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Subscribe to RSSAs urban youths embrace the holiday banned by the Taliban, one group is banking on love, or at least marriage, to help end violence in Afghanistan. NBC News' Mandy Clark reports.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Suliman and Farzana Sharifi’s marriage is very unusual in Afghanistan.
The 23-year-olds have a love match in a country where most weddings are arranged. That fact makes Valentine’s Day, a holiday banned by the Taliban but embraced by many of the country’s urban youth, extra-special for the two.
Both work hard to surprise each other on Valentine's Day, which they've celebrated for the three years they've been together.
“I don’t let him know, he doesn’t let me know," said Farzana, a university student who heads up an Islamic NGO that runs orphanages throughout the country. "Like a month before Valentine’s day we act that we don’t know it is Valentine’s Day. So, we normally surprise each other.”
This isn’t just a game – the couple believe that love is simply more powerful than hate, and it could be a weapon in ending the insurgency.
“When love comes even the Taliban can’t stop anybody,” Farzana adds.
But can love really stop Taliban fighters in other parts of the war-torn country?
An American charity put money on it. Getting married in Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, is very expensive. Women’s families can demand dowries of up to $10,000 from prospective husbands, Qasimi said. With the average Afghan earning less than $500 a year, these demands make marriage and family unachievable for many.
Aref Karimi / AFP - Getty Images
More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.
With the help of local NGOs, Texas-based Comfort Aid International helped organize a mass wedding of 38 couples last year.
“We did this to prevent our youth from joining the Taliban side. They often join the Taliban because they are single and poor,” local organizer Sayeed Saleh Qasimi said.
That’s were Comfort Aid steps in – it has helped arrange the weddings for more than 1,000 couples already. Local organizations it works with have negotiated with local families to agree to more reasonable dowry prices.
One young husband, Sayeed Hussaini, says he simply wouldn’t have been able to get married without the charity’s help.
“Everyone wants things in life, like getting married,” the unemployed construction worker said. “But a lot of people are doing bad things for money like joining the Taliban.”
He added: “I am jobless but I will not join them.”
Hussaini's new wife Fatima is the reason he won’t risk his life.
She says she’s grateful for the charity’s help in easing their financial woes, which allowed the couple to marry.
So perhaps Farzana is right to hope that love can conquer war.
“I think love can change anything,” she said, turning to her husband Suliman. “Yeah, yeah it changed you, it changed me.”
Related:
Saffron gives farmers in war-torn Afghanistan a taste of the good life
Afghan orphans hope their music will win over 'American hearts' at Carnegie Hall
Tears of joy: The moment an Afghan teen learned of Oscar nomination
This story was originally published on Thu Feb 14, 2013 10:25 AM EST
Leave a Comment:
"LOVE"-----------these poor clowns have not read the history of Christanity----a religion founded on 'love and tolerance' (supposedly)-------but for thousands of years these Christians have been fighting each other---
"Non Stop!!"----Wars in Europe and Northern Ireland as examples!!!
I forgot to add something ---"Christians are the last people in the world to lecture other people on Hate and Intolerance!!"
You get the gold star for being the pansy-a**ed equivocator of the day. Congratulations.
Muslims kill more people every year than were killed in the 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition.
Muslims kill enough people every month to populate a small American town.
Muslims kill more people every week or two than so called "white Christian terrorists" have killed in the last 25 years.
Muslims kill more people every day than the KKK has killed in the last 50 years.
More civilians were killed by Muslim extremists in two hours on September 11th than in the 36 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.
19 Muslim hijackers killed more innocents in two hours on September 11th than the number of American criminals executed in the last 65 years.
Jihadists killed 931 people in January, 2013, critically wounding 1,480.
The only thing that will conquer the Taliban is a Predator Drone or Navy S.E.A.L. operation.
The Taliban do not desire "Love" they desire power and control over a group of people to make them kill others not like them.
There is no love involved.
What the couple needs to do is to hand out an Afghanistan style "Valentines Day Massacre" on the Taliban. That would be showing love...
.....and keep the change you filthy animal.
As long as there are radical islamists that can murder at will because they can, the world will never be a safe place... those of us that are not actively murdering innocents, have to deal with corrupt banks and financial institutions as well as corrupt politicians and governments and dictators... the greed and power that the oil companies force on us is too powerful or in colusion with all governments...
This story is about a specific couple and not what the region is about...
Nobody can help Afghanistan- they're beyond that. Once our military finally pulls out the taliban will take everything over and it will go back to business as usual. Our presence there has been a costly in so many ways and will continue to be so for decades to come.
Farzana sounds like a wonderful young woman with such a sweet passionate heart. I hope she will keep her hopes and ideals. Her husband, Sulaiman, sounds like a fine young man. I wish the couple every success and happiness. This is a wonderful news on Valentine's day.
