Can you think of a worse place for a female to be right now than Afghanistan?
Afghanistan’s history is rife with conflict. By 1996 Taliban sharia law reigned, oppressing women and sheltering terrorists. After 9-11-01 the U.S. began sending military aid and pouring billions of dollars into Afghanistan. The hope was that money and democratic ideals would move Afghanistan from being a breeding ground for terrorism, a world threat, to something better.
The Taliban now controls Afghanistan, as the U.S. frantically tries to get Americans and some Afghans out. Desperate Afghans cling to airborne planes before falling to death. Babies are tossed over barriers to get them away from impending doom. Fall of Kabul is reminiscent of the fall of Saigon when America pulled out of that protracted conflict in the 1970s.
Biden’s presidency, the fourth in this 20-year conflict, will be marked with controversy over U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the world watching.
Seventy-five percent of Afghans are younger than 25, too young to remember pre-911 Afghanistan. Will these Afghans accept Taliban rule at gun point? Will they tolerate mothers, sisters, daughters being crushed under brutal sharia law?
I can’t think of a worse place to be a woman or girl right now than Afghanistan.
Ann Pompelio
Sparta