Failing Afghan girls and women

Afghanistan is an enigma... and a tragedy.

Let me tell you something you may not have known about this landlocked Asian country.

From the 1950s through the mid-1970s, Afghanistan was a VERY modern Islamic country. Metropolitan even, and then came the Russian invasion in 1978. From there, the nation descended into a religious quagmire that propelled the Afghan people back to the 14th century. With the Russians defeated and exiled, the Afghans became embroiled in governmental corruption that led to the Taliban gaining a toehold in the Afghan’s day-to-day life.

The Afghans are a beautiful people.

For those of us servicemembers who served there (I served in Afghanistan from February 2008 through April 2009), seeing the collapse of the Afghan government in 2021, brought on by a treaty that former President Donald Trump negotiated with the Taliban, I mourn the fall. To be fair, President Biden's order for a hasty exit only served to worsen an already horrible scenario.

While the coalition's 18-year presence was of missed successes and failures, perhaps the biggest failure was to the Afghan girls and women. While we were there, girls were allowed to go to school once again. Women could once more have careers outside their homes once more. Women became women again, not just slaves to their men.

Today, women are forbidden to speak in public. Young girls are prohibited from attending school beyond middle school, i.e., no secondary or post-secondary education. While out in public, women are forced to wear a burka, clothed head to toe. To show their faces could endanger their lives.

Afghan women have no voice nor any rights. Per Wikipedia, "The Taliban, who took power in Afghanistan in August 2021, have banned girls and women from attending secondary and higher education, making Afghanistan the only country in the world to do so. The Taliban claim that this ban is in line with their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, but no other Muslim country prohibits girls from receiving an education."

It is easy to throw your hands in the air, and please pardon my French, but fuck religion. It is the bane of our existence. It is all too often the cause of pain, suffering, strife, violence, and death.

While I served in Kabul, I interviewed a female major in the Afghan National Army. She was an educated pharmacist. She thanked me for being there. When I told her I was merely doing my job, she said, "No, not just you, but your people. Before you, the Taliban required me to stay home, and ignore my education. Your presence has given my daughters hope for a better future."

I have wondered where this woman and her daughters are today. I mourn their present existence.

Take a look at the photographs from the 1960s; they give cause for tears. I assure you what you see (then) is not what you will see in Afghnistan today.