Afghanistan Today

From sports played with dead goats, to instruments that have been played there for over 2,500 years, to brand new democracies, Afghanistan is an amazing country. There are many things that make Afghanistan unique, including their government, food, sports, music, and education. Afghanistan is also changing very rapidly. A few years ago, it was a war zone. People were afraid to go there. Now, thanks to much help from the United States, people are beginning to visit Afghanistan as a vacation site, much like they did before the Taliban took over.

Lately, Afghanistan has been in the news very frequently. The most recent headlines have talked about the food supply. Even though there is a new government, the Taliban is still strong. They keep food from the citizens, as a way of religious torture, so that the Shiite Muslims will convert to Sunni Islam, the religion of most of the members of the Taliban. The United States tried to solve this problem by dropping food supplies from military airplanes into villages of Afghan people. This plan did not work because the food was dropped from an altitude that was too high, and was either crushed by air pressure, or smashed when it hit the ground. The food that did make it to the ground safely would sometimes sit untouched for weeks before being found. During this time, bacteria and mold would have started to grow in the food, allowing more sickness and disease to infect the already sick Afghani people. The military also colored the parcels yellow, so that they could be seen. This was a mistake. It was unknown to the government that the people of Afghanistan had been taught to avoid yellow, because it was usually the color of insurgent bombs. The military also made the mistake of dropping the food in the wrong places. In late 2006, two young children were killed as they walked into a minefield to retrieve the box of food that had fallen from the sky.

A slightly happier bit of news is Afghanistan’s new government. For many years, Afghanistan had been run by a “dictatorship”. While not a true dictatorship, ruled by one person, the people obeyed two groups: Al Qaida and the Taliban. These two religious terrorist groups made many rules that limited the rights of citizens, mainly women. The groups destroyed anything that represented any religion other than Islam, the main demonstration of this being the destruction of the Buddhist statues in Bamiyan. The Taliban also put many Christian missionaries in prison for trying to convert Muslims. The United States got involved when the attacks moved to our soil. In 2001, Al Qaida operatives hijacked four planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, killing thousands. The United States ordered that Al Qaida turn over Osama Bin Laden, who was believed to be in charge of the attacks. Al Qaida refused, saying they were ready for Jihad, or “Holy War”. American and British bombers made air strikes on many Taliban and Al Qaida bases, in response to this declaration of war. After several years of bombings and warfare, the country’s streets were, and still are, a disaster, but the Taliban was finally brought down. In late 2001, the Taliban fled from Afghanistan, leaving the United States free to help rebuild Afghanistan, which is just what is happening. In 2004, the first democratic election took place, and the people chose the United States-backed candidate Hamid Karzai to lead them. Under Karzai’s rule, Afghanistan has been much more peaceful, and the country is beginning to be rebuilt.