tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/afghanistan-peace-102970/articlesAfghanistan peace – The Conversation2021-08-09T15:04:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1654252021-08-09T15:04:11Z2021-08-09T15:04:11ZAfghanistan’s ArtLords use concrete barricades as canvases to promote social change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414810/original/file-20210805-21-1nchy4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=136%2C71%2C4074%2C2457&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents in Kabul, Afghanistan walk past artists from the ArtLords organization as they paint a mural of journalists who were killed in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Art has the power to provoke enhanced awareness of social issues that can lead to social change — not only publicly commissioned works, but graffiti-esque street art too.</p>
<p>Two of the best examples of <a href="https://humanrights.ca/exhibition/artivism">what’s known as “artivism”</a> are the sometimes whimsical, often sardonic stencilled murals of <a href="https://www.streetartbio.com/artists/banksy/">British street artist Banksy</a> and the installations created by <a href="https://www.artlords.co">Afghanistan’s ArtLords</a> on the concrete blast walls that now surround facilities commonly targeted by terrorists.</p>
<p>Established by two friends in Kabul in 2014, ArtLords in its name alone provides an ironic challenge to the warlords, drug lords and international <a href="https://groveatlantic.com/book/lords-of-poverty/">lords of poverty</a> who wield so much power in Afghanistan. </p>
<p>The ArtLords mission statement says “the organization is a grassroots movement of artists and volunteers motivated by the desire to pave the way for social transformation and behavioural change through employing the soft power of art and culture.”</p>
<p>One of ArtLords’ first installations was the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/murals-message-afghans-paint-social-change-kabul-n428931">“We are Watching You”</a> mural of two eyes. The mural’s accompanying text states: “Corruption is not hidden from God and the peoples’ gaze.”</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FV_CG_JbhPc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A segment on ArtLords on Al Jazeera.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Daringly provocative, the mural provided clear commentary on the country’s endemic corruption. In an annual perception survey conducted by the <a href="https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019_Afghan_Survey_Full-Report.pdf">Asia Foundation</a>, corruption has consistently been identified as a key social challenge in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>In 2019, for example, 81 per cent of respondents from all over the country cited corruption as a major social problem, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/survey-afghan-people-afghanistan-2019">with 68 per cent saying corruption had affected their daily lives</a>.</p>
<p>The ArtLords mural thus gave “visual voice” to popular sentiment, putting on notice those benefiting from widespread corruption.</p>
<h2>Brutalist transformation</h2>
<p>Over the past 15 years, there’s been a transformation of Afghanistan’s urban spaces because of the preponderance of suicide bombers. They’re using ever more deadly vehicle-borne bombs and magnetic explosive devices to launch orchestrated terrorist attacks on government ministries, embassies, Shiite mosques, shops and restaurants.</p>
<p>These facilities are now ringed <a href="https://www.hesco.com">with barricades</a> and the metres-high blast walls. Normal city streetscapes have disappeared behind these brutalist structures, with streets around ministries and embassies transformed into oppressive concrete canyons.</p>
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<img alt="A man rides his bicycle walks past blast walls in Kabul." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this 2017 photo, an Afghan man rides his bicycle walks past blast walls in Kabul, Afghanistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photos/Rahmat Gul)</span></span>
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<p>These blast walls serve as canvases for the ArtLords.</p>
<p>In addition to anti-corruption messages, Artlords’ visually striking street art addresses a range of socially relevant themes. Some murals commemorate activists killed in the country’s internecine conflict. Others promote public health messages, the importance of education, women’s rights, disability or the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. </p>
<p>Others, such as a Banksy-like stencil of a man pushing a wheelbarrow laden with a large red Valentine’s Day heart or a woman bearing a similar heart on her head, suggest love in the midst of chaos. A mural paying homage to a humble street sweeper bears a striking resemblance to similar tributes to our pandemic-era health-care workers. Many of the murals evoke empathy or compassion, sentiments in scarce supply in war-torn Afghanistan. </p>
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<img alt="An artist wearing a hat paints the portrait of a man on a mural." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An artist from ArtLords paints an image of AFP’s slain chief Afghanistan photographer, Shah Marai, who was killed in 2018 in a suicide bombing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)</span></span>
