The historic events that have led to the present day rule of the dogmatic Taliban appear as largely having occurred in the past thirty years. At the risk of terribly simplifying things, one could draw following chain of events. A Soviet-friendly regime that starkly alienates traditional tribal leaders is falters, the USSR steps in and goes to war to perpetuate the rule of the unloved regime. The conflict almost immediately becomes a proxy war between the USSR and the USA, paying no attention to local political aspirations. Eventually the USSR retreats from often coined as the Soviet “Vietnam”, the puppet regime left behind collapses and power struggles quickly ensue. The now warring local factions, propped up by years of Western military assistance settle their own scores and fail to find national reconciliation. A radical group of then young and fervent Islamic students, the Taliban succeed to oust the tribal factions struggling for power. The Taliban install a non-compromising theocratic system of governance, strictly opposed to Western influences. They impose their rule upon the population they control without tolerance for non-conforming views, traditions or values. The war continues as the defeated tribal factions reorganize and continue to challenge Taliban rule. Large numbers of Afghan remain as refugees mainly in Iran and Pakistan, many attempt to seek refuge further away, preferably in the West. The quarrel over who should accept the shipwrecked Afghan refugees off the shores of Australia has led to an international stir put renewed media spotlights on the situation in Afghanistan. Getting people out of the region has turned into a profitable escape business, the refugee’s odyssey hard to describe in words, perhaps best as expressed by a refugee woman herself: “If you knew, you would cry”.
