The Americans (including W), who at the best of times have an appalling lack of knowledge about the next country, can now place Afghanistan on the map and know what a 'madrasa' is. So I would say that there has been a learning in the horrors. Pay attention in geography class and understand that other cultures are not merely exotic but real and to reckon with.
But what beats me is the attitude of Islamic women. I would not be so presumptuous as to call them doormats but a majority seem to accept their status in their religion without question. Women all over the world in all strata of society have fought long and hard to get where they are. But the Islamic woman seems to accept polygamy, the shackles of a burqa, an unequal status in her society and even the denial of a right to education without question. When the little known Lashkar-e-Jabbar decided that all Kashmiri Muslim women must wear a burqa, thousands of burqas were ordered. On the other hand when a northeastern militant group asked Manipuri women to adopt only Manipuri dress and not wear a sari or western clothes, the women were up in arms refusing to submit to their silly demands. Both groups of women belong to the same country but one obviously will not put up with BS.
I read an article which touched upon education (or the lack of it) in Afghanistan. A 17-year-old history teacher in the Northern Alliance controlled territory of Afghanistan when asked about Afghan history says, "I think we invented the burqa. It is not a great invention."