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<p>In addition to providing surprising bits of colour in what are otherwise drab and forbidding urban spaces, the murals promote social conversation and contribute to critical thinking.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual to see Afghan citizens standing in front of the murals talking about them and discussing current events. Although some of the works have irked the Afghan authorities — one mural was whitewashed by the National Directorate of Security — the murals and their messages have been embraced by the citizenry. The blast walls of several embassies also bear non-political ArtLords murals. </p>
<h2>Murals across Afghanistan</h2>
<p>In advance of a November 2020 donor funding conference, ArtLords was commissioned by the conference organizers to paint murals in all the country’s major cities.</p>
<p>A timelapse video of the murals’ creation captures the energy and enthusiasm of the ArtLords work. In the murals, a soldier’s Kalashnikov assault rifle is replaced by a pencil, a symbol of the possibility of a better future for the country. </p>
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<img alt="A mural of a soldier holding a large pencil in place of a gun." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Artlords mural.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">U.S. Institute of Peace</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Since its founding, ArtLords has painted more than 2,000 blast-wall murals in 19 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The movement has grown to 53 employees and artists, with offices in seven Afghan provinces. </p>
<p>In addition to its blast-wall street art, ArtLords has launched an art gallery, an arts and culture magazine and a coffee shop. In July 2021, ArtLords conducted an online workshop for artists, civil society activists and human rights defenders in the South Asia region to share its experiences in reclaiming civic space and promoting social change. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/re6fBD-Bk_w?wmode=transparent&start=118" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video about Artlords by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The government of Afghanistan also recently presented a large ArtLords-commissioned painting to the United Nations Secretary-General. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227390.shtml">“The Unseen Afghanistan”</a> is a joyous and colourful work, its paint mixed with soil from all of the country’s provinces. The human figures in the painting depict Afghanistan’s mix of ethnicities. The central figure is a representation of a child who had a leg amputated when he was eight months old after being shot in a battle between the Taliban and Afghan government forces. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1409590925567873026"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRmfXicrCko">A widely circulated video </a> shows him at age five happily dancing on a new prosthetic leg. The painting, to be hung in the halls of the UN Secretariat, demonstrates hope for a peaceful and similarly exuberant future for Afghanistan and its people. </p>
<p>“Protecting the Gains” was the theme of the recent meeting of the government and donor <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/co-chairs-statement-joint-coordination-and-monitoring-board-jcmb-meeting">Joint Coordination Monitoring Board</a>. </p>
<p>But at the same time, a resurgent Taliban has greatly expanded areas under its control and has brought fighting to some of Afghanistan’s major cities. </p>
<p>Escalating conflict has displaced some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/world/asia/afghanistan-migration-taliban.html">330,000 Afghans</a>, with at least 30,000 people fleeing the country each week. Rather than the hope represented by much of the Artlords work, there is fear that much of Afghanistan’s hard-won progress over the past 20 years may soon be reversed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grant Curtis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Afghanistan’s Artlords are using art on blast walls to advocate for social change and to stand in contrast to the country’s war lords, drug lords and corruption.Grant Curtis, PhD Candidate Political Science, Deputy Director Centre for the Study of Security and Development, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1601372021-05-07T12:42:36Z2021-05-07T12:42:36ZFaces of those America is leaving behind in Afghanistan<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399027/original/file-20210505-19-12r3lst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C2%2C659%2C488&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The people of Afghanistan that the author encountered live very different lives from Americans.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>U.S. troops are <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/29/politics/us-afghanistan-withdrawal-begun/index.html">already heading home from Afghanistan</a>, ending a two-decade-long war that saw as many as 100,000 American troops there. The withdrawal of the remaining few thousand is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/us/politics/afghanistan-troops-withdrawal.html">slated to be complete</a> by the symbolic date of Sept. 11, 2021.</p>
<p>I know this land well from my journeys across more than half of its provinces as a <a href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">professor of Afghan history</a> and as a former <a href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/pdfs/Steve%20Coll_Directorates_ch%2014-Williams.pdf">employee of the CIA’s Counter-Terrorism Center</a> <a href="https://mepc.org/journal/mullah-omars-missiles-field-report-suicide-bombers-afghanistan">tracking the movement</a> of Taliban and al-Qaida suicide bombers. I also <a href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/us_army_afg/field_us_army_afg.html">advised the military</a> on Afghan terrain, tribes, politics and history.</p>
