Child Bride

I’m going to confess something that may not be too popular with my fellow liberal patriots- I’m glad we invaded Afghanistan. Why? Simple- the Taliban. Before we went to “war” I hoped that something would happen so that the women of Afghanistan would become free again. I was saddened and appalled by the treatment they received under fundamental rule. Today I came across a story that reinforces that sentiment. It’s a heartbreaking story about a little girl who was married to a 30 year-old man when she was all of…4 years old.

Child Bride

“When I was three years old my father died, and after a year my mother married again, but her second husband didn’t want me,” says Gulsoma. “So my mother gave me away in a promise of marriage to our neighbor’s oldest son, who was thirty.”
“They had a ceremony in which I was placed on a horse [which is traditional in Afghanistan] and given to the man.”

Because she was still a child, the marriage was not expected to be sexually consummated. But within a year, Gulsoma learned that so much else would be required of her that she would become a virtual slave in the household.

Her new husband’s family tortured this little girl by beating her, making her a slave, and making her sleep outside on just a piece of old carpet. The night she escaped, when she was all of 11 years old, her father-in-law had beaten her so bad that he broke her arm and foot. Her back is scarred from beatings and being forced to lay on her stomach while her family used her as a table- cutting their food on her bare skin. Her scalp was burned so badly that she has a permanent bald spot. When a neighbor brought this poor child a blanket and some food in the middle of the night her father-in-law beat her unconscious.

I look at Baby, who is 21 months old, and Lil’ Miss, 14 years-old, and thank Isis that they are here in the United States. I remember when Lil’ Miss was 4, how sweet she was, how fragile, and wonder how anyone could do that to a child. When I read this story I thought of Lil’ Miss right now, how at her age she still stamps her foot when she’s angry with me and still wants to cuddle with me when she’s not feeling well. I think of the million things that I need to protect her from still. I want that for Gulsoma, to be able to be comforted by her mother, to be loved, to be safe, to be a child.

This story isn’t uncommon in that part of the world. Little girls aren’t important and aren’t, a lot of times, even considered to be human. They’re treated worse than dogs. Gods, but it makes me so angry!

By the way, you should read some of the comments on that story. Some schmuck actually said this story was propaganda to try to validate Bush’s evil mission. Yeah, except there were stories of this ilk coming out of Afghanistan before Bush took office. These children aren’t political pawns, folks, they’re victims of real tyranny and oppression. T hey aren’t anything but breeders to these monsters. And this story illustrates that perfectly. I’m just thankful that my daughters are safe- for now.