Farzana's idea might not be bad one. To have a charity to help with wedding expenses.Who could resist that? Somebody should help Farzana set up a website and get international donors. Helping a couple marry is considered form of blessing for the donor in some cultures.
Go for it Farzana...this Dr. MS, thousands of miles away, is rooting and cheering for you!
From Love Springs Eternal Hope and a Vision for a Better Tomorrow!
Thank you for such a lovely sweet story...rather than all the male bashing and battering constantly being reported. Amy Goodman might want to get some colors and share something sweet about the world. That woman must have faced some acute abuse or something...she constantly focuses on that. Go dance Amy...you need rest. Continue the investigation on Dorner's death if you can.
Thanks for this story, and nothing but happiness, prosperity and the best for Farzana and Sulaiman
Wishing them success is 'one thing'----being 'realistic' is another!!
I bet they'll think differently when they get kidnapped for their views and the Taliban put their heads on video to set an example.
If you notice al queda and the taliban biggest targets these days are not christians, jews or buddhists. The group that the jihadists hate and fear the most are the sufis. Why? Sufis are muslims who love poetry and music and dancing. To Al Queda , the sufis are the enemy within.
They smoke some really powerful stuff over there!
These two are going to find out that not everything you need to know comes out of a book...
So sad. An article about a loving couple on Valentine's Day, and all people here do is spew hate, hate, hate. Afghanistan is not all IEDs and burqas and murders and everything you see in wartime news - Afghanistan is people. Maybe if more people realize what love is, they'll be less likely to buy into the Taliban's BS.
And maybe when people start to see happy, loving Afghan couples, they'll begin to realize that not everyone in the Middle East is an Allah-crazed murderer (yeah, I know, fat chance of people here ever realizing that).
And, if frogs could fly, they would f*ck butterflies ...
Beautiful story of love. I hope they're able to spread their message of love to others in Afghanistan and help them realize their dreams of marriage rather than joining the Taliban due to lack of funds. Best of luck to them, hope they have a prosperous life filled with love.
Another crock.
Anyone who believes Afghanistan is changed in any way and will be democratised after we pull out after centuries of sticking to their ancient culture; (they are not wishy-washy and spineless about maintaining their culture proudly as anything goes Americans are today) also believed the things said at the SOTU and are on my list to sell oceanfront property in Arizona...
The economy is better, health care costs have gone down, we need to spend more on government programs, we need to keep and hire more government employees......Bwaaahahahaaha
Love is what this world IS missing. Especially out there in Afghanistan. Good luck to all the newlyweds. All I can wish for them is a SAFE and happy marriage.
What dupes.
Give the Tolleybonn half a chance, and they'll saw their heads off with dull butcher knives.
So all we had to do was equipt each Taliban member with a $100.00 dollar bill and take them to a house of ill repute (or a goat farm) so they could find love? Why didn't someone think of this a long time ago?? The war on terriorism could have been over 10 years ago!!! DUH!!!
hope it's not a short marriage for them...
you cant shoot stupid
to much of dumb exists in the extremists talis and al quida
im thinking the extremist are upset about others getting a life because the talis are stuck in the desert dating their camels
when you put a law on the tables for being ok to screw camels
one really has to wonder about the mindset over there
good luck to their children
hopefully true human love will overcome all idiocies
And they lived happily ever after..until a goat F$%&ing band of ragheads showed up and shot them both...
The End.
Taliban and Love is an oximoron so forget about it.
They will be loving it when the Talibanbanban chop thier little heads off and feed them to the buzzards.
Yeah, sure, go hand a taliban a Valentine. I'm sure it'll be love and first sight and you'll live happily ever after. Sheesh, they had to dig deep into the dumb*ss to come up with this article.
must be Valentine's day.
I am a total Christian and even Jesus knew this was not true. He stated he did not come to save the world, but to turn people against one another because of his teaching the truth. You cannot make others believe, and in fact Jesus told his disciples to leave any town that would not receive them, even shaking the dust from that town from their feet which tells me don't have a thing to do with unbelievers. The truth has been in all 4 corners of the world for many years now. People have had their chance and granted some are slow learners, but Jesus was only born for His people, God's people. Most are not his people, it is written. The taliban are anti-Christ, therefore evil. Evil has not ears to hear and Jesus did not want us to give our life for evils sake, but to really help those that want and need him.
Ah the Taliban... Sort of like the Southern bigots we fought in the Civil War, and then again in the civil rights movement, and now once again with having a black man in the White House. They never go away.
Mark,
The only good thing that comes from your total ignorance is the perfect demonstration that stupidity is not limited to lack of knowledge. Keep it up you are doing a good job.
Do you realize that a large number of Irish fought for the South as Volunteers, right? Pat Cleburn was one of the South's greaest Generals. The Irish were treated badly in the north and when the news of the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, the Irish began the New York riots that lasted for three days and nights.
Read a book.
Lazarus