[theGimp]

You can ask and claim whatever you want. That was never in question. What I do question is whether you're serious or just trying to bait a response.

As for the moral premise you're presuming I hold, please spare me your intellectual gymnastics.

Explain to me how Afghan society would be changed by allowing a small group of girls into the United States for a few days -- so they can participate in a robotics competition.

This veneer of non-interventionism and pragmatism is no more than a facade you hide behind.

[arthur_trudeau]

I am in dead seriousness not interested in playing just-the-tip with social engineering in central Asia; nor am I interested in wielding one segment of their population as a weapon against another in an attempt to "reform" their society, which is exactly what PR exercises like the story in question are aiming to support.

You owe me an explanation as far as why we should be messing around with their society in any respect, not the opposite.