A letter regarding Yale and the Taliban

In a letter to The Yale Daily News, a recent graduate, Debbie Bookstaber, writes:

An article in yesterday's News mentioned the "rumored Taliban practice of removing the nails of women who wear noticeable nail polish" ("Alumni clash over Hashemi," 3/20). The Taliban's history and policy of human rights violations are not "rumored." They are wide-ranging and well documented.

While Rahmatullah Hashemi toured the United States as an official apologist for the Taliban, some brave Afghanis risked their lives to document and smuggle out proof of human rights abuses committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is because of their efforts that the world saw hidden-camera footage of a woman being shot to death in a sports stadium.

A few of the many documented human rights violations by the Taliban include a ban on women's work outside the home, a ban on women's travel outside the home without a man, a ban on women's education, requirement to wear a burka, punishment by stoning for premarital sex and a ban on the use of cosmetics and nail polish. Those who defied the Taliban's oppressive rules endured beatings, torture or death. …

Bookstaber says she is “surprised there have been no vocal protests on campus or calls for Yale to answer questions about this decision.” She then asks:

Has Yale really slipped into such complacency that the Taliban's crimes against women and the Afghani people barely merit a shrug? ...

Bookstaber’s informative letter confronts the Yale community with questions many there either don’t understand or wish to dismiss. I applaud her for doing that.

However, I strongly disagree with Bookstaber’s suggestion that Yale’s reaction to Hashemi and Taliban crimes is one of “complacency.”

Yale sought out Hashemi, wooed him, awarded him a highly competitive admissions spot, and has welcomed him into its community, all while knowing of his Taliban leadership, and its crimes.

Whatever else Yale is, it’s hardly complacent where Hashemi and Taliban crimes are concerned.