<p>While on my solo missions for the CIA and U.S. Army beyond the safety of our base’s walls, in what my team described as the “red zone,” I also did something that none of my U.S. Army comrades – who traveled in convoys and were restricted by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-military-rules-of-engagement-in-afghanistan-questioned-1454349100">formal rules of engagement</a> – could do. I freely photographed the fascinating Afghan people around me as they went about their lives in an active war zone.</p>
<p>Lately, I worry about the fate of the people in these photos and others I have taken. Their world may be destroyed if, or when, the fast-advancing Taliban reconquer the last remaining government-controlled zones. </p>
<p>These images show glimpses of the potentially doomed people and ways of life the U.S. is leaving behind as the troops depart.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398158/original/file-20210430-15-1wit0yq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Armed men ride horses through rocky ground" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398158/original/file-20210430-15-1wit0yq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398158/original/file-20210430-15-1wit0yq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398158/original/file-20210430-15-1wit0yq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398158/original/file-20210430-15-1wit0yq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398158/original/file-20210430-15-1wit0yq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398158/original/file-20210430-15-1wit0yq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398158/original/file-20210430-15-1wit0yq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uzbek Mongol cavalry commander General Abdul Rashid Dostum, nicknamed ‘The Taliban Killer,’ rides his prized war stallion Surkun in 2003.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>The warlord</h2>
<p>In this photograph from 2003, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek Mongol cavalry commander, rides his prized war stallion Surkun. </p>
<p>Dostum, a legendary military leader who fought alongside the Soviets in the 1980s to extend modernity to Afghanistan and has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42908396">faced accusations of war crimes against the Taliban which he denies</a>, is a friend and the focus of my 2013 book, “<a href="https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/last-warlord--the-products-9781613748008.php">The Last Warlord: The Afghan Warrior who Led US Special Forces to Topple the Taliban Regime</a>.” In 2001 he rode Surkun into combat alongside horse-mounted U.S. Special Forces Green Berets to overthrow his northern Turkic-Mongol people’s historic foes, the ethnic Aryan Pashtun Taliban regime.</p>
<p>Hundreds of his riders were killed in the <a href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/pdfs/930854297(3).pdf">desperate mountain campaign against their Taliban enemies</a>, as seen in the 2019 Hollywood blockbuster “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1413492/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">12 Strong: The True, Declassified Story of the Horse Soldiers of Afghanistan</a>,” which was in part <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/168036">based on my book</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398162/original/file-20210430-14-1em1aa7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young girl and her brother sit under a fabric tent" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398162/original/file-20210430-14-1em1aa7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398162/original/file-20210430-14-1em1aa7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398162/original/file-20210430-14-1em1aa7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398162/original/file-20210430-14-1em1aa7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398162/original/file-20210430-14-1em1aa7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398162/original/file-20210430-14-1em1aa7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398162/original/file-20210430-14-1em1aa7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A young Afghan girl sits with her younger brother in 2007.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>The girl</h2>
<p>This cherubic nine-year-old girl at left was charged with babysitting her little brother while her parents worked in the fields in a remote desert region. I have no idea what her fate was, but many impoverished girls like her do not get the opportunity to get an education and are married off in arranged marriages when they are young.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398173/original/file-20210430-22-1kxb7f3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowd of Afghans smile around a guest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398173/original/file-20210430-22-1kxb7f3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398173/original/file-20210430-22-1kxb7f3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398173/original/file-20210430-22-1kxb7f3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398173/original/file-20210430-22-1kxb7f3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398173/original/file-20210430-22-1kxb7f3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398173/original/file-20210430-22-1kxb7f3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398173/original/file-20210430-22-1kxb7f3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2005, I (center) received warm welcomes all across northern Afghanistan, where the people were generally friendly toward Americans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>The hosts</h2>
