Afghanistan: the forgotten country

By Linda CarmanPrint Story | Email Story
WILLIAMSTOWN — Afghanistan, where U.S. troops overthrew the repressive Taliban government two years ago, has been so eclipsed by the U.S. invasion of Iraq that it could be termed the forgotten country, according to David B. Edwards, Williams College professor of anthropology. Edwards has just returned from two and a half months in the capital, Kabul, where he was making a documentary film with a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. On Tuesday, he took a break from editing his material to talk about what he found — and some of those findings are troubling. While news reports detail the billions to be spent reconstructing Iraq – and the giant corporations gaining contracts – Afghanistan is strapped, struggling to rebuild with only a trickle of American cash, Edwards said. Unlike international non-governmental organizations, the U.S. government and military are viewed with distrust by ordinary Afghans, he said: Rather than improving the daily lives of ordinary Afghans, Americans have isolated themselves and seem intent on remaining so. “Americans don’t have a good reputation,” Edwards said. “They are not peacekeepers. They are there to kill Taliban, and they’ll tell you so. When you see American military personnel, they’re in a convoy, driving Hummers, wearing black goggles and tearing through the streets.” Speaking in his office, with a map of Afghanistan above his desk and a handmade rug depicting an AK-47, two Soviet tanks and two Soviet helicopters on the floor, Edwards said the American troops haven’t done much better than the Soviets did. “They’ve turned the U.S. embassy into Fort Apache, and its secured areas disrupt traffic even more than it already is,” he said. “Americans are viewed as arrogant. They behave in away that indicates lack of cultural understanding, and Hamid Kharzai [ the country’s interim leader] is viewed as their puppet, not as a forceful leader.” Historically, puppets have not lasted long in Afghanistan, he noted. “Americans have got themselves boxed in,” he said. “The security chiefs are running the show. There’s very little understanding of what’s going on in Afghanistan. They’re so wrapped up in security.” During his visit, however, he said he had little trouble with the Afghan people. “The only time we had any trouble filming was with the Americans,” he said. Edwards had wanted a quick shot of sandbags reinforcing the U.S. embassy, but security officials refused. “They considered it a breach of security,” he said. “Americans take security precautions to absurd levels. The people in charge of security are super cautious because they don’t want to get blamed if anything happens.” He added, “But that attitude undermines the American mission to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. Instead, the Americans have completely isolated themselves from the Afghan people. Edwards was joined in his film-making venture by cameraman Greg Whitmore, a 1998 Williams graduate, and by Afghanistan-born sociologist Maliha Zulfacar, who now teaches at California Polytechnic State University and whose family left their native country in the 1970s at the time of the communist takeover. “We went with no script or set idea,” Edwards said. “As an anthropologist, I’m leery of a script. It blinds you to what you’re actually seeing. We could learn about and follow the stories that seemed most interesting to us. Most funding is not for open-ended projects. Most want scripts, but we had the luxury of doing what we considered important, and we could follow any lead. The difficulty comes when you start to edit, but even that can be a creative process, because you’ve got to find ways to tell the story compellingly.” That approach, he said, would have been much more difficult before recent technological developments. Using 16 mm film, as in the past, would have been prohibitively expensive, he said. “Now we can shoot on digital video that costs $5 or $6 each. We came back with 140 hours of video and 100 hours of audio,” he said. “I’m indexing all the tape.” One of the story his film will tell is that of his longtime friend and colleague Shahmahmood Miakhel, who had been living in exile. “Greg and I filmed him in Washington, D.C., where he was driving a taxi,” Edwards said. “Now he has an important post in the Ministry of the Interior.” As senior adviser to the minister, Miakhel is closely involved in counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism measures, as well as the disarmament of feuding warlords, Edwards said. Miakhel is an important player in the rebuilding of a major ministry, he said. “A lot of issues come to him.” Miakhel, along with Edwards, spearheaded the creation of the Afghan archive at Williams, which was the topic of an Advocate story in the summer of 2001. His friend, said Edwards, has not let his changed circumstances go to his head, “even though now he’s surrounded by bodyguards.” The hitch, Edwards added, is that although Miakhel’s modest salary is supposed to be paid by the United Nations, “he has yet to be paid, and his family back in Washington is struggling.” “But he believes in what he’s doing,” Edwards said. “He believes there’s a limited window of opportunity for this experiment in government to succeed. It’s the chance for his generation, and he’s excited and happy to be part of the process, despite personal hardships.” Another segment of the film captured a seminar of women in leadership sponsored by the World Bank. “They’re a very dynamic group of women, outspoken, opinionated, energetic, some of them working for NGOs [non-governmental organizations],” Edwards said. “One woman told of her difficulties convincing her father to let her go to university. She always had to leave promptly in order to be home at 4 p.m. Most of the time now, it’s not what the government decrees but what the neighbors think and neighbors talk. Really, it’s more public opinion that inhibits the activities of women.” Under the Taliban regime, it was the Bureau for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue that served as the official watchdog against what the cleric-dominated, Muslim fundamentalist government frowned upon as Western-influenced corruption and loose morals. Much was written about the oppressed condition of women under the Taliban regime. But, said Edwards, “the reality is that the situation of women has not changed much. To see this as a failure of government is too simplistic. The government can build schools and staff them, but attitudes are deeply ingrained.” The situation of women “has been one of the flashpoints” in that traditional society,” he said. After the Marxist revolution in 1978, the perception was that the government was decadent and would impose its morals on the country, Edwards said. “Governments, if they want to stay in power, have to tread lightly,” he said. “Women have found ways to operate within the system by bending the rules. He recalled the example of a young woman, a Shia who had spent most of her life in Iran, a country where women’s lives are far less circumscribed – and who brought her brother along to an evening discussion group as, essentially, her safe conduct pass. In Kabul, Edwards stayed in a building rented by the American Institute of Afghan Studies, an organization of which he is a board member. An adjacent building, part of the complex, had been used as a prison by the Taliban’s morality police, and bore the carved names of former prisoners. “I remember going into one room and feeling my spine go cold,” Edwards said. He learned from a former prisoner that that room had been a holding cell. One of the trees still had tape dangling from its branches, flung by the Taliban as a warning to those who dared listen to Western music. “The Taliban has its supporters,” Edwards said. “It’s hard to know how many.” While kidnappings and school burnings had been centered around the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, now they have occurred within 50 miles of Kabul. “It’s hard to know of those are with or without the support of the people,” Edwards said. The loya jirga, which just this past weekend completed approving a constitution, illustrated “the very strong ethnic divide in the country,” he said. But, he added, some attitudes that are considered ideological and Taliban-influenced are, in fact, motivated by a desire for Pushtun primacy, since that tribe was dominant in the Taliban regime. A prime concern of Afghans now is security, he said. “Afghans are not as concerned with drugs as they are with crime. They are worried about the police, who are so poorly paid they can be easily bought.” Edwards noted that in February 2002, at a donors conference in Tokyo, $4.5 billion was promised, most of which has gone to non-governmental organizations. The country is desperate for funds, he said, noting that the police guarding the Dutch embassy across the street from his quarters had not been paid in three months. “There’s no infrastructure,” he said. “Iraq happened and distracted the Americans from Afghanistan.” And most American money has gone toward building the embassy and Agency for International Development (AID) complex, and “very little into helping this government actually stand on its own two feet,” he added. “The roads are full of potholes, and the electricity is on only from 5:30 or 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. There’s no sewage, and the pollution is terrible. The infrastructure is overtaxed beyond its limits,” he said. “But Kabul is an exciting, interesting dynamic city, and I’m amazed by the resiliency of the people, who are hospitable, generous and open.” He said the country needs to gear up for presidential elections in June, and parliamentary elections the following December, but voter registration “is not going well.” There are sections of the country, such as around Kandahar, that may be too dangerous, he said. “The challenges are only beginning.”
Share
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Dalton Announces New Supplier for Energy Program

