|
A country ravaged by 30 years of civil wars, foreign invasions and raids by terrorist factions stands today in the rubble of its past glory, amid destroyed monuments, broken homes and battered faces weary of an unending war.
Afghanistan’s troubles began some three decades ago when the Mujahideen were created to oust the Russian forces whose tanks rumbled along the Amu Darya River and entered the country in order to restore stability following a coup brought by a Leninist-Marxist group.
With the covert backing by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States the mujahideen or jihadists accomplished their task of ousting the alien forces in1989. In the absence of the enemy, warlords turned the guns against each other and a long civil war ensued breaking the country into small fiefdoms. The Taliban seized power in 1996 but their government lasted only a few years when it was toppled by the American campaign launched formally in Afghanistan on 26th of September 2001 coded “jawbreaker”.
Different regimes brought about various levels of hardships for the common people. During the Taliban rule, for instance, the daily lives of people were circumscribed to a huge extent especially women who were forced to wear burqa or shadier and not leave the house without the assistance of a male relative. Their roles as professionals were marginalized like never before and they were denied their right to education. Even today, extremist factions frequently bomb female educational institutions and there are many security concerns in the minds of the parents who send their girls to study.
However, the populace has seen worse times and for many, the installation of the Taliban regime – with all its restrictions – was a breath of fresh air.
What succeeded the Taliban was far worse than the loss of music and kite-flying: Kabul dwellers had spent four years in the grip of a vicious civil war when the city was shelled by various warlords. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was prime minister when he rained rockets on his own capital. Ahmed Shah Massoud was Defence Minister when he unleashed similar atrocities.
“We used to get up every morning and call around to friends and relatives, see who was still alive,” recalls Nasimi thinking of his teenage years. “We wanted an end to the warlords, and we wanted national unity. The Taliban gave us that.”
However, not much has changed since the arrival of foreign troops who trumpeted the development of Afghanistan’s economic, political and social fabric when they entered in 2001. Locals are losing their faith in the alien army because of slow reconstruction process and growing civilian casualties thus evoking suspicion about the recent troop surge by the Obama Administration.
“We know they don’t intend to kill civilians but we don’t believe they are doing enough not to. If it continues we will see a lot more people joining the fight against the foreigners. It’s inevitable,” says Ahmad Zia, a jeweler in Kabul’s busy bazaar.
A nation with the life expectancy of 44, where one in five children dies before his/her first birthday and most women - particularly in rural areas - are never seen by a health professional during pregnancy and childbirth; where only 22% of the population has access to clean drinking water; and where more then half the populace lives below poverty line; Afghanistan is a country in dire need of a much faster development of which the United Nations and NGO’s are doing only a fraction.
With a corrupt government, unrepentant and unconcerned foreign forces and the conservative Taliban, the Afghans don’t know what to hope for anymore, with the decision of withdrawal of foreign troops by July 2011. 
|
Show/hide comments
Show/hide comment form
