Read “Under The Drones” To Learn About The State of Afghan People

I’m reminded of two excerpts from Bengali intellectual Rabindranath Tagore’s short essay “East and West” as we live through Afghanistan’s post-U.S. transition.

The West comes to us, not with the imagination and sympathy that create and unite, but with a shock of passion—passion for power and wealth. This passion is a mere force, which has in it the principle of separation, of conflict.

Rabindranath Tagore, “East and West”

The other quote toward the end of the essay tells a similar story. In it Tagore references a line from a Rudyard Kipling poem that reads, “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”

It is true that they are not yet showing any real sign of meeting. But the reason is because the West has not sent out its humanity to meet the man in the East, but only its machine. Therefore the poet’s line has to be changed into something like this:
Man is man, machine is machine,
And never the twain shall wed.

Rabindranath Tagore, “East and West”

The most quoted statistic over the next few weeks will be that the United States stayed in Afghanistan for 20 years and spent roughly $2 trillion. Let’s just say that type of money can build a lot of schools, airports, hospitals, libraries, etc., etc..

For those looking to actually learn about the Afghanis—you know, the people who actually live in Afghanistan—make sure to find a copy of “Under the Drones.” The book is a collection of essays written by historians and social scientists from Afghanistan and Pakistan and edited by Shahzad Bashir and Robert D. Crews.

As you’ll quickly learn, the story, as it always tends to be, is much deeper and more complicated than simply some “bad guys” carrying guns and women who can’t go shopping or girls who can’t attend school like women and girls can do in NYC.

I’ll post a couple nuggets below for you to chew on until your copy arrives. We begin with a quote that sheds light on colonial influence on Afghan power base.

Remember Charlie Hebdo? Well, something very similar happened in Afghanistan—except in 1960s! This was a real shocker to learn.

On the opium trade:

And finally, here are uplifting excerpts about Afghan women. All hope is not lost for them and never will be. If their new rulers will apply Islam correctly, they will be 100x more tolerant than they have been in the recent past. Think about Jannah, brothers—Jannah!