American and NATO forces have been fighting in Afghanistan for ten years in order to help create a democratic government which respects the rights of women. A fifteen year old girl in Afghanistan, Sahar Gul, was given by her parents to a soldier and his family who decided the best treatment for her was to become a prostitute. They beat the girl and she finally ran away and talked with a community leader. She told him “if you are a Muslim, you must tell the government what is happening to me.”
Unfortunately, he returned to traditional ways of handling such disputes and the girl was sent back to her husband. More beatings, starvation and humiliation became her norm to finally local authorities stepped in. The “traditional ways” of resolving disputes are the same for average people in Afghanistan as they are for the Taliban. In simple words, regardless of who “wins” in Afghanistan, the old ways will win.