…The values of another culture, whether they seem to us medieval or primitive, cannot be changed by imparting our own values to it. We may sustain for a while but the essence of that culture would take over society sooner or later. Afghanistan and Iraq are the best examples in this regard….
When I hear all about the US army withdrawal after twenty years of conflict in Afghanistan, and the civil war that is about to erupt and leave Afghan society in disarray once again, I can’t stop thinking that perhaps the age-old “war between good and evil” is actually the war between old and new. A war in which one group insists on going back to some point in history and call it the origin of their enlightened reality, and the other comparatively more secular one which may not necessarily want to leave that origin behind but is ready to embrace secular values.
Imran Omer 