<p>I was always amazed at the warm welcomes I received while traveling among the Uzbek-Mongol, Persian-Tajik and Hazara-Shiite Mongol tribes of northern Afghanistan, who are closely allied with the U.S. I was regularly invited into their simple homes, where my hosts would eagerly offer me lamb or goat, often after slaughtering their only source of meat for an honored guest. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398165/original/file-20210430-15-uw1ha6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two chickens fight in the center of a crowd of people, watching the action closely" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398165/original/file-20210430-15-uw1ha6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398165/original/file-20210430-15-uw1ha6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398165/original/file-20210430-15-uw1ha6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398165/original/file-20210430-15-uw1ha6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398165/original/file-20210430-15-uw1ha6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398165/original/file-20210430-15-uw1ha6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398165/original/file-20210430-15-uw1ha6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chicken fights were a popular – if bloody – form of entertainment in Kabul in 2005, but they were banned by the Taliban.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The chicken fighters</h2>
<p>On most Friday afternoons during my time in Kabul, there were chicken fights, like this one in the Garden of Babur, a popular park built around the marble grave of Babur, the founder of India’s magnificent Moghul Empire. At the fights, men bet on which chicken would win, but the pastime was banned by the Taliban as “un-Islamic” as all such “sinful” games distracted from the worship of God. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398174/original/file-20210430-23-fbv3b5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of Afghan middle school girls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398174/original/file-20210430-23-fbv3b5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398174/original/file-20210430-23-fbv3b5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398174/original/file-20210430-23-fbv3b5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398174/original/file-20210430-23-fbv3b5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398174/original/file-20210430-23-fbv3b5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398174/original/file-20210430-23-fbv3b5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398174/original/file-20210430-23-fbv3b5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After the Taliban were driven out of their area, these Afghan girls, pictured in 2005, were allowed to attend school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The schoolgirls</h2>
<p>After five years of being denied the right to an education by the Taliban, these middle school girls in the town of Sheberghan in 2005 were excited to return to school. One girl, third from the right, was crying: She had just told me the story of how the Taliban had killed her parents.</p>
<p>She fretted, “The day the Americans leave the Taliban will return and execute us girls if we try to learn to read and write, which is forbidden for females by their law.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398188/original/file-20210430-15-1s8y0h5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man and two boys stand in front of cliffs showing a large void where a Buddha statue used to be" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398188/original/file-20210430-15-1s8y0h5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398188/original/file-20210430-15-1s8y0h5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398188/original/file-20210430-15-1s8y0h5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398188/original/file-20210430-15-1s8y0h5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398188/original/file-20210430-15-1s8y0h5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398188/original/file-20210430-15-1s8y0h5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398188/original/file-20210430-15-1s8y0h5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Behind the boys and me is a massive cutout in the cliff, where a standing Buddha statue used to be, before the Taliban destroyed it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The guardians of the Buddhas</h2>
