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Or at least it looks like it. More likely, these girls were waiting for a bus with their father, when I snapped this picture, on a bitter December day, outside Quetta, on the Pak Afghan border.
Take a good look—at this Byzantine scene—it could be the door to hell, if some Coalition Predator decides to light it up. Take a closer look—the girls in Kuchi dress—Do you recognize them?—they could be the Obama daughters, or Bush twins. But what they are—are possible collateral damage, if Obama continues to send troops into Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is probably the most materially poor—yet hugely rich in a minimalist way—country on earth. The West should leave it untouched. No enlightened being could approve of the Taliban’s suppression and abuse of women—anymore than one could approve of Thailand’s tacit and opposite sexual exploitation of women and children. But it does not justify invasion by a supposed Christian nation. Jesus himself (and I am no advocate) led by example and forgiveness, not military force.
No nation has been invaded more than Afghanistan. Now they seem like the whipping boys of western civilization. Is it any wonder they have splintered into non-centralized tribal factions? I supposed civilized invaders like us consider tribal states uncivilized—so we invade to enforce a central government—a kind of Catch 22 reverse “divide and conquer” equation. Ok, it does not make sense; how could it?—we are there to hear freedom march. Probably marching toward the oil deposits that the Russians wanted in the north.
Not too many years ago, one could drive a car from Germany or France to Afghanistan, and beyond. Oh, there were challenges, but what adventure, what peoples, what beauty. And absolutely no country like Afghanistan. It is so isolated.
Sending troops?—to me, Afghanistan seems like target practice (a vast range) with targets that pop up like tin cans, to keep the Halliburton military machine pumping greenbacks into Cheney’s pockets. I am not saying it is not dangerous, or that our troops are not brave and heroic. I just do not want more of them to die there. Afghanistan is a place that has known death. It is no place to die.
