The New York Times 3 weeks ago had a big article on Malika El Aroud - an Muslim jihadist female based in Belgium and wife of one of the assassins of Afghan leader Massoud (Northern Alliance). The article was republished in French daily Le Monde.

The article tells about the rise of female terrorists and the evolution in the thinking of male jihadists regarding the role of women in jihad. Ah, but wait. How to convince women (that djihadists see as inferior people) to give up their children for suicide bombing operations? What’s the incentive, beyond the “great cause”? Read this: “Récemment, des sites Web radicaux étaient porteurs de revendications émises par des femmes affirmant vouloir devenir des martyres, à l’instar des hommes. Il leur était promis, en échange, qu’elles seraient “encore plus belles et désirables pour leur mari” dans l’au-delà.

In brief, they promised 70 virgins to the guys and, euh, well, the wives will be more beautiful and desirable. Wait, I still don’t get it. What’s in there for women? Compete with 70 virgins? This is pathetic.

The Treasures from the National Museum of Kabul is a fantastic exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in DC. Vases, glasses, medals, swords, tomb ornaments, crowns… you will see all of it. This, surrounded by geographic names that make people dream immediately: Silk Road, Persia, Bagram. And the “testimonies” of so many famous passages through Afghanistan: Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, Darius… Really worth it.