Four Women Teaching Empowerment in Pakistan Are Murdered, But We're Told America is the Great Oppressor

On Monday, four women were tragically killed in Pakistan.

Perhaps not coincidentally, they ran empowerment workshops in what NBC News calls “a volatile area.”

Per the Peacock, the ladies had been hired to help North Waziristan women obtain job-worthy skills such as sewing.

Fayaz Khan — chief executive of Peshawar’s Bravo College of Technology — decried the crime:

“Is this the way to give back to someone for the hard work they were doing for the poor? Their role was tremendous for the local community.”

Purportedly, the quartet was traveling through a deserted village near the North Waziristan town of Mirali.

North Waziristan runs along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan and served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban and other militants, including Al Qaeda, until 2014, when the army said it cleared the region of insurgents.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the killing.

Their deaths are shocking; but according to The Daily Wire, they aren’t as shocking as they should be:

The killing comes in the midst of a surge of attacks that have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, notably “in the deeply conservative area in recent months and amid concern that the insurgents may be regrouping.”

The Wire notes the Pakistani Taliban’s views are similar to those of the Afghan Taliban.

Also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the group’s been around since 2007.

A main goal: overthrow of the government.

And you may not be surprised to learn they’re not too hip on girlpower:

The Taliban do not currently control a particular area although they reportedly work in different places across Pakistan. In the areas that have been under Taliban control in the past, the group did not allow girls’ education to take place. Women were also prohibited from working, and nonprofit organizations were banned from operating.

Hence, some championing womens’ schooling have fallen victim to violence.

In 2012, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai — one such champion — was shot in the head.

“Her crime,” as stated by the BBC: “to have spoken up for the right of girls to be educated.”

Miraculously, she survived.

NBC notes, “To this day, women who work for charities are at risk in Pakistan’s conservative tribal areas where many men and militants reject their efforts to empower women in local society and paint them as stooges of the West.”

As relayed by NBC, the four weren’t only trying to help oppressed women; they were also assisting men:

Khan, of Bravo College of Technology, said the project to train men and women in North Waziristan was a joint venture with Sabawon, a national organization that helps poor and vulnerable communities including through education, gender empowerment and the provision of improved social services and facilities.

It seems to me we in America have lost sight of global context. Pundits, keyboard warriors, and even politicians tell us we come from evil beginnings, and that no one can get a fair shake.

Not long ago, the governor of New York spelled it out: “We’re not gonna make America great again. It was never that great.”

While at the podium, a banner hung: “Fighting for New York Women and Girls.”