Fertility

Following a trend evident throughout Asia and around the globe, Afghanistan has seen its fertility rate drop. "The average number of children Afghan women can expect to have in their lifetime fell from 8 in the 1990s to 6.3 in the mid-2000s and to 5.1 at the end of the decade," suggests a USA TODAY analysis of the country's birth data.

New emphasis on health care and education have contributed to the decline in the birthrate. The country's infant mortality rates have also plunged. 

Photo of Afghan baby delivered by Caesarean section, courtesy of  DVIDSHUB and Wikimedia Commons.

Invisible

Women are not shown in Afghanistan's elementary school textbooks.

"An accurate representation of successful women presents children with the realistic message that no country can progress if half its population is invisible in the social, economical and political scene," writes Noorjahan Akbar for UN Dispatach. "If we want to change gender roles in Afghanistan, a good place to start is with the textbooks."
 
Afghanistan has enough troublemakers who do not want gender roles to change - or at least they expect  women to work and get no credit for what they do. 

Even Dari books for children produced outside Afghanistan are sparse on images. Still, the children are eager to learn.

Photo of Afghan National Police offer distributing coloring books, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and US Marine Corps.





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Even though women make up nearly 50% of agricultural workers in Afghanistan, according to the drawings in these books, farming, too, is exclusive to men. - See more at: http://www.undispatch.com/afghanistans-pedagogy-of-the-invisible#sthash.ggR8pJox.dpuf

Even though women make up nearly 50% of agricultural workers in Afghanistan, according to the drawings in these books, farming, too, is exclusive to men. - See more at: http://www.undispatch.com/afghanistans-pedagogy-of-the-invisible#sthash.ggR8pJox.dpuf

Even though women make up nearly 50% of agricultural workers in Afghanistan, according to the drawings in these books, farming, too, is exclusive to men. - See more at: http://www.undispatch.com/afghanistans-pedagogy-of-the-invisible#sthash.ggR8pJox.dpuf

Helmand PRT

The Provincial Reconstruction Team described in Fear of Beauty is a small subset of the overall Helmand team. The novel describes a US agriculture group, whose security members also have another mission in the remote area around fictional Laashekoh.

The actual and overall Helmand PRT is a complex organization, civilian-led, with 160 staff members. The PRT is led by the United Kingdom, a multinational effort of the US, Denmark and Estonia.

The PRT, which for years has dispatched teams around the province, describes its goals:

"Success in Helmand, where the insurgency and drugs trade interact to create particular challenges, is essential for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Why we do it It is vital that Afghanistan becomes a stable and secure state that is able to suppress violent extremism within its borders. We cannot allow Afghanistan to again become a safe haven for terrorists." 

Fear of Beauty provides but a small snapshot and a few insights into the PRT work. Progress has been made. For example, Mercy Corps has trained 50,000 people in improved farming techniques.

Is the story of Fear of Beauty improbable? Not according to some US veterans and Afghan refugees. 



Photo of Helmand River, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and US military.

Interview

Great questions from Jordan Rich of CBS Boston, WBZ 1030 - about Afghanistan, the troops returning home and their accomplishments, and women's rights.

Note: I was thrown off by the first question, "Why did you go there?" Of course, he meant why did I choose to write about Afghanistan - a long story that includes a list of many chance encounters. Before our call, he had already asked if I had actually traveled there and he knew the answer was no.

First step

For those who think that the imagined village of Laashekoh cannot be real, consider this description from Jennifer Glasse of Al Jazeera:

"Saira Shakeeb Sadat wants her district, Khwaja Dukoh, to change. Surrounded by mud walls, the dusty hamlet in the remote northern Afghan province of Jawzjan is home to about 5,000 families. The isolation means security is good here, but little aid has reached the town....

"'There are a lot of limitations for working women everywhere in the world but especially in Afghanistan, where there are cultural restrictions,' she says. 'The only thing I have learned from the limitations of women in our society, is that if we have a goal and have self-confidence, we can get things done and fight those limitations...'  She believes that one of the key steps in battling those confines is education."
 
The women of Afghanistan are strong and ready to work on improving their communities.

Photo of Afghans building school in Herat, courtesy of  the US Agency for International Development and Wikimedia Commons.

Casualties

In December, the US Congressional Research Service released a report on casualties in Afghanistan among both military forces and civilians. Operation Enduring Freedom began October 7, 2001 - and also include US casualties in neighboring Pakistan and other countries. 

The statistics are rough as so often is the case with war. Because NATO's International Security Assistance Force does not post casualty statistics of partner countries, the CRS report relies data from CNN.com. Also, reporting on casualties of Afghans by the United Nations did not begin until 2007. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction once included casualty reports in quarterly reports to Congress, but has since ceased this practice, reports Susan G. Chesser, information research specialist and author of the report. So the data are from CNN, Reuters and multiple sources. The Congressional Research Report does not include data from Taliban sources. 

"Because the estimates of Afghan casualties contained in this report are based on varying time periods and have been created using different methodologies, readers should exercise caution when using them and should look to them as guideposts rather than statements of fact," notes Chesser. "This report will be updated as needed."

                                                  Fatalities        Wounded
US troops                                      2,038           18,109
Coalition partners                         1,059
Afghan civilians(2007-2011)     11,864     

This report is vague on total casualties among Afghan troops and focuses on recent years. But Afghanistan Monitor points out a total of 1,043 ANA troops were casualties from 2007 to June 2010 and also: "Figures from 2002 to end 2006 are not available but estimates put the number at 7,000 or higher."

Photo of Marines in Helmand, courtesy of DVIDSHUB and Wikimedia Commons

Cover

Afghanistan's future is being transferred to Afghan hands.

 Matthew Rosenberg of The New York Times reports that US troops, as they withdraw, are encountering firefights with Taliban forces. In the report, one elder notes that in the villages “anything can happen.”

Still, the chilling report describes a withdrawal picking up pace. The costs are heavy for villages that assist the Taliban, so often a decision that's made by a few. Rosenberg describing the use of explosive devices to knock down stands of trees and level a hill, either of which could provide cover for Taliban forces that want to assume control after the coalition forces leave.