, please pass them on in a pm. Thank you in advance.
Jim Thorpe
[b][color=green]deleted by adminFurther attempts to disrupt will result in a ban.[/color][/b]
JAMIE
TIN ..shed some light for me . Why do the afgans grow and produce the lion share of the worlds heroin , I would think that flies in the face of the muslimism ? And the whole topic of the child bride is gross ...
tintin
I am going to get blasted again for answering your question which has nothing to do with Bali, but I guess it has something to do with Islam, i.e. Indonesia.Briefly stated, the reason is poverty. Afghanistan is practically all rural, and very poor. There is a great world demand for the "stuff," so Opium has become most important way for the majority of Afghan farmers to survive. The industry, the banking system of Afghanistan are totally collapsed, but it really does not seem to matter to the average Afghan farmer who gets his money from the money changer through informal loans in exchange for some of his crops. This is the only way he and his family can survive. But the best crop which brings the most money is opium poppies. I don't know much about Islam, but I don't think that there is a prohibition against growing poppies. There may be one about using the derived products though. However, Islam is as diverse in its practices as any other religion. For example alcohol seems to have been used at the Great Mogols' courts in great quantities (it was the reason for Babur's downfall who used too much of it), and the wines of Shiraz had always prevailed over the law of the Prophet.
JAMIE
I just dont get it , they cant drink yet they grow poppies ? thx
SG
[b]Re: RE: Modern Day Slavery[/b]I just dont get it , they cant drink yet they grow poppies ? thx[/quote]People don't drink yet they smoke ciggies (and in Indonesia the government allows advertising that implies it makes you strong, healthy and good looking)...Like Tin Tin says..money drives a lot of things.
Markit
Having been to Afghanistan in the early 80s I can only say what I saw there: 11 year old brides are the exception and not the rule - most men, of any religious persuasion, do not want to spend much time with children... Poppy growth has nothing to do with usage of heroin - if you live in a country where very little else grows (that is salable) and you are selling opium or heroin to foreigners, and not using it yourself - so what? (widely held opinion and supported by the mullahs)The question I've wanted answering is if the above is the case and the entire crop could be bought from the farmers direct for between 600 and 1000 million dollars annually, why does the developed world spend between 3 and 8 billion to interdict it?I suspect we all know the answer but that doesn't help the poor Afghani farmer that has to sell his daughter to feed the rest of his family in a war torn nation.
