Hasnain says:

If you read one article this month, read this. It’s a heartbreaking story of the human cost of the Afghan war - as told by various locals in the rural areas, with life events and history spanning back 20+ years. People fight and debate over who’s right and wrong and discuss various complex issues while forgetting the real and actual human toll this takes on people. One of the best pieces I’ve read in a long time, and I have a lot to think about and ponder.

There were too many quotes to pick out, including some absolutely rage inducing mistakes made by various governments, but I’ll leave with this one near the end:

“The Taliban takeover has restored order to the conservative countryside while plunging the comparatively liberal streets of Kabul into fear and hopelessness. This reversal of fates brings to light the unspoken premise of the past two decades: if U.S. troops kept battling the Taliban in the countryside, then life in the cities could blossom. This may have been a sustainable project—the Taliban were unable to capture cities in the face of U.S. airpower. But was it just? Can the rights of one community depend, in perpetuity, on the deprivation of rights in another? In Sangin, whenever I brought up the question of gender, village women reacted with derision. “They are giving rights to Kabul women, and they are killing women here,” Pazaro said. “Is this justice?” Marzia, from Pan Killay, told me, “This is not ‘women’s rights’ when you are killing us, killing our brothers, killing our fathers.” Khalida, from a nearby village, said, “The Americans did not bring us any rights. They just came, fought, killed, and left.””

Posted on 2021-09-07T05:38:33+0000