THE FRIGHTENING AND HEARTBREAKING CIRCUMSTANCES IN AFGHANISTAN ARE A CLEAR REFLECTION OF THE PROBLEMS OF RELIGION, CULTURE, AND POLITICS. THEY PAINT A CLEAR PICTURE OF HOW THESE THREE CAN CREATE THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR CRIME (LIKE DRUG TRADE) AND TERROR TO THRIVE.
They say that I, the Devil, am in the details. And what people usually mean by this famous aphorism is that details are critical to important matters. And the current matters in afghanistan are critical.
I could go on for pages about the misattribution this saying endures by people attempting to accommodate religious convictions, but I want to get right to the point because the point I want to make is important to me.
I’ll be short. I promise.
The question is not if Taliban members believe what Islam preaches; the problem is that they use the tenets of that religion to justify the atrocities they commit against other humans.
Their leaders and foot-soldiers quote from their holy book when defending their actions in that part of the world.
Like Nancy Hatch Dupree states in William Maley’s Fundamentalism Reborn? They assert their incredible misogyny by claiming that they are creating a “secure environment where the chastity and dignity of women may once again be sacrosanct.”
Some of the limitations imposed on women by Taliban rule, and dare I say, imported from archaic Bedouin culture and Islamic doctrine, are obvious violations of human rights.
Think about a place where women are not allowed to leave their homes without the company of a male blood relative, and even then, they must wear a burqa that covers them from head to toe.
Imagine a place where women must keep their voices down because no man outside of their family should hear their voice.
Can you believe that there are places where all images of women are banned in this day and age?
If you can picture a place where all these conditions are true, you might begin to understand Afghanistan under Taliban control.
“Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban’s laws. The Taliban allowed and in some cases encouraged marriage for girls under the age of 16. Amnesty International reported that 80% of Afghan marriages were forced.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatment_of_women_by_the_Taliban
God, as the original phrase goes, is in the details after all.
The Taliban leadership may or may not believe in the dogma they use to terrorise Afghan women; that is almost irrelevant. One thing is sure about the Taliban: they are a criminal organisation.
The Taliban is a perfect example of a dangerous gang – of organised crime.
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: The Denver Post/Associated Press
KABUL—The escalating war in Afghanistan is directly linked to the multibillion-dollar global trade in illicit drugs, as the Taliban seek to expand and consolidate control over the production and trafficking of narcotics and to diversify from heroin into methamphetamine, in what an Afghan counternarcotics officer called “a coming catastrophe for the world.”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/19/taliban-expanding-drug-trade-meth-heroin/
And…
“The Taliban have counted on the Afghan opium trade as one of their main sources of income,” Cesar Gudes, the head of the Kabul office of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told Reuters. “More production brings drugs with a cheaper and more attractive price, and therefore a wider accessibility.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/profits-poppy-afghanistans-illegal-drug-trade-boon-taliban-2021-08-16/
Like with the Colombian coke cartels, this position as a criminal organisation is one of the conditions that require them to steal young boys and turn them into child soldiers, which is another negative aspect of their existence and why they should be erased from the face of the earth.
Yes, we can rightfully blame the American government for exiting in such a way and leaving a security vacuum in its wake. But, the problem is much older, much more pervasive in the world than American interventionist policy.
The problem is the unresolved conflict between logic and the fundamentals of religion and culture.
Only when this changes, will the world heal.
— A Very Sad and Concerned Devil
You have spoken on behalf of so many of us. It’s a bloody disgrace what’s happening there today. Free for all. Humanity is not a word in the books of such savages. They are propelling their atrocities upon sickening ideologies. Religion is often just a charade.
It’s a curse to be a woman at the mercy of this blatant exertion of barbarism.
It’s sad. I with all my metaphorical and allegorical power, I feel impotent. I have not felt the kind of anxiety I did after writing this piece in a long time. I feel powerless in changing the circumstances of millions of women around the world, who still live as second-class citizen. I feel deeply for the girl child, who deserves much more than what human history has given her.