Taliban 2.0

I wish there was a way to find out exactly what's going on in Afghanistan.

Every source of information has its axe to grind.

What the world needs, 

what the people of Afghanistan need is, their story shared with the world.

If only there was a news outlet that didn't have skin in the game.

Many Afghanis aspire to a life in America or to live in a land where the women can do as they please. 

All Afghan women want access to education and the same opportunities as men.

The Taliban 1.0 had a really bad track record with women's rights and the implementation of Sharia Law by gun-wielding fighters didn't give much credibility to the rule of law.

When in 2001 they destroyed the sacred ancient Buddhist statues it was a symbolic gesture. 

They saw it as a way to show the world that they meant business and that they were prepared to wipe the slate clean in the pursuit of the Islamic state. 

What they didn't realise was that it also symbolised the triumph of might over wisdom.

The sacred relics that they destroyed represented the artefacts of an ancient past. 

The Labour of thousands, over decades. 

The destruction of these relics was a supreme act of ignorance, and from that moment, the die was cast.

There is no way to walk back something like that. They went on to defend the sacrilege and found themselves alienated and marginalised on the world stage.

Today they rushed to fill the void left by the exit of America. 

The mostly bloodless coup was stage-managed with the well turned out, freshly washed troops storming the capital and sitting on the throne. 

The Taliban 2.0 claim to be wiser and more liberal. They promise to allow women access to education and jobs within the confines of Islamic law. 

One could argue that the women of Afghanistan don't need magnanimous concessions from the Taliban. 

What they "need" is their inalienable right to true equality. 

Scenes of the masses scrambling to leave the country, at all cost, risking their lives to board planes taking off from Kabul, tend to illustrate that the people of that country are as sceptical of the Taliban promises as the rest of the world is. 

I for one truly hope that we see a new and improved Taliban 2.0, as the people who have suffered so much, over their entire history deserve to get some rest. 

To live freely and to find their way to peace. 

Free from the interference of the powers of the world. 

Free to be whatever they wish. 

The truth is that we just don't know. 

The people of Afghanistan don't know and neither do we. 

The evolution from freedom fighters to a bureaucracy is something that has failed in many countries including our own South Africa. 

It's easier to destroy than to rebuild.

Only time will tell if life under the  2.0 version will be better for the man on the street. I hope it will be. 

When the Taliban put down their guns and invest time in access to water, electricity, schooling and health care, perhaps we might be more receptive to their claims of sincerity. 

In the meantime we can only hope. 

𝓜 𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓴

AUG 2021