Once upon a time in Afghanistan

I can’t say I a very well informed person. I am somewhere in the middle who chooses to block out certain information, she should have cared about, but she doesn’t.

I am not a feminist, at least not an intense one, but I do certainly take more interest in problems, stigmas, issues with women and like to know about them, so that some day I can make a difference.

I was reading this article on foreignpolicy.com about how Afghanistan lives a barbarian life and can be compared to living in the 13th century. But the catch is, it was not always like that. I know our generation just knows an Afghanistan, where women are treated like door mats, people strive to get education, electricity is a luxury and revolting is suicide. But I found it very interesting to know that once upon a time in Afghanistan, things were not like that.

The most interesting part about the pictures in the article was the women. They dressed western, they worked jobs, they went to colleges and universities and worked along side men. This picture in particular made me wonder, how does a country go so backward, after being so forward in as early as the 1950’s. Women went to the same college as men, there were coed universities in an Islamic nation, which from where I see it, is quite modern. Then how did the country become hell for its people, especially the women??

I read it somewhere that having a girl child in Afghanistan is a nightmare. Girls as young as 12 years are raped, and no one does anything about it. Parents are such subjected to torture and ultimate loss. Rape is normal in Afghanistan. And that makes me wonder how can a country so progressed become so barbaric? I know the facts, but I just wonder, how one group can change the fate of a big, once peaceful, progressive country.