I’m fascinated by “bandit queens.” You may have heard of India’s famous Bandit Queen, Phoolan Devi. (A movie has been made of her life – it was well done, but difficult to watch. And Phoolan Devi herself sought to have it banned as inaccurate.) We featured a previous post on the women warriors of Darfur.
Amid the brooding mountains on the borders of Baghlan province, Afghanistan’s only female warlord clings to her remote fiefdom.
But the years are catching up with Kaftar, “The Pigeon”, as Bibi Ayesha is known, and the Afghan government and its international backers want her to hand in her guns.
“My eyes have become misty,” says Kaftar, complaining that she can no longer shoot straight.
But she has lost none of the enthusiasm for violence that fed her reputation for cruelty during Afghanistan’s wars.
“I am still wishing for a fight,” she said, dismissing any notion that women’s roles in Afghan society would preclude front-line battle service.
“It makes no difference if you are a man or a woman when you have the heart of a fighter.”
BBC NEWS | South Asia | Afghanistan’s feared woman warlord
I called most of this chaos years ago. America is still unraveling — and the next chapters are already written.
If you want to understand what’s really coming (and why), read Not My America: A Stranger in a Strange Land. Available on Amazon.
CD Damitio writes at indignified.substack.com — essays on utopias, dystopias, and the spaces between. Free to read. No algorithm, no sponsored content. His books can be found on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/stores/CD-Damitio/author/B001JP7NWA
CD Damitio writes INDIGNIFIED — utopias and dystopias explored. Free to read.
