Miniskirts and Military Intervention: Behind the 1970s Kabul Photo That Swayed Trump

By
Shumita Basu
WNYC News | Aug 24, 2017

President Trump has announced his decision to remain in Afghanistan and increase U.S. troop levels there, continuing the 16-year-long conflict.

And what helped shape his decision, according to The Washington Post and several other sources, was a black and white photograph from Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1970s.

 

NYU Associate Professor Arang Keshavarzian provides context for that image. He also talks about why the argument for "women's liberation" is so appealing to people of different political and social stripes, but also why it's a problematic means of justifying military intervention that we've seen used in U.S. history many, many times.

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Shumita Basu

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