In the News

Seven years ago, the Scranton Restaurant opened its doors in Herat, Afghanistan. Dreamed into being by maverick women’s rights activist Suraya Pakzad and partially funded by Scranton-area donors, it was a safe space for women to network, express themselves freely and share strategies for creating female agency in a malevolently misogynistic society.

Pakzad established five shelters where women learned to read, resist repression and reinvent their lives. Her bold work made her an international hero and marked her for death in her home country.

Last week, Pakzad’s Scranton connections helped rescue her and others from the ultimate manifestation of male dominion. She was on one of the last flights out of Kabul, fleeing the Taliban oppressors who almost certainly would have killed her as a warning to women who would dare defy the absolute authority of men.

...

Congressman Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, also stood up for his staff, who fielded 11 evacuation requests while juggling domestic constituent business and countless calls generated by a political ad in heavy rotation. It posts Cartwright’s office number and urges viewers to call. A lot more than you think actually pick up the phone and engage staff, he said.

Cartwright said his staff helped liberate two Afghan translators and an Afghan musician who entertained troops for the Department of Defense in the Morale, Welfare and Recreation service.

“We’ve had three successes,” Cartwright said. “That’s probably a good average. I don’t know how you measure these things, or if there’s any fair way of measuring it. And when we were successful, there were other people pulling the oars in the same direction.”