Author Archives: Kevin

About Kevin

Kevin Sudeith is an artist and the creator and curator of the war rug collection seen on warrug.com. Beginning as (and remaining) a collector, he began selling war rugs to learn as much as possible about the rugs. Later he sold what he calls "regular rugs" to better study rugs and their historical origins. Sudeith learned how war rugs related to traditional Afghan tribal and workshop rugs as well as the broader Turkmen and Persian rug traditions.

Afghan Women TV in Kabul

4-26-04

Afghan broadcasting authorities have just reserved a TV frequency for the Voice of Afghan Women association to open what is expected to be the first women’s community television channel in Kabul.

The registration fee has been paid thanks to a project of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communications (IPDC), which will also provide a transmitter with antenna and essential TV production equipment to the women’s association.

Good News


A first for Afghan women: the governor

It is not a job for the faint hearted. Afghan governors are stereotypically gruff, bearded men with a penchant for fighting, sweet tea and smoke-filled-room politics. Ms Sarobi, a mild-mannered mother, comes to work with a suitcase and her secretary.

Formerly the minister for women’s affairs, she said she had turned down an ambassadorial job to demand the governor’s post from President Hamid Karzai.
…
In Bamiyan, Ms Sarobi’s popularity stems from a solid political pedigree (her uncle is a former vice-president) and partly from the liberalism of her fellow Hazara, one of Afghanistan’s more tolerant tribes.
…
After the Taliban seized power in 1996, she fled to Pakistan so her daughter could continue school. She also detested the obligatory burka, but found the ankle-length cloak a useful disguise when, years later, she slipped back across the border to establish a clandestine network of girls’ schools.

The bad news…

Last week a woman in Badakhshan was stoned to death for adultery, the second such killing since the Taliban’s overthrow in 2001.

Motorbike

News and Art

• Police said a man on a motorbike shot dead a policeman who tried to prevent him from approaching an operation to destroy opium crops near Kandahar. Other officers then gunned down the motorcyclist.

Self-Immolation Of Women On The Rise In Western Provinces

John made us aware of this alarming trend:

The Afghan government is expressing concern over the growing number of women in Herat Province who have killed themselves through self-immolation. Suraya Sobah Rang, Afghanistan’s deputy women’s affairs minister, says forced marriages and a continued lack of access to education is contributing to the growing despair among Herat’s women.

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