Artist Arjan Pregl has made a completely tasteless comment regarding the events in Afghanistan, which even the Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, commented on. Namely, Pregl wondered whether the SDS party had already sent an ambassador to Afghanistan to exchange views with the Taliban on a traditional society without feminism, LGBT, and multicultural agendas. And when it comes to feminism, we cannot ignore the fact that Tanja Fajon has not yet condemned the events or even expressed her concerns – for women, the situation in Afghanistan became much worse practically overnight. “All the years of effort in Afghanistan for nothing. Women will be killed again, stoned, and the world will look away, as it always does when it comes to radical Islam,” SDS MP Branko Grims warned.
“Has the SDS party sent an ambassador to Afghanistan yet, in order to exchange views with the Taliban on a traditional society without feminism, the LGBT and multicultural agenda?” Arjan Pregl wrote on Twitter. Apparently, he believes that the SDS party’s worldview is comparable to that of the Taliban. Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs responded to Pregl’s tasteless provocation by saying that the latter clearly showed the level of his “artistry” – which is similar to that of colouring books for preschool children. “Poor children,” he added. Pregl later also wrote that the Taliban regime should be officially condemned immediately and that a large number of people who are being threatened with death due to their beliefs or sexual orientation should be brought to Slovenia and granted asylum here. “Other than that, no other tweeting and outrage of the government politicians on social media means anything,” he added.
On Monday, Prime Minister Janez Janša wrote on Twitter that the situation in Afghanistan is the biggest defeat for NATO in its history, adding that as part of the alliance, we are also responsible for it.
It should be pointed out here that the leader of the SD party, Tanja Fajon, has not yet responded or said how worried she is – despite the fact that this time, at least because of the situation of women in Afghanistan, her concern would be more than justified.
“The chaos in Afghanistan and the surrender of modern weapons for 300 thousand men to the Taliban is the biggest defeat for NATO in its history. As part of the alliance, we are also responsible for it. Leaving the Afghan allies to suffer under Taliban terror, however, is a symbol of the end of an era,” the Prime Minister tweeted. Earlier, he also said that he had talked about the situation in Afghanistan with his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenković. According to the STA, the two prime ministers also discussed the measures to protect the European Union’s external borders against an intensified wave of illegal migration and the need for rapid enlargement of the Schengen area.
The situation in Afghanistan deteriorated in a flash, as the Taliban’s march on Kabul after the offensive on Sunday was successful, and they have thus taken over control of the country, while the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has left the country. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shahin told the BBC that they wanted a peaceful transfer of power and that they are not planning to take revenge. “We want to assure the people of Afghanistan, and especially the citizens of Kabul, that their lives and property are safe; we will not take revenge on anyone,” he promised. Soon after, the Taliban also entered some neighbourhoods of the city without encountering major resistance. After the capture of the Afghan capital, Kabul, victory was declared, so they managed to capture Afghanistan in just ten days. Former US President Donald Trump was also critical of the current events and called on Joe Biden to resign, the US media outlet Breitbart reported. Biden only recently responded – because of the press conference, he allegedly had to return from vacation early.
Residents of the city are in a state of panic, as they are particularly concerned about the fate of their wives and daughters under the Taliban rule. After the conquest, many people hid inside their homes, fearing for their lives. An intense evacuation of diplomatic staff has begun, with many Afghan civilians doing everything they possibly can to leave the country. In a panic, people even climbed on military cargo planes while they were practically already taking off, and sadly, a few people even died doing that. A group of 70 countries has decided to call on the Taliban and ask them to allow all foreign citizens, as well as all Afghans who want to leave the country, to leave. The statement, which was published by the office of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was also signed by Slovenia.
The locals in Afghanistan are rightly afraid of what their lives will look like from now on. During the previous Taliban rule, women had practically no rights at all – they were locked inside the houses, not allowed to work, and also had to wear burqas, and could often even be cruelly stoned. “I am afraid of what will happen to the women who, after the departure of Taliban, progressed and gained the right to work, held leading positions, and were even active in politics. We might even return to the past, so to speak, which is something no one wants,” the former Slovenian ambassador to the USA, Božo Cerar, Ph.D., commented on the matter.
