Why We Must Win In Afghanistan

First of all, I would like to say that I was alerted to this story through a Michael Yon post on Facebook.  If you are on Facebook, Michael's posts are very insightful in terms of what is going in the Afghanistan and other countries in that region.  Mr. Yon was embedded with American troops in Afghanistan until a disagreement with General McChrystal forced him to leave.  He is on good terms with General Petraeus and will be headed back there soon.  You can 'friend' him on Facebook to follow his travels.

CNN is reporting today that dozens of Afghani schoolgirls and their teachers became ill when their school was attacked with poison gas. 

According to the article:

"The latest incident, this one at a high school, is the ninth such case involving the poisoning of schoolgirls, said Asif Nang, spokesman for the nation's education ministry.

"Dr. Kabir Amiri said 59 students and 14 teachers were brought to the hospital, and were faring better."

Obviously this is not an isolated incident.  There is something in the Taliban variety of Islam that is very threatened by the idea of women getting an education.  There is a book entitled "Three Cups of Tea" written by Greg Mortenson that deals with the author's experiences with setting up schools for girls in Pakistan.  He encountered many of the same problems--schools being blown up, death threats, etc. 

The article at CNN further states:

"A report compiled last year by the humanitarian agency CARE documented 670 education-related attacks in 2008, including murder and arson. Much of the violence in what CARE called an "alarming trend" occurred at girls' schools."

It would be very nice if all Muslims stepped up to the plate and denounced this sort of violence against women and girls, but obviously that is not going to happen.  Until the part of the world that enjoys freedom and appreciates the blessing of freedom stands up and says no to anyone who opposes education for everyone, this will continue.  If America does not stand up and defeat the people who cling to this ideology, we will regret it.  Some of our ideals will have been lost.