<p>In the idyllic Vale of Bamiyan, at 8,000 feet above sea level in the remote Hindu Kush mountains, the Hazara Mongols for centuries cherished two massive statues of the Buddha, carved into the cliffs in the sixth century. In 2001, the Sunni <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/world/asia/afghanistan-bamiyan-buddhas.html">Taliban destroyed the statues</a>, defying international outcry, in a direct insult to the repressed Shiite Hazaras.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398172/original/file-20210430-17-1ukn8sn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bearded man in a turban stands with an adult camel and a camel calf in front of a tent." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398172/original/file-20210430-17-1ukn8sn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398172/original/file-20210430-17-1ukn8sn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398172/original/file-20210430-17-1ukn8sn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398172/original/file-20210430-17-1ukn8sn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398172/original/file-20210430-17-1ukn8sn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398172/original/file-20210430-17-1ukn8sn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398172/original/file-20210430-17-1ukn8sn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Kuchis, Aryan Pashtuns, wandered the soaring mountains and vast deserts of Afghanistan, living their entire lives in tents without electricity or any modern conveniences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The nomads</h2>
<p>As I traversed the soaring mountains and vast deserts of this ancient land that time seemingly forgot, I frequently encountered welcoming and curious Aryan Pashtun nomads known as Kuchis. These wanderers invariably invited me to join them for a simple meal in exchange for my stories about a different world known as America, a land that these humble people, who live out their entire lives in tents without electricity, could not imagine.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398170/original/file-20210430-18-1udoa9p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with a rifle stands in front of a restaurant window" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398170/original/file-20210430-18-1udoa9p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398170/original/file-20210430-18-1udoa9p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398170/original/file-20210430-18-1udoa9p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398170/original/file-20210430-18-1udoa9p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398170/original/file-20210430-18-1udoa9p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398170/original/file-20210430-18-1udoa9p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398170/original/file-20210430-18-1udoa9p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After Kabul was freed from Taliban rule, American-style restaurants started cropping up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The burger and pizza chef</h2>
<p>An Afghan who worked on a U.S. base and came to love all things American opened this pizza and burger restaurant in Kabul which, like many businesses, featured an armed guard out front. Other American-style restaurants opened up after the Taliban were driven from Kabul, including the remarkably delicious KFC – Kabul Fried Chicken.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398176/original/file-20210430-14-h7e1f7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of bearded men stand behind a barred door." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398176/original/file-20210430-14-h7e1f7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398176/original/file-20210430-14-h7e1f7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398176/original/file-20210430-14-h7e1f7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398176/original/file-20210430-14-h7e1f7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398176/original/file-20210430-14-h7e1f7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398176/original/file-20210430-14-h7e1f7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398176/original/file-20210430-14-h7e1f7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taliban fighters captured by General Dostum were imprisoned in the northern deserts of Afghanistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.brianglynwilliams.com/">Brian Glyn Williams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Taliban</h2>
<p>I interviewed several dozen Taliban members, who had been captured by General Dostum’s forces, in a fortress-like prison in the northern deserts of Afghanistan. One of the captives told me a common Taliban mantra: “You Americans may have the watches, but we have the time… We will outlast you.”</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Glyn Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As American troops leave Afghanistan, a scholar of the country’s history and culture reexamines his photos of the nation’s people.Brian Glyn Williams, Professor of Islamic History, UMass DartmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1589352021-04-13T23:22:48Z2021-04-13T23:22:48ZUS postpones Afghanistan troop withdrawal in hopes of sustaining peace process: 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394899/original/file-20210413-19-1o7lxib.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C11%2C1982%2C1416&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Long time there: U.S. troops maneuver around the central part of the Baghran river valley as they search for remnants of Taliban and al-Qaida forces on Feb. 24, 2003. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AFGHANISTANUSOPERATIONVIPER/d38e6cd3d2e0da11af9f0014c2589dfb/photo?Query=U.S.%20troops%20afghanistan&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=3217&currentItemNo=43">Aaron Favila/Pool/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States will <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/biden-us-troop-withdrawal-afghanistan/2021/04/13/918c3cae-9beb-11eb-8a83-3bc1fa69c2e8_story.html?itid=hp-top-table-main">bring home its over 3,000 remaining soldiers in Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021</a>, delaying its planned withdrawal for five months in an effort to bolster faltering peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgent group. </p>
