Cathy McMorris Rodgers on the Women of Afghanistan

Below is an excerpt from my monthly column in Smart Girl Nation, Smart Girl Politic's online magazine. 

Fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a specific culture; it is the acceptance of our common humanity - a commitment shared by people of good will on every continent. --Laura Bush  

Along with news of yet another Taliban attack on Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul earlier this month, there is speculation that the country may be on the brink of civil war. Add that to the growing concern over the pending U.S. troop withdrawal and the effect it could have on the women and children of Afghanistan, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how volatile the situation is. “Afghanistan is at that delicate moment in the development of a free society,” said Laura Bush in an article she wrote for The Hill in June, “when the weight of its new institutions will either shift toward a free future or back toward an oppressive past. And whether it continues to protect and expand human rights could determine in which direction the country goes.”...Read the rest here.