Sadly, in addition to being known as the world?s leading opium producer, Afghanistan is also known as the world’s capital of widows.
“There are two million war widows in Afghanistan, and their plight is easy to forget in Hamid Karzai’s capital, where Western-style shopping malls, bars and French restaurants are opening up for wealthy foreign aid workers and Afghan expatriates.”
“Kabul, it is said, is the widows’ capital of the world. As many as 50,000 women … live in the city, and many make their home in the abandoned buildings that dot the suburbs, often living in horrific conditions. In a nation with a fractured infrastructure and, at £125 a year, one of the lowest per-capita incomes in the world, many widows are left without relatives able to take them in or offer even modest financial support.”
Comfort for ex-pats and foreigners is dandy, but when assistance is readily available by the Afghan government for those who struggle day-to-day, success can only then begin to be measured.