The Forgotten War in Afghanistan

If there weren’t enough problems to worry about already in Afghanistan, one more can be added to the list. Afghan doctors have seen a recent surge in young woman entering into hospitals from cases of burns and self-immolation. Hmmmmm…..but what in the world would cause such a break out of self violence that is forcing the world to take notice? The answer is simple…..family problems especially with mothers and fathers in law!

From what doctors and therapists are learning from these young woman entering hospitals is that they often inflict this unnecessary violence on themselves in order to escape their family problems. The specific area of the hospital that has been overwhelmed in the past eight months has been the burn unit. In this time frame a reported 51 or so women have entered the unit with an astounding 13 ever leaving it.

This practice of self-immolation originated or gained notoriety in Iran years ago during the war with Russia, then Soviet Union and has rapidly spread across the border to Afghan woman. Clearly, there are still some readers who are confused and rightfully so. In Afghanistan and the Arabic world, forced marriages are a monumental part of life. Many times these marriages are in place years before the young women are conceived; the women have absolutely no say in the matter and are bound by the agreement to partake in the matrimony.

With this concise background in mind, fights and domestic violence is not uncommon within the households. Since women have few, if any rights within the Arabic world, some men become excessively abusive with their wives, leading to numerous physical and psychological injuries. With this psychological burden looming over the women’s heads, self-immolation seems like an easy escape from the living-hell they are in. One such instance that has been reported by doctors is while wives are cooking meals they will often “mistakenly” pour gasoline onto their stoves igniting a vicious flame that eventually sets the women ablaze.

It’s amazingly sad that these women have been put in these situations where self-immolation and death appear to be the best solution to solving their problems. This trend again walks a fine line that begs the question, does outside intervention need to be had? Most likely, nations abroad will avoid this type of situation because it would raise all hell in the global spectrum if outside countries interfered with cultural values and tendencies. I hope to God something can and will be done moving forward, however I have absolutely no idea what that might be!