The Hindu Business Line : Afghanistan: Challenges abound

AFGHANISTAN was liberated in November 2001 from the clutches of the Taliban, which had totally dehumanised the people, particularly women, with its absurd diktats. Yet, there has been no salvation as the country is still grappling with a variety of challenges.

While reports of pockets of Taliban influence in the south, particularly Kandahar, cause anxiety on the security front, Kabul and the northern parts of the country appear safe and free from violence. But this again, does not vouchsafe quality living. The non-existent roads and the poverty in the countryside offers but a glimpse of the challenges ahead for this ravaged country. But the problem is that with Afghanistan off the radar screens of international media, which is fully engaged in Iraq, the world view of security in Kabul, or elsewhere, seems to be totally skewed.

Even in India, considered a friend of Afghanistan and which has always helped the country through its three decades of bloody wars, eyebrows are raised about a visitor's safety in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, former diplomats to Afghanistan put off any interest in Indians desirous of visiting that country, even to scout for business opportunities which are aplenty here, by saying that it is not safe to travel there. They join others in fuelling the myth that "almost every Afghan carries a Kalashnikov".

Six days in Kabul and Bamiyan, one could not spot a man with a Kalashnikov. All one found were men with air-rifles targeting birds, and boys with catapults, aiming at anything and everything.

The US, of course, has a travel advisory for its citizens against visiting the country, but then its geopolitical stance has been such that today Americans feel threatened in many parts of the world.

Even the advice not to "walk on Kabul's streets after 6 p.m." seemed exaggerated because things are improving by the day and shops in the main bazaar that used to shut down at 4-30 p.m. only a few months ago, are now open beyond 6-30 p.m.

But the only problem is that these shops and stores, bursting with goods of all kind do not have too many customers; at the moment Afghanistan is not on anybody's map except international aid agencies. And the local people do not have much purchasing power.

The exception, of course, are the bustling bazaars with row upon row of handcarts loaded with foodstuff and other inexpensive items; here there is always a throng of people, especially burqa-clad women, shopping for their daily needs. The tragedy of Kabul is that during the years of bloody conflict and violence, an entire educated and prosperous middle-class fled the country and it will take much effort and time to persuade even a section of this population to return.

The recently `elected' President, Mr Hamid Karzai, is seen as an "American puppet" and faces so much threat that he makes public appearances very rarely, if at all.

In a country that is grappling with challenges on multiple fronts, the public presence of a strong leader can work wonders in inspiring confidence and trust among its people. But this is a luxury that the Afghans do not enjoy.

In the seven years the Taliban held the country it all but devastated the education system. Though it took control of Kabul only in 1996, it had been a controlling force in the South since 1994.

It is heartening to see international agencies tackling the challenge of setting up schools on a war-footing. But in a country of 24 million people (the unofficial figure is close to 29 million), with virtually no infrastructure and a treacherous terrain, this is a big challenge.

While it is easy to create pockets of excellence in the heart of Kabul, in the rural areas it is almost impossible to get qualified teachers. With the war having destroyed our schools, in many of our villages students still sit on the floor," says Mr Wali Mohammed, Director of the French-run Lycee Esteglal, a model school in Kabul.

The most heartening sight on an 11-hour back-breaking ride from Kabul to Bamiyan is the presence of schools along the so-called road. The Japanese and the Aga Khan Development Network are most active in this region and one sees scores of schools — in new brick and mortar structures to mud hovels — proudly bearing the sign in English `Elementary school'. In the historic town of Bamiyan, where the Taliban callously demolished the massive stone relics of centuries old Buddhas, it indeed lifts one's spirit to find 12-year-old Jumakhan Ziaullah speaking good English. He runs forward to answer our questions and says proudly, "I love to study English." This child attends normal school in the day, but "as our teacher doesn't know English, I go to an evening school run by an NGO where they teach very good English." He says his dream is to become a doctor "and to speak in English with people like you."

But listening to the conversation with downcast eyes is 16-year-old Zakir, who doesn't go to any school, for as Jumakhan says in flawless English, "he is busy the whole day washing dishes in a restaurant."

This is the reality of Afghanistan on the education front. One shudders to think of the fate of an entire generation of girls who were forbidden from schools under the Taliban era. In the Bamiyan region, the majority of the population is Hazara, who are Shia, and it comes as a surprise to find that not too many women are wearing the burqa. But that does not mean these beautiful women are comfortable being photographed by strangers.

The moment you stop your vehicle to take a picture of anything, any woman in the vicinity quickly turns away, covering her face with her dupatta. We find several women working in the fields, dressed in vibrant colours that remind you of the women of Rajasthan or Gujarat. But try to go anywhere near them and they turn away and cover their faces.

Most heartening is the absence of the light-blue colour burqas which had become the symbol of oppression of Afghan women during the Taliban era. The Taliban had particularly targeted the Hazaras because they are Shia, said 30-year-old Mehrab, who was travelling on a donkey with her two-year-old son, with her husband following on a bicycle. As they presented a pretty and typical picture of the countryside, we requested our driver Hussain Dhat to get the man's permission to photograph the couple. To our surprise he agreed. Even more surprisingly, after the pictures were taken, he asked for a lift for his wife and little child; to entrust his wife and child to strangers and that too foreigners is no small matter.

On the short ride, Mehrab, who was not wearing a burqa, described how she had to don it during the Taliban era. "We had to actually flee to the mountains to hide from the Taliban; if they had found us they would have slit our throats," she says, running two fingers across her throat.

A mother of seven, she proudly says that her children, including daughters, go to school. She displays enough confidence and makes eye contact when she talks, something not common to women in Afghanistan, particularly in the countryside.

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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