<p>The new troop withdrawal date is symbolic, marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks that within weeks led to the U.S. invasion of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. But it fails to meet former President Donald Trump administration’s planned May 1 troop withdrawal, which was negotiated with the Taliban as part of a 2020 U.S. peace accord with the group. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/13/us/biden-news-today">U.S. intelligence agencies</a> and many security analysts worried that a U.S. exit from Afghanistan on the earlier date would undermine peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government and potentially lead the Taliban to regain control of the country. </p>
<p>The war in Afghanistan has been long, complicated and deadly, and the road to peace fraught. Here are five stories explaining the history of the Afghan conflict and the faltering peace process.</p>
<h2>1. Negotiations to end a ‘forever war’</h2>
<p>First, some history on how the U.S. ended up at war with the Taliban.</p>
<p>“It was on Afghan soil that Osama bin Laden hatched the plot to attack the U.S.,” wrote Abdulkader Sinno, an Afghanistan expert at Indiana University, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-will-come-after-a-us-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-111036">in a 2019 article about the possibility of the U.S. ending its war there</a>. “The Taliban, the de facto rulers of much of Afghanistan in the wake of a bloody civil war, had given bin Laden and his supporters shelter.”</p>
<p>Former U.S. President Donald Trump long signaled his intention to end America’s “forever wars” like the conflict in Afghanistan. In 2018, his secretary of defense – then James Mattis – agreed to negotiate a U.S. withdrawal directly with the Taliban, rather than in three-way talks that included the Afghan government.</p>
<p>The move acknowledged there was “little hope for an outright U.S. victory over the Taliban at this point,” wrote Sinno.</p>
<p>And for the Taliban, that was a win. They had fought “the world’s strongest military power to a stalemate,” Sinno wrote.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305944/original/file-20191209-90609-1cb5fgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C4000%2C2664&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305944/original/file-20191209-90609-1cb5fgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C4000%2C2664&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305944/original/file-20191209-90609-1cb5fgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305944/original/file-20191209-90609-1cb5fgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305944/original/file-20191209-90609-1cb5fgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305944/original/file-20191209-90609-1cb5fgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305944/original/file-20191209-90609-1cb5fgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305944/original/file-20191209-90609-1cb5fgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A market in the Old City of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 8, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Afghanistan-Daily-Life/a9c73acd22884f5d83b007a534f699b4/9/0">AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Troop withdrawal</h2>
<p>On Nov. 17, 2019, Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw about half of its 4,500 troops from Afghanistan as part of a cease-fire agreement with the Taliban – a prelude to U.S. peace talks with the Taliban.</p>
<p>The large troop reduction was a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-troop-drawdown-in-afghanistan-signals-american-weakness-and-could-send-afghan-allies-into-the-talibans-arms-150515">blow to Afghanistan’s U.S.-trained national army</a>, which had seen 45,000 troops killed from 2015 to 2019 in the conflict with the Taliban, according to scholar Brian Glyn Williams, who worked on the U.S. Army’s Information Operations team in eastern Afghanistan during the war. </p>
<p>The Afghanistan National Army relies on American troops for “essential training, equipment and other support,” wrote Williams. </p>
<p>Williams said Trump’s withdrawal schedule may also signal U.S. weakness to the ethnic Pashtun tribes of southeast Afghanistan.</p>
<p>“These 60 tribes, or clans, have for centuries maintained – and shifted – the country’s balance of military and political power. They are always calculating which of the rival factions or warring parties is in the strongest position and seeking to join that side,” wrote Williams.</p>
<h2>3. Peace deal is signed</h2>
<p>The U.S. in February 2020 signed its peace deal with the Taliban, following a weeklong truce and 18 months of stop-and-go negotiations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387895/original/file-20210304-17-75uw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men, some in suits and other in traditional Pashtun clothing, stand in a hotel conference room at a distance from each other, wearing face masks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387895/original/file-20210304-17-75uw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387895/original/file-20210304-17-75uw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387895/original/file-20210304-17-75uw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387895/original/file-20210304-17-75uw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387895/original/file-20210304-17-75uw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387895/original/file-20210304-17-75uw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387895/original/file-20210304-17-75uw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other U.S. officials meet with senior Taliban leaders in Doha, Qatar, in November 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-state-mike-pompeo-meets-with-taliban-co-news-photo/1229709572">Patrick Semansky/Pool/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The four-part agreement committed the U.S. to withdrawing the rest of its soldiers from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 – the date that Biden just pushed back. </p>