Women will be killed and stoned again, while the world will simply look away, as it always does when it comes to radical Islam
“In fact, what is happening in Afghanistan is, from a civilisational point of view, a tragedy of global proportions. All the years of effort in Afghanistan for nothing. Women will be killed again, stoned, and the world will look away, as it always does when it comes to radical Islam,” the SDS MP Branko Grims commented on the situation in Afghanistan. The footage appearing on social media is also concerning because of something else. In clips of people trying to flee the country, only men can be seen – who you would probably expect to fight, or at least ensure a safe escape for their women and children. The Guardian writes about stories of women in Afghanistan that show how their fate changed practically overnight. On Sunday morning, a group of women came running from the women’s dorms at the University, and one of them explained that the police had evacuated them because the Taliban had arrived in Kabul and were planning on beating up all women who are not wearing a burqa. All the girls wanted to go home but were not able to use public transport. Drivers did not let them into their vehicles because they did not want to take responsibility for transporting a woman.
The situation was even worse for women from the student dorms outside of Kabul, who, frightened and confused, did not know where to go. The men standing around were making fun of the girls and women and laughed at their fear. “Go on and put on your burqa,” one of them shouted. “These are your last days on the street,” said another. “I will marry four of you in one day,” said the third. One of the students said she has almost completed two degrees at two of the best universities in Afghanistan. “I was supposed to graduate from the American University in Afghanistan and the University of Kabul in November, but this morning, all of this simply disappeared. I worked so hard, for so many days and nights, to become the person I am today – and this morning, when I came home, the first thing I did was hide my ID cards, diplomas, and certificates, as did my sisters. It was devastating. Why should we hide things we should be proud of,” she wondered sadly. She said that as a woman, she feels like she is a victim of this political war started by men. “I feel like I can no longer laugh out loud, I can no longer listen to my favourite songs, I can no longer meet my friends in our favourite café, I can no longer wear my favourite yellow dress or pink lipstick. And I can no longer go to work or complete my university degree, for which I worked for for years.”
“Afghan women sacrificed a lot for the little freedom they had. As an orphan, I weaved carpets just to get an education. I faced a lot of financial challenges, but I had a lot of plans for my future. I did not expect everything to end up like this. Now it looks like I have to burn everything I achieved in 24 years of my life. Having any ID cards or awards from the American University is risky now; even if we keep them, we are not able to use them. There are no jobs for us in Afghanistan. When the provinces collapsed one after another, I was thinking of my beautiful girlish dreams. My sisters and I could not sleep all night, remembering the stories my mother used to tell us about the Taliban era and the way they treated women. I did not expect that we would be deprived of all our basic rights again and travel back to 20 years ago. That after 20 years of fighting for our rights and freedom, we should be hunting for burqas and hiding our identity,” an Afghan student told The Guardian – and this is just one of the many tragic stories of women from Afghanistan, who no longer see a future, which they hoped for, ahead of them.
Despite all of the money and training, the Taliban defeated the Afghan army with practically no resistance
In October 2011, the USA attacked Afghanistan in order to expel the Taliban, who claimed to be hiding Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda members linked to the 9/11 attacks. The number of US troops increased when Washington invested billions of dollars in fighting Taliban insurgents and funded reconstruction. Thus, in 2011, there were about 110,000 of them there. Other countries have also sent their soldiers to the country of Afghanistan, including other NATO members. The latter officially ended its official mission in December 2014 but kept 13,000 troops there to help train Afghan forces and support the counterterrorism operations. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, total military spending in Afghanistan from October 2001 to September 2019 reached 778 billion dollars. In addition, the U.S. Department of State – along with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as other government agencies – has spent 44 billion dollars on the renovation projects there, BBC reports.
Great Britain and Germany, who had the second and third highest number of troops in Afghanistan, following the USA, spent about 30 and 19 billion dollars during the war. Although they have withdrawn almost all of their troops from Afghanistan, the USA and NATO have pledged a total of 4 billion dollars by 2024 in order to fund Afghanistan’s own forces. This year, NATO sent 72 million dollars’ worth of supplies and equipment to Afghanistan. There were, of course, human casualties as well, as at least 2300 USA and more than 450 UK soldiers were killed every year.
Criticism of Biden is growing. Above all, it is not clear how the Taliban were able to defeat the Afghan army – which was also trained by the United States’ army – so quickly, as the USA has spent a lot of money on this in the last 20 years. “He fled Afghanistan instead of following our administration’s plan – a plan that protected our people and property and ensured that the Taliban would not even dream of capturing our Embassy or providing a base for new attacks on America,” Trump was critical of Biden. “The Taliban no longer fear or have any respect for America and its power. What a shame it will be when the Taliban raise their flag over the American Embassy in Kabul. This is a complete failure that happened due to weakness, incompetence and complete strategic inconsistency,” the former president added.
Sara Bertoncelj
