Can a Few Development Projects Be Enough to Evaluate a Government?
Today, during a discussion, a respected friend G Farouq Sharif asked me: If the Taliban have brought security, are rebuilding cities, fighting drugs, and moving forward with the Qosh Tepa project, why do you connect these achievements with the closure of girls’ schools? He also spoke about millions of acres of land being brought under cultivation and two million farmers and workers being put to work.
I believe this discussion deserves to go beyond a single Facebook comment.
First, if you support the Taliban, I have no problem with that. It is your right to support any government or group you choose, just as it is my right, and the right of every other citizen, to criticize and evaluate the performance of that government.
But when we publicly speak about millions of acres of cultivated land, two million farmers and workers, development, security, and major economic achievements, people have the right to ask: What is the source of these figures?
I am asking for official statistics and documentation, not verbal claims.
Please explain to me and to the readers: How much land has actually been brought under cultivation? What official statistics support the claim that two million farmers and workers have been put to work? How many permanent jobs have been created? Which official institution has published these figures?
If these figures are accurate, I have no problem accepting them. Good work should be recognized as good work.
But the strangest thing for me is that today some educated people seem to believe that when we talk about roads, canals, and development, the closure of schools and universities to girls is somehow a separate issue that should not be considered when evaluating a government.
Why?
Is the responsibility of a government limited to building roads and canals?
Afghanistan needs roads and schools. It needs security and freedom. It needs agriculture and universities. It needs jobs and equal rights for its citizens.
If the Taliban build roads, we should say that is good. If a project genuinely creates jobs and improves people’s lives, we should recognize that as well. But none of these things can justify depriving girls of education.
Building roads is the responsibility of a government. It is not a favor in exchange for which the right to education of half the population should be sacrificed.
A road can be built tomorrow. A canal can be completed later. But who can give a girl back the years of her life that have been taken away from her?
The development of a country is not only about paving roads and building canals. It is also about developing its people. If our buildings and roads become new while an entire generation of our girls is deprived of education, can we really call that progress?
I am not trying to deny any good work done by the Taliban, nor am I asking anyone to stop supporting them because of my opinion. My point is very simple: We should evaluate everything by the same standard. We should call good work good, call wrongdoing wrong, and demand facts and documentation when major claims are made.
The people have a right to know.
Supporting a government is your right. Criticizing it is mine. But facts should be supported by evidence and statistics, not slogans and verbal claims.
Noor Wodjouatt
