MEDICAL TEXTBOOKS NEEDED TO STOP TALIBAN DESTRUCTION IN AFGHANISTAN

When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996 following a long and bloody civil war, they immediately embarked on a program to implement their vision of a total Islamic theocracy. The repressive regime that they created, infamous worldwide for its systematic human rights violations, complete denial of independence and even personhood to women, violent religious enforcement squads, and destruction of ancient artwork and historic artifacts, took this systemized repression into every corner of Afghan life.

Regarding any depiction of the human form to be blasphemous for representing an image that could be worshiped, the Taliban also set out to destroy all medical textbooks. Medical instructors were not even allowed to draw the human form in class.

The fallout from this damaging policy remains with medical students and doctors in Afghanistan to this day. With Internet access scarce, students and doctors have difficulty finding reference works to consult. This only exacerbates the shortage of medical resources in Afghanistan. Already suffering from continuous war, extreme topography, and disease outbreaks, Afghanistan’s medical infrastructure is in dire need of help.
 
You can help. A longtime member of the American Humanist Association has an acquaintance who re-enlisted to serve in the US Army in Afghanistan. Her job will be to train Afghan medical personnel. She will accept donations of medical textbooks from the United States, and she will ensure that they get into the hands of people that need them.

If members of the American Humanist Association could send just one medical book of any kind, old or new, it will make a tremendous difference. This is a chance to put those used medical textbooks and references that you have sitting on your shelf back to work.

Please send them to American Humanist Association members David and Sandra Clapsaddle, who will ensure that they are sent to Afghanistan and will cover all shipping charges. Please use the following address:

David and Sandra Clapsaddle
5830 Toofer Winds Court
Las Vegas, NV 89131

The road to rebuilding Afghanistan's war torn medical infrastructure is long and arduous. We can help piece it back together, one textbook at a time.

Update:

Thanks to the generosity of Humanist Charities donors, over 100 medical textbooks have been collected for Afghanistan so far! Humanists from all over the United States have sent donations of books, which will now be shipped to where they are needed with some help from Nellis Air Force Base. Thank you for supporting this important humanitarian cause! And a special thanks to David and Sandra Clapsaddle for their work to collect and coordinate donations and to the Las Vegas area teacher’s sorority Alpha Delta Kappa for sponsoring the drive.