If you’re wondering what the West is doing in Afghanistan, you are not alone!

Oh yea, I know all about the poverty, the corrupt government, the religion, the tribalism and the general ignorance of the rural population, but none of that is an excuse for us to be there, because nothin’ is gonna change, bunky!

Outside of some of the urban areas the whole country is still living in the year 1176 and there is nothing we can do about it.

These tribes don’t want to change and no amount of effort on our part is going to make a difference!

Uh, uh!

Sure we can say it’s the “Taliban” and “Wahhabi’s” that are to blame but the problem goes deeper than that and perhaps this will help you realize what we are up against.

A young couple have been executed for trying to elope, by being shot with AK-47s by a Taliban firing squad in front of a crowd, it emerged yesterday.

The woman, Gul Pecha, 19, and the man, Abdul Aziz, 21, had been accused by the militants in south-western Afghanistan of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided they should be killed on Monday, officials said.

Miss Pecha was said to be an ethnic Pashtun and a member of the Sunni sect of Islam, while Mr Aziz was from the Shia sect.

Well, at least we now know why they bailed!

One was Shia and the other was Sunni.

And you used to think we had a problem when a catholic and a protestant married! Hah!

Now here comes the part with the reason we will never win over there!

Sadiq Chakhansori, the chief of Nimroz’s provincial council, said that the pair attempted to flee to Iran, where several million Afghan refugees take up low-paid jobs.

However, their families were reported to have dispatched gunmen to pursue them, said Mr Chakhansori, and they were caught.

Reports differ over whether the families turned them over to local Taliban voluntarily or the Taliban took them by force.

“Three Taliban mullahs brought them to the local mosque and they passed a fatwa that they must be killed.

They were shot and killed in front of the mosque in public,” the governor said.

Elopements are regarded as deeply damaging to family honour across Afghan society and murders of women by male relatives are frequently reported.

In this instance it is not clear whether the families were complicit in the murders.

Even in government-held areas killings in which there is a clear honour motive are rarely investigated.
That’s right kids, they were turned in by Mommy and Daddy!

Try as you might folks, ya can’t help those that don’t wanna be helped!

Allan W Janssen