The Lost Cause of Afghanistan

     On the accounts of six women, a story was told about Afghanistan. Starting from how Kabul progressed and developed as the capital of this country with Western influence, until how it became the pitfall of warfare. They narrated their truths on the side of the women and the people who have gravely suffered from the violence and restrictions brought by the war and its actors. Thereby, the story puts forward the accounts of all the people who once had hope for their country to be peaceful and free. These accounts narrated not just mere opinions and situations of the people, but these are accounts of people who have been abused, used, and whose sufferings have been tolerated for a long time. It is a story full of violence from the Mujahideen to the Taliban, but they had a cause. 

They once had a cause that they shared with the Afghan people for their country; however, it all ended as ... a lost cause. 

      This is one of the most challenging documentaries to reflect on, to be honest, because I had a position against the Mujahideen and Taliban before I watched this documentary. I would love to share the video with you, unfortunately, the documentary was already taken down from the platform. 

        Nevertheless, now, I have settled to understand and assess everything I once believed about them as influenced by how the media mainstreamed their news about these people. If we have to assess these truths without bias, I believe the narrators should not just narrate how the war started in Afghanistan and how the country started. It is a stated fact in the documentary that the remaining 80% of the people in Afghanistan were bothered by their capital's development. Out of curiosity, I wondered what and how Kabul's life was way before the Western influence. Because if I may emphasize, what the whole of Afghanistan has gone through, starting from the moment Kabul opened up to Western influence and how the remaining Afghan people reacted to it. 

       However strong the cause of the Mujahideen and Taliban may be, we can settle for a common ground that the ends do not justify the means. Their violence against women and how they have restricted their freedom, to the extent that they are not allowed to vote, be educated, and even walk without a male companion, is something we cannot settle to understand and agree. However, from their perspective, as their movement is centralized to their religion, those acts were justified. However, the women from Kabul have already experienced their freedom and to go back from where they have started is a violation of their rights and freedom. And definitely, it is. 

As Nadia Ghalum said, 

“A country at peace but without freedom is not a country.” 

         It was a lost cause not just for the Mujahideen nor the Taliban, but also for the people who once believed in them, especially the women. Women and children are the most vulnerable group of Afghan people, and in all the events that have passed and happened, they were the most affected ones.

Women are used as a political tool in war, especially during the US and the Taliban war. 

        To ensure the freedom of women for the former and the peace and identity of the country with the leadership of the Afghan people but with no freedom for the latter. From their accounts, they offer a perspective from which we could see the violence of radical Islam. The accounts of these women in the documentary showed us how the Afghan people thrive from all the cynical events they have encountered, from Afghan communism to Soviet occupation, to the civil war between the two groups of Mujahideen, until how the Taliban was made. Nevertheless, their accounts went over the expected reactions that we could get against the Mujahideen or the Taliban. Later on, their perspective shows how the Western countries used and played Afghanistan and its people. 

        When the Soviet military occupies Afghanistan during the height of the Cold War, the US used the Mujahideen as they have been known to oppose Afghan communism. They were provided with a considerable amount of rupees to buy weapons to arm themselves against the Soviet militaries until the Soviet militaries have withdrawn their post as mandates of their new President. However, after that, many have wondered why America has come and helped them but never stayed to assist and alleviate the problems they had during the civil war. The truth is that America has a vested interest in the occupants of Afghanistan, and they wanted to wage war against them without having to pay the cost of losing their people. Therefore, they used the Afghan people to fight their war by fuelling them with hopes and letting the Afghan people believe it was their victory afterward. 

        The Mujahideen, by this time, fell into the trap of the mighty hands of America, and even though it was not mentioned in the documentary, I believe there was an underlying reason behind the clash of the two Mujahideen leaders that America initiated. It could have been the conflicting hopes of the two leaders or the ideology of running the country more than how it was emphasized that they are fighting to take control. They have fought alongside each other to reclaim their country from the Soviet occupants to be shattered by just who will take control. The same went with the Taliban when Osama Bin Laden arrived in Afghanistan to plan the Al Qaeda Terror Network and made Afghanistan the training ground of terrorists. The Taliban was once welcomed in Afghanistan. However, just like the Mujahideen, the people lost their belief in them the moment they curtailed their freedom and the moment the US threatened Afghanistan with the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York City. In the end, Bin Laden escaped leaving the whole of Afghanistan in serious upheaval. There was once a good cause, as the women have implicitly emphasized, but with all the betrayals from the people who attempted to lead these groups, it was now a lost cause. 

In the end, everyone suffered. 

        Women asserted that their rights and freedom were violated during these times. However, I believe in the four-decade-long wars in Afghanistan, women are not the only ones gravely affected, every single person, regardless of gender and status, suffered equally. The Afghan people’s human rights were violated starting from their fundamental human rights, especially their right to life, property, liberty, and many more. The war did not just violate the fundamental human rights of the Afghan people, but they have caused a massive setback in their economic aspect, which the people have suffered from poverty. Now, when the Taliban has fallen with the intervention of the US, despite the efforts of making Afghanistan a democratic country, corruption arises as warlords are the ones who are leading the countries. 

The odds are government cannot save their country from poverty, but they can always afford a war. 

        These six women have expressed that they cannot let the same things happen now as the Taliban are making their comeback by restoring their power in Afghanistan after the US Troops left their posts. If another perspective is introduced, I would like to listen and know about the organization of international relations and how they can retaliate with the aim of the Taliban to impart radical Islam in the way of governance in Afghanistan. The radical Islamist government has posed violence in human rights. 

However, if I may ask, how can international organizations address these kinds of violations when these people believed their religion justified their actions? 

        Women’s rights were one of the most violated rights, and there could be many more, and this would require a significant discussion from international groups. The Taliban argues that they want to reclaim their land, and their property as it is their right, but in doing so, they consider violence and war to be the way. 

        The Afghan people are already helpless; if no one can compel the Taliban, how would Afghanistan be saved this time?

May the Afghan people find refuge in their homes,

In this Life Line

If you are interested in the stories of women in Afghanistan, you can also read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini or a BBC news feature by Sodaba Haidare entitled "Afghan Women: Secret Diaries of Changing Lives. You can access the news through this link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59578618.