In Fallen Taliban City, a Busy, Busy Barber

The New York Times ^ | November 13, 2001 | Dexter Filkins

[wideawake]

I agree. And there would be a Kurdistan to export them to.

[Republic]

But where do the women go to get back their [insert appropriate word regarding female genitals here] back?

:^( Horrid.

Maybe the new order will permit a little retribution. I understand there is a so called man hating artist somewhere in America that enjoys hanging replicas of penis's from a noose, perhaps the repressed women in Afganistan could take heed and hang the real things out to dry, a sort of taliban booty display or sorts. I know-crude. Still.....what's good for the goose and all that!

[jackbill]

"I've got nothing against beards, you know, and as you can see I've kept my mustache," said Mr. Istat, a shopkeeper. "The problem is when someone tells you that you have to have one. That's why I hated it."

Kind of like how we feel about seat belts and motorcycle helmets, Mr. Istat.

[sweetliberty]

That was a very uplifting story to read. Let's finish off these dogs and move on to Saddam!

[texlok]

>Here's the dilemma. If they kill the collaborators, then the UN will get its panties in a knot about human rights and Pashtuns in the south will be itching for revenge and reprisal.

Nah, the UN doesn't care about human rights unless your skin is white. They seem to like to conveniently ignore mass genocide in Africa, genocide in the middle-east, etc. but they'll be damned if those pesky Americans keep executing them there criminals. It's alright to kill a few hundred thousand of your fellow citizens as long as they are of a d different tribe, but you put a murderer to death, that's just downright evil.

[eleni121]

You must know that the Kurds are a divided poeple - divided by language and years of separation in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and even by religion. I would support taking a big chunk out of Iraq for the purpose you state. But what about the Kurds who have lived in Turkey (Anatolia) since way before the Turks ever got there?

When you start talking nation building, you end up talking MICRO nation building. Impossible in practice but attractive in theory.

[caddie]

We had a similar three-finger length rule for the bangs on your forehead in high school. Run by the Jesuit fathers.

Hmmmmmmm....

[Silly]

Men tossed their turbans into the gutters. Families dug up their long-hidden television sets. Restaurants blared music. Cigarettes flared, and young men talked of growing their hair long. In the most noticeable change of all, women, clad in their head-to-toe burkas, walked the streets alone, no longer required to have a male relative at their side. They walked by themselves and they walked with each other, their blue and white and red burkas blowing open in the afternoon breeze.

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

[LJLucido]

Damn. I hate waiting in line for a haircut. I think I'll come back in a month or so.

[SarahW]

NOw when are the chicks gioung to have the courage to ditch the Burqas altogether?

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I'm so glad to see people relishing freedom, it brings joy to my spirit. I'm so glad we didn't "nuke'em all". Now, I think we have overcome the obstacle of proving to the Islamic world that this is not a war against Islam, this is a war against terror. We may not have completely overcome the suspicions, but the liberation of Kabul is a big first step.

[r9etb]

"Everywhere people are digging up their television sets," Mr. Asif.

A very interesting outlook on life. The penalty for being found with one would be extreme, yet didn't just get rid of them, they buried them -- saving them for later. So on the one hand they assumed the Taliban wouldn't last, and on the other hand, they had their own version of resistance to the Taliban. They also didn't fight back -- they patiently waited, apparently, for the problem to go away. (A good assumption, given that it's probably what's always happened in Afghanistan.)

I see three conflicting things here: these folks can probably be jollied into accepting a reasonable government, just as they apparently accepted a Taliban government; they will probably not be particularly protective of whatever government they have; but they do have an underlying independent streak that might be tapped somehow.

It also seems to suggest that there's a real difference between the soldiers in Afghanistan, and "normal people." Probably it's always been so. One wonders if it's even possible in Afghanistan to find leaders who aren't involved with armies of one kind or another. And if one can't find a non-army leader, one wonders if a civilized Afghan government will ever exist.

[cactmh]

Where do you get the idea that the purpose of the war is to liberate? It has been stated numerous times by many people in the administration that this war is an act of self defense. The rest is just gravy.

[r9etb]

NOw when are the chicks gioung to have the courage to ditch the Burqas altogether?

I think they learned a long time ago to wait and see. Sure the Taliban were nasty. But they probably have no idea whether the Northern Alliance is going to be better or worse. Better safe than sorry -- and in winter, a nice burqa is probably cozy and warm.

[r9etb]

Where do you get the idea that the purpose of the war is to liberate? It has been stated numerous times by many people in the administration that this war is an act of self defense. The rest is just gravy.

Well, yes. But as we've seen, if you can actually liberate a country (e.g., Japan or Germany), you've probably done the best possible job of self-defense. We certainly have an interest in removing the conditions that allowed Al Queda to move to Afghanistan in the first place.

[Godfollow]

Tunel vision you have... we wish to be liberated from the anxity of terrorist's threats. By going after evil full boar and defeating it, the net result is liberation. Just another way of defining the American sense of the purpose and justification of war.