<p>In exchange, the Taliban agreed to enter talks with the Afghan government, and to bar extremist groups like al-Qaida from using Afghanistan as a base to attack the U.S. and its allies.</p>
<p>“But peace in Afghanistan will take more than an accord,” wrote Elizabeth B. Hessami, a scholar of peace-building at Johns Hopkins University. In an <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-us-and-taliban-sign-accord-afghanistan-must-prepare-for-peace-132303">article published shortly after the accord was signed</a>, Hessami wrote, “History shows that economic growth and better job opportunities are necessary to rebuild stability after war.” </p>
<p>Hessami noted that insurgent groups typically recruit people who “desperately need an income.” </p>
<p>Wired magazine reported back in 2007 that the Taliban paid its soldiers far better than the Afghan government paid its military. </p>
<p>“Creating well-paid alternatives to extremist groups, then, is a critical piece in solving Afghanistan’s national security puzzle,” wrote Hessami. </p>
<h2>4. Can the Taliban be trusted?</h2>
<p>In September 2020, six months after the U.S.-Taliban accord, the Taliban entered into talks with the Afghan government in Doha, Qatar. The two sides are supposed to establish a comprehensive cease-fire and negotiate a potential power-sharing agreement. </p>
<p>But Sher Jan Ahmadzai, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha, <a href="https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-peace-talks-begin-but-will-the-taliban-hold-up-their-end-of-the-deal-146081">questions whether the Taliban are negotiating in good faith</a>. In the months after the U.S.-Taliban accord, violence levels in Afghanistan actually increased.</p>
<p>“Some Taliban fighters have insisted they will continue their jihad ‘until an Islamic system is established,’” he wrote, “leading to concerns that the organization is not actually committed to peace.”</p>
<p>“Many question whether the Taliban can be held accountable for what they’ve promised,” wrote Ahmadzai.</p>
<p>For example, international and domestic observers of the Afghan peace process have also been unable to confirm that the Taliban have actually severed their relationship with al-Qaida. </p>
<p>Afghans also “fear losing the meaningful achievements that came out of international engagement in Afghanistan, such as women’s empowerment, increased freedom of speech and a more vibrant press,” according to Ahmadzai.</p>
<h2>5. What’s at stake</h2>
<p>Biden delayed troop withdrawal in an attempt to secure a deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government that protects such rights. If peace talks collapse, Afghan women may have the most to lose.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387898/original/file-20210304-24-8g7fpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Veiled women and some children stand on the street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387898/original/file-20210304-24-8g7fpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387898/original/file-20210304-24-8g7fpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387898/original/file-20210304-24-8g7fpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387898/original/file-20210304-24-8g7fpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387898/original/file-20210304-24-8g7fpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387898/original/file-20210304-24-8g7fpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387898/original/file-20210304-24-8g7fpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women were required to be fully veiled in public when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. Kabul, 1996.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/veiled-women-stand-in-the-street-october-11-1996-in-kabul-news-photo/744044">Roger Lemoyne/Liaison</a></span>
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<p>“The Taliban’s rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 was the darkest time for Afghan women,” wrote the women’s rights scholars Mona Tajali and Homa Hoodfar in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-in-afghanistan-worry-peace-accord-with-taliban-extremists-could-cost-them-hard-won-rights-154149">March 5, 2021, article</a>. </p>
<p>“Assuming an austere interpretation of Islamic Sharia and Pashtun tribal practices, the group limited women’s access to education, employment and health services. Women were required to be fully veiled and have male escorts.”</p>
<p>Women have been largely excluded from the Doha negotiations. One of just four female negotiators on the Afghan government’s 21-member team, Fawzia Koofi, survived an assassination attempt, apparently by the Taliban. </p>
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The Afghanistan War now has an end date: 9/11/21. Experts explain the history of US involvement in Afghanistan, the peace process to end that conflict and how the country’s women are uniquely at risk.Catesby Holmes, International Editor | Politics Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.