Images of oppression

For the last three decades, Afghanistan has suffered under foreign occupation forces and internal fundamentalist groups. Approximately six million Afghans migrated to the neighboring countries – Pakistan and Iran – after the conflict commenced in the late 1970s that disrupted the basic fabric of the Afghan society. Even today, after 30 years of ceaseless war among internal groups and external forces, the Afghan society is in total chaos with high levels of unemployment, homelessness, and anarchy. The military occupation of Afghanistan in the recent decade following 2001 and the previous Taliban control for nearly five years has left Afghan social structure in complete disarray. The social and political problems emanating from Afghan society affect not only the region but also other parts of the world. Beyond doubt, Afghan people have suffered tremendously, but the most affected segment of the society is the women. Their plight goes largely unnoticed in global media, which focuses on the coverage of conflict and diplomacy most often conducted by powerful men. National and international media intermittently focus on Afghan women living in large cities under the control of Afghan official security agencies backed by an international coalition force; however, local or international journalists rarely approach women living in the rural areas, which constitute the bulk of Afghan territory. The paltry coverage, if ever, offered to the Afghan women is strategically used to advance foreign policy agendas by demeaning and dehumanizing the ‘enemy’ by employing stereotypes that lack an understanding of the Afghan culture and one divorced from reality.