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In this Tweet, Andrew's inquiry led me to reflect.
During my time in the Taliban, I wondered how the issue of tribal interplay will be solved.
I will provide a basic synapsis & some thoughts & examples.
In some remote areas of Afghanistan, tribal dictum is seen as axiomatic in family matters, irrespective if Taliban (TB) exist.
In some rural villages, not all tribal elders are pro-TB & some are pro-Kabul Regime (KR). (recall the son who is TB & father KR)
It may be that the TB presence is reflected by 2-3 men in the entire village.
Though the TB do sustain control, in some cases, due to the cultural context, they wont override an elder's position. Why?
Here's an example. Suppose Bobzai is a tribal elder
Bobzai has 2 daughters & a son. Now the son could be a TB, yet Bobzai himself adheres to Pashtunwali.
Though the TB maintain control over the area, if Bobzai orders his son that I don't want my daughters to leave the home,
the son won't likely challenge the position of his father due to Pashtunwali.
Although, Islamically, the son is correct that his sisters should be allowed in school.
Yet, in this case, culturally, to save "face", the son may keep the dispute hidden.
During my time in the Taliban, I wondered how the issue of tribal interplay will be solved.
I will provide a basic synapsis & some thoughts & examples.
Taliban often try to score political points by claiming they're not against women's education; that it's "the people" who don't want it. Why does a group that imposes its rule need "the people's" approval for anything?
— Andrew Quilty (@andrewquilty) December 30, 2020
In some remote areas of Afghanistan, tribal dictum is seen as axiomatic in family matters, irrespective if Taliban (TB) exist.
In some rural villages, not all tribal elders are pro-TB & some are pro-Kabul Regime (KR). (recall the son who is TB & father KR)
It may be that the TB presence is reflected by 2-3 men in the entire village.
Though the TB do sustain control, in some cases, due to the cultural context, they wont override an elder's position. Why?
Here's an example. Suppose Bobzai is a tribal elder
Bobzai has 2 daughters & a son. Now the son could be a TB, yet Bobzai himself adheres to Pashtunwali.
Though the TB maintain control over the area, if Bobzai orders his son that I don't want my daughters to leave the home,
the son won't likely challenge the position of his father due to Pashtunwali.
Although, Islamically, the son is correct that his sisters should be allowed in school.
Yet, in this case, culturally, to save "face", the son may keep the dispute hidden.
It’s grim - to start a new year, tweeting about the pandemic. But here we are.
I’ve spent the past months coming to terms with the fact that most of my neighbors - & a huge swath of America - know of Covid’s lethality, & simply do not care.
They know it’s a very real threat.../1
2/...to their health/lives, & to the health/lives of others. And they do not care.
They don’t.
They care about their wants. Their level of enjoyment of the moment. That’s what they care about.
Not whether they’re sick or dead.
Or whether their loved ones are sick or dead.
3/ It’s nihilism. And it has taken root in our society.
We must grasp this, so that we can stop expending energy trying to get them to care.
They won’t.
They don’t.
I’ll share just one example, from within my own circle.
My daughter is an equestrian. Quite good, actually...
4/ And we had to stop her training at the barn she’s always known due to their lack of vigilance with Covid (she’s at a different barn now). But she’ll still mask up & go visit the horses she trained & loves.
Just before Christmas, we brought peppermints to the horses...
5/...& ran into her old trainer. A lovely young woman, who can not grasp why we are no longer at the barn - despite how well we’ve known each other (for years now).
She knows our reason, she believes Covid is real, yet - doesn’t understand why we’re reacting the way we have.
I’ve spent the past months coming to terms with the fact that most of my neighbors - & a huge swath of America - know of Covid’s lethality, & simply do not care.
They know it’s a very real threat.../1
The sound of sirens is near-constant in parts of LA.
— Soumya (@skarlamangla) January 1, 2021
But when 911 patients make it to the hospital, they've had to wait up to 8 hours for care, because hospitals are so overwhelmed. "We are in the midst of a disaster," said the head of LA's EMS agency. https://t.co/jXgMUug3H4
2/...to their health/lives, & to the health/lives of others. And they do not care.
They don’t.
They care about their wants. Their level of enjoyment of the moment. That’s what they care about.
Not whether they’re sick or dead.
Or whether their loved ones are sick or dead.
3/ It’s nihilism. And it has taken root in our society.
We must grasp this, so that we can stop expending energy trying to get them to care.
They won’t.
They don’t.
I’ll share just one example, from within my own circle.
My daughter is an equestrian. Quite good, actually...
4/ And we had to stop her training at the barn she’s always known due to their lack of vigilance with Covid (she’s at a different barn now). But she’ll still mask up & go visit the horses she trained & loves.
Just before Christmas, we brought peppermints to the horses...
5/...& ran into her old trainer. A lovely young woman, who can not grasp why we are no longer at the barn - despite how well we’ve known each other (for years now).
She knows our reason, she believes Covid is real, yet - doesn’t understand why we’re reacting the way we have.
Time to act: thread on why we need to close schools, borders, and ban all household mixing RIGHT AWAY.
To those arguing winter is always like this in the NHS: you are wrong. I faced four serious winter crises as Health Sec and the situation now is off-the-scale worse than any of those.
It’s true that we often had to cancel elective care in Jan to protect emergency care but that too is under severe pressure with record trolley waits for the very sickest patients
Even more worryingly fewer heart attack patients appear to be presenting in ICUs, perhaps because they are not dialling 999 when they need
Full credit to NHS for keeping cancer services open but in Wave 1 there was still a 2/3 drop in cancer appts: people didn’t come forward to GPs or want to go to hospitals, with many potentially avoidable cancer deaths. We hoped to avoid that this time but now looking unlikely.
To those arguing winter is always like this in the NHS: you are wrong. I faced four serious winter crises as Health Sec and the situation now is off-the-scale worse than any of those.
It’s true that we often had to cancel elective care in Jan to protect emergency care but that too is under severe pressure with record trolley waits for the very sickest patients
Exclusive: Leaks reveal record waits for emergency care due to covid pressures https://t.co/CrxYPUJG7v
— Health Service Journal (@HSJnews) January 4, 2021
Even more worryingly fewer heart attack patients appear to be presenting in ICUs, perhaps because they are not dialling 999 when they need
Full credit to NHS for keeping cancer services open but in Wave 1 there was still a 2/3 drop in cancer appts: people didn’t come forward to GPs or want to go to hospitals, with many potentially avoidable cancer deaths. We hoped to avoid that this time but now looking unlikely.