Aisha Bibi, By Aryn Baker: A Critical Analysis

Aisha Bibi is a woman from Afghanistan known all around the world for her famous picture on the cover of the 2010 Time magazine. It showed her face without a nose with a troubling comment on the side, “What happens if we leave Afghanistan” (Baker). The article by Aryn Baker explains, she was beaten and abused by her husband’s family, Aisha Bibi fled to her parents after she could no longer take the abuse. She was then dragged away by a group of men from the Taliban and taken back to her husband. She was brought in front of her judge, a commander in the Taliban. Aisha pleaded her case, begged and cried that her husband’s family abused her, beat her and treated her like a slave; but he was unmoved. The judge told her uncle that she would be made …show more content…
In a series of six steps these feminists explain the problems we face as Americans when dealing with tragedies. The authors oppose the United States and Britain’s solution of bombing and military mobilization. The impact of the war on the women in Afghanistan must be seen and analyzed through Aisha Bibi and Sharbat Gula. Oppressions practiced on these women are not only caused by the men in the region, but also by the war conditions these women have to live in. Women do not feel safe in an environment where they are constantly under attack. Therefore, when they are abused they fear speaking out or standing up for themselves because they know they will face even more hardships. Aisha represents the women in Afghanistan who could no longer live an abusive life and decide to escape at any cost. Sharbat represents the women in Afghanistan who choose to distant themselves from the world and comply why society rules in order to leave a life as close as possible to peace. Aisha faces extremely harsh consequences, while Sharbat lives her pain in silence. War conditions make work very hard and supporting a family even harder. That is why families agree to marry their daughters off very young, as we have seen in the case of Sharbat Gula. Through the American media we see the consequences of complying with societal rules in Afghanistan and going against society rules in Afghanistan; both scenarios reveal an oppressive society. The United States is more concerned with appearing as heroes and not as those who torture and kill prisoners of war; therefore they hide the fact that they kill people in the streets and reveal the fact that Afghan women live an oppressive