Modern Day Slavery Makes a Comeback In Afghanistan

Horriffic but no surprises 

Apparently bombing your enemy back to the Stone Age does exactly that. Mission accomplished. Who would've guessed?

"It was one of those great moments in history that never actually happened: According to one legend, Enrico Caruso was in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906, staying at the Palace Hotel. As people panicked and chaos ensued in the aftermath, the great tenor appeared — some said on the balcony of his hotel room, which didn’t exist — and sang an aria to calm the masses." 

“ When people show you who they are, believe them the first time”
- Maya Angelou

Never believe the hype. 115 Years later, other side of the globe. No singer, song or whatever that can calm the women of Afghanistan who are about to face the horrors of tomorrow. Make no mistake, the Taliban does not believe in God. Anyone who has ever joined them for that purpose, long left. They're pure evil.

Shopkeeper in Kabul painting over the image of a woman the Taliban doesn't aprove of.

Remember my daft mate who travelled to Afghanistan 'for fun'? Gave him a call this weekend. Even that guy agrees it's no longer a joyful destination. He wasn't smiling nor did he blame Covid-19. He asked if I had seen the TV-show Homeland. Yes. And no, I didn't notice anything funny like the colour of the sand. It's off. [1] Not because of the volume of tears soaked up by the soil, Afghanistan is mostly arid. Because they shot the show safely at home. Which still doesn't explain how mistaken Western intelligence was on the strength of the Taliban. But hey, they're still out there to keep us safe.

Reading the papers this weekend doesn't help either. Below some quotes from an article in Sunday's The Guardian called "An Afghan woman in Kabul: ‘Now I have to burn everything I achieved’"

"A university student tells of seeing all around her the ‘fearful faces of women and ugly faces of men who hate women’"

"the Taliban had arrived in Kabul, and they will beat women who do not have a burqa."

"men standing around were making fun of girls and women, laughing at our terror. “Go and put on your chadari [burqa],” one called out. “It is your last days of being out on the streets,” said another. “I will marry four of you in one day,” said a third." [2]

On Monday another headline reads:

"‘There are no women in the streets’ – the day life changed in Kabul"

Quote from the article:

"One older woman who went out to get food for her family saw gunmen pushing women and sending them home for not being covered. She also saw them dragging younger women away. Most women had simply stayed home."

Your holy book or mine?

"“For me a burqa has always been a sign of slavery. You are like a bird trapped inside a cage, I had never imagined wearing that. But nowadays if I want to save my life, I think that I need to,” said Negin."

In another article, also from last Monday, titled "‘We see silence filled with fear’: female Afghan journalists plead for help", "women in media in Kabul tell of trying to destroy traces of their identity as they brace for Taliban retribution."

‘Zorg dat we Afghanen kunnen blijven uitzetten’

In the West, everybody's shocked, horrified even. Big surprise, nobody saw it coming. Don't believe the hype. In an article last week in Dutch newspaper Trouw, my government beggs the European Union to make sure that we can still send 'home' Afghan refugees.

US "Republicans demand resignations over Biden's Afghanistan debacle" writes Fox News, conveniently ignoring it was president Trump who ordered the initial withdrawal. Fancying himself basking in lots of likes on Insta, president Biden [yes, he knows what Instagram is] orders to speed up the whole thing. Probably because his spin doctors assume it'll make for great publicity for the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Don't think my writing has ever been as gloomy as today so let me end in style. What exactly happened to "our girls" in Nigeria? Anyone ever wonder at night? There are still 112 young women missing, captured when they were mere girls seven years ago. Anyone? Taliban? Echo?

"That's all folks!" 

 

PS: Todays post was written listening to Lara Fabian's rendition of Caruso.

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[1] "You know what else is wrong?" he asked. He didn't wait for my answer. "One day I met this farmer. He explained to me the true nature of the Taliban. They demand your hospitaly, make you slaughter your livestock and force your little girls, who are barely teenagers, to sleep with them. The only alternative is to be killed. They're like locusts."

The farmer was far from the only one to tell me that. Pious pretenders that serve no higher goal than their animal needs have forsaken whatever god they pretend to honour. Perhaps it started out like that but after several decades anyone who claims to be guided by the Holy Quran has long left the Taliban.

[2] Her opinion doesn't count.Of course not.

[3] And no, female supremacy is not the answer. Supremacy never is.

[4] I really need some alone time, let's read a book, something uplifiting. Any suggestions?