Magazine "Time", August 9th, 2010, on it's front cover:
Where did it go wrong, that this planet harbors human creatures that find it in themselves to be able to do this to fellow humans ? 18-year old Aisha's nose and (not visible) both ears were cut off by her brother-in-law on instruction of a Taliban commander, for she had dared to run away from the house of her husband, where she was often beaten and maltreated by her in-laws and so she had to serve as example, lest other girls in the village where she lived would be inspired to do the same. She was left behind on a hilltop to die, choking in her own blood. For some reason, she survived.
"Time"'s headline going with this coverphoto (taken by Jodi Bieber) is saying "What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan". The statement is, if not entirely, then at least fundamentally irrelevant: Aisha's nose was cut WHILE we (read: the coalition troops) were there. And we couldn't prevent it. Not that it matters. Had we not been there, Aisha's nose would still have been cut. For there's "people" out there who gave up halfway on the human path of civilisation. They dropped out of class, teamed up with some more drop-outs, named themselves -oh, supreme irony- "Students" - Taliban- and started to spread the sort of teachings that would have made any Neanderthal man run away in disgust: "You run, I cut your ears and nose off". You can tell me about any historic condition, about any macro- or micro-economic context, about the support this gang received from the West as opposing force to the Russians: you can tell me all that as the underlying reason why the Taliban became the Taliban of today, and I still won't feel a single pang of pity or compassion for the monsters that are capable of committing this sort of senseless cruelty, all in the name of religion.
Yet, the most relevant part in that picture is not in the nose that is missing, is not in the cruelty it exposes, for there can be found numerous of that kind of pictures. The Taliban have not particularly been lacking in leaving a trace of human destruction and defamation. The relevance is in the existence of the picture itself and the way in which it was taken. Notice that this picture is not taken in a hospital, or in some backroom of a dilapidated building where one is hiding: Aisha has actually been posing for this picture and by doing so, has made one of the strongest, silent accusations that will send shockwaves through the world, but also, more importantly, will send a message to the Taliban that one day people will stand up against this atrocious caricature they've made of islam and will tolerate no more. That day, Aisha is saying in this picture, is coming closer and it won't matter whether we are there or not. Afghanistan is no longer separated from the rest of the world, Afghans are aware that the world outside is moving on, beyond this sort of animalistic behavior, and the day will come when they, and especially the women, will say the word: "Enough !" ... or send a Tweet.
Pictures have been known to be changing the course of history, such as the one from Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the girl that ran towards the lens of Nick Ut from Associated Press, after she had been burned by napalm in Vietnam. Or the footage from "Tankman" on Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard. (In 2006, I wrote an article, "Image-ine" about those two examples on my other, China-related blog "The Crazy Insect"). They changed the perception of how the public thought about the war or conflict they were trapped in and maybe ensured that next time things will take a different course. Aisha's picture on the cover of "Time" may be joining the ranks of those pictures that clearly represented a challenge to the "business-as-usual" sort of strategy continued by those in power. The courage to do so, to have her picture taken in the way she did, is the real story and "we" have very little to do with it.
Sincerely Yours.
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