lications on Islam with a friend of mine who is a practicing Muslim. Although he wishes to remain anonymous, I can tell you that he was indeed born in the United States, has no sisters, and is still strongly devoted to practicing his religion. He said that his family is definitely run in the majority by his father, and that his mother usually fulfills all of his requests. He feels that the media has greatly exploited the events that have occurred since the takeover by the Taliban. He feels that some of the inhibitions on women are taken too far, and that there is no real basis for not considering females equal to males. He is unsure of the future of women in Afghanistan, but hopes that the current plight ends soon. It would be interesting to see how a female Muslim's perspective on the Taliban situation differs from this male point of view, but I was unable to contact a decent source.The Afghan conflict shows that international organizations and national governments must work together persistently to prevent crises. Like the threads that together create the mesh cloth of the burqa, the world must also come togetherto prevent violent international conflict and create a society in which all human beings will be treated equally, regardless of race, color, gender or creed....
