The popular podcast 'The Rest Is Politics' discusses the opinions of Afghans towards the current authoritarian Taliban government from 45.25 to 52.15 in episode 300. In this section, the hosts, Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, discuss Stewart's recent return to Afghanistan and the current state of freedoms, the treatment of women, and security in the state. Stewart describes that some people are angered by the lack of rights of women - "their daughters could not continue in school, and many of them had teenage daughters at home who were very depressed and alienated". Despite this "Afghanistan is much safer than it has been in the last 20 years" because as the Taliban has ascended to power, the group and the former government are not causing harm to the population through violence. Whilst the de-escalation of conflict within the state is the result of the Taliban coming to power, and therefore no longer fighting for such power, this is acutely felt by Afghan people which "makes a huge difference" to daily lives. There has been a reduction in the drug production of the country, it is not as corrupt, and "the Taliban is able to pursue infrastructure projects". Stewart explains this is "why some Afghans feel that the situation has improved" since the Taliban has come into government, despite the regime being authoritarian.
This makes me question the extent to which people within the country feel this authoritarian regime has caused a direct improvement in daily lives, and approval ratings in a geographic context. Would rural individuals be more or less likely than people within the cities to be content with the authoritarian regime?
No comments:
Post a Comment