Sorry to burst their bubblegum bubble, but the Afghan women activists Code Pink met with had a vastly different agenda than their American counterparts:
When Medea Benjamin stood up in a Kabul meeting hall this weekend to ask Masooda Jalal if she would prefer more international troops or more development funds, the cofounder of US antiwar group Code Pink was hoping her fellow activist would support her call for US troop withdrawal.
She was disappointed.
Ms. Jalhal, the former Afghan minister of women, bluntly told her both were needed. "It is good for Afghanistan to have more troops – more troops committed with the aim of building peace and against war, terrorism, and security – along with other resources," she answered. "Coming together they will help with better reconstruction."
Hopefully, as the Afghani women explained their position, Code Pink--a group known for its radical style of protest--was forced to rethink their own and come to the conclusion we have: "Without international troops... armed groups could return with a vengeance – and that would leave women most vulnerable."
Code Pink was originally founded in 2002 to protest military action in Iraq, but quickly grew to be an all-encompassing anti-war movement. Recently, the group has also been involved in protesting potential hostile action against Iran. Ms. Benjamin joined other U.S. "peace group" representatives in meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his recent visit to the United Nations... presumably without conditions.
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