[orthodoc]

I would hardly say the US has been 'in charge', and I do think the Taliban will return to power. The faint promise of some education and a safer, less enslaved life will now disappear for these women, but that issue is not on the minds or agendas of the West; we're now occupied with Syria and its implications. The efforts of the Islamic Emirate to achieve its 'just, secure, independent' state and hegemony will, however, include as a given the abasement and abuse of half its adult population. We'll be so glad to be out of Afghanistan that we'll shut our eyes and ears to that situation, and negotiate with these monsters as though they were worthy of respect.