I would like to draw your attention to The Nations recent article in its November 9^th, 2009 edition, “Remember the Women?” by Ann Jones, where in the headlines she makes the statement, "Women belong at the center of the debate over the Afghan war, not on the margins"

She also writes:

-That’s the part American officials seem unwilling to admit: that the mujahedeen warlords of the Karzai governments and the oppressive Taliban are brothers under the skin. From the point of view of women today, American’s friends and American’s enemies in Afghanistan are the same kind of guys

-The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report attributes women’s worsening position in Afghan society to the violence the war engenders on two domestic fronts: the public stage and the home

-Threats against women in public life are intended to make them go home—to “unliberate” themselves through voluntary house arrest. But if public life is dangerous, so is life at home. Most Afghan women—87 percent, according to Unifem—are beaten on a regular basis

-As Obama tries to weigh options against our national security interests, his advisers can’t be bother with—as one US military officer put it to me—“the trivial fate of women”

* If you are still ambivalent about what Obama’s decision should be, please checkout the Ann Jones article*