There’s a strange habit in the media of recounting long-established facts about non-progressives as if they are distant and surprising reports. Did you hear? The pope is against abortion. Like really against it. As if the normal expectation is that everyone is, in their own way, catching up to the current view and the surprise is that they haven’t gotten there yet.
But for some reason, I find this habit especially funny when it comes to the Taliban:
BREAKING: The Taliban announce a list of deputy ministers, failing to appoint any women, doubling down on an all-male, all-Taliban government in Afghanistan. https://t.co/i5g8TjdKvJ
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 21, 2021
It’s an enjoyably blithering parochial view of the world. Oh, so the Pashtun warriors who defend a pre-medieval culture of kin-marriage tribalism with Islamic pieties are “doubling down” on all-male government now, huh? You’d expect them to catch up with the times right? Can’t the Kabul newspapers help matters? Perhaps do some long features on trans Taliban fighters?