Letters to Insight – San Francisco Chronicle

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Helping Afghan women

Barbara Lee is right. Women’s rights in Afghanistan are not being protected by the U.S. military occupation (“Rights advocates fear for women if U.S. withdraws,” July 22) because organizations that could benefit women are, for the most part, restricted to Kabul because of the war. NGOs using a “soft” approach and respectful of Afghan culture would be much more effective without U.S. troops.

T.T. Nhu, Berkeley

The writer helped found Parwaz, the first Afghan-run microfinance organization.