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submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — In parts of Afghanistan where there are no street names or house numbers, utility companies and their customers have adopted a creative approach for connecting. They use mosques as drop points for bills and cash, a “pay and pray” system.

Now the national postal service wants to phase this out by putting mailboxes on every street across the country, part of a plan to modernize a service long challenged by bureaucracy and war.

The lofty aspirations include introducing access to shopping via e-commerce sites and issuing debit cards for online purchases. It will be a leap in a country where most of the population is unbanked, air cargo is in its infancy and international courier companies don’t deliver even to the capital, Kabul.

The changes mean Afghans will pay higher service fees, a challenge as more than half the population already relies on humanitarian aid to survive.

The Afghan Post, like much of the country, still does everything on paper. “Nobody uses email,” said its business development director, Zabihullah Omar. “Afghanistan is a member of the Universal Postal Union, but when we compare ourselves to other countries it is at a low level and in the early stages.” . . Post offices in Afghanistan are vital for women wanting to access services or products they would otherwise be denied, since they are often barred from entering ministries or other official premises.

But the spectre of the Taliban’s edicts targeting women and girls also looms at the Afghan Post.

At the entrance to the main Kabul branch, a sign tells women to correctly wear hijab, or the Islamic headscarf. One picture shows a woman with a red cross over her visible face. The other has a green check mark over the face because only her eyes are seen.

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[-] [email protected] 27 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I don't want feel good stories about a country run by literal terrorists.

[-] [email protected] 26 points 1 week ago

Give people hope, information, mobility, and access to the global economy and you have yourself less terrorists

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I don't buy it. The world does not need the people running the show there in any legitimate discourse. They want to run that place, let them as long as nothing leaks out.

I feel sorry for the women there but they where betrayed by their countrymen.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Keep slaves oppressed because slave masters don't deserve credit for loosening the chains?

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

They are NOT loosening the chains. Whatever gives you that idea? Wishful thinking, propaganda, ~~tankiebrain~~? This is just a more optimized wat to exercise control.

But we agree the Taliban are slave masters and they should not be normalized.

So no... None of these nonsense progress stories from a country that exists in the dark ages but with modern weapons.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

No need for personal insults or attacks

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

You are right, sorry. I'm just miffed of all the people seemingly forgetting who were talking about.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago

I do. Regardless of the government, I want better for humanity worldwide, full stop.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

The people there wanted this.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

This does not make it better for them. It just allows a more streamlined process of indoctrination and wholesale opression of women.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Please elaborate on how having an address oppresses women.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Up to now women needed to go to the mosque for their mail and such, so there would be some visibility of these women. In the