Ed Royce: “I support this bill commending the participation of Afghan women in that society. But let me share with the Members that…”

“I support this bill commending the participation of Afghan women in that society. But let me share with the Members that I had an opportunity to travel in Afghanistan, and there is a small orphanage that I have supported. I have been a board member for a number of years on this particular board for this school that attempts to teach orphans in Afghanistan. And I wanted to see about the work that they were conducting. So when I was there, I actually had an opportunity to talk not only to the students, several of whom spoke English, but also with the teachers. One of the teachers showed me, by the way, the scars on his legs and arms. He was caught by the former regime. He was not teaching jihad. He was teaching mathematics. He was teaching science. And that was considered verboten. That was forbidden by that government. And as a consequence, he was tortured for that. But the school continued its work clandestinely, and today that work continues.”