DALTON, Mass. – The Town of Dalton has signed a thirty-four month contract with a new supplier, First Point Power.
 
Beginning with the January 2026 meter reads, the Dalton Community Choice Power Supply Program will have a new rate of $0.13042 per kWh. The Program will also continue to offer an optional 100 percent green product, which is derived from National Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), at a rate of $0.13142 per kWh.
 
For Dalton residents and businesses who are enrolled in the Town's Program, the current rate of $0.13849 per kWh will expire with the January 2026 meter reads and the new rate of $0.13042 per kWh will take effect. This represents a decrease of $5 per month on the supply side of the bill given average usage of 600 kWh. Additionally, this new rate is 3 percent lower than Eversource's Residential Basic Service rate of $0.13493 per kWh. Residents can expect to see an
average savings of $3 per month for the month of January 2026. Eversource's Basic Service rates
will change on Feb. 1, 2026.
 
Dalton launched its electricity program in January 2015 in an effort to develop an energy program that would be stable and affordable. From inception through June 2025, the Program has saved residents and small businesses over $1.7 million in electricity costs as compared to Eversource Basic Service.
 
It is important to note that no action is required by current participants. This change will be seen on the February 2026 bills. All accounts currently enrolled in the Program will remain with their current product offering and see the new rate and First Point Power printed under the "Supplier Services" section of their monthly bill.
 
The Dalton Community Choice Power Supply Program has no fees or charges. However, anyone switching from a contract with a third-party supplier may be subject to penalties or early termination fees charged by that supplier. Ratepayers should verify terms before switching.
 
View Full Story

More Stories

Sports
image description

Lee Executes Game Plan to Perfection in Quarter-Final Win

Sports
Sports
image description

Lenox Volleyball Reaches State's Final Four

Sports
Sports
image description

Mount Greylock Boys Win 3rd Straight Regional Crown

Sports
Sports
image description

Mount Greylock Girls Again Top Monson in Western Mass Final

Sports
Sports
image description

Lenox Sweeps Its Way to Western Mass Crown

Sports
Community News
image description

North Adams License Commission Sees Little Need for License...

Community News
Latest Stories
Previous Next

What's Trending?