USA TODAY: Afghanistan’s fertility rate, one of the world’s highest before the fall of the Taliban, is plummeting in a concrete accomplishment of a decade-long U.S. campaign to improve the well-being of Afghan women.
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, a USA TODAY analysis of birth data found…
Experts say one reason for the drop is that the ouster of the Taliban was followed by a rise in aid from NATO countries that funded schools, maternal health, family planning services and birth control. Another is that the Taliban’s ban on schooling for girlswas lifted by the current government. As a result, more Afghan women are getting an education and jobs, factors that typically delay a woman’s decision to start a family… (more)
EDITOR: This is just the beginning. Educational efforts by Non-Governmental Organizations and the government have been providing schooling for girls for over a decade. For example, one Lancasterian couple has funded about 300 small libraries in rural schools. An educated generation of females will change the culture of the country.
Moreover, despite the official Taliban position and actions of extremists, fathers tend to be fathers. Taliban in most communities have chosen to look the other way.
