Veil of Fears

LAST month’s dramatic pictures of Afghan women shyly peeking out from beneath freshly lifted veils set off a torrent of commentary on the meaning and aims of the war. Although Afghanistan’s new rulers quickly abolished the Taliban’s draconian codes of womanly conduct, some Americans called for a government-imposed program of feminist reform. Feminists, like Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler, even tried to spin the war as a crusade against a global “patriarchy.”

Meanwhile, the mainstream press was busy detailing the horrors of the Taliban’s treatment of women, focusing on the veil. “It was like being in jail,” said one Afghan woman of her years under the veil. But now, proclaimed the New York Times, “the prisoners have been set free.” In a cover story on Muslim women, Time magazine dubbed the Afghan burka “a body bag for the living.”

About the Author

Stanley Kurtz

Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

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LAST month’s dramatic pictures of Afghan women shyly peeking out from beneath freshly lifted veils set off a torrent of commentary on the meaning and aims of the war. Although Afghanistan’s new rulers quickly abolished the Taliban’s draconian codes of womanly conduct, some Americans called for a government-imposed program of feminist reform. Feminists, like Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler, even tried to spin the war as a crusade against a global “patriarchy.”

Meanwhile, the mainstream press was busy detailing the horrors of the Taliban’s treatment of women, focusing on the veil. “It was like being in jail,” said one Afghan woman of her years under the veil. But now, proclaimed the New York Times, “the prisoners have been set free.” In a cover story on Muslim women, Time magazine dubbed the Afghan burka “a body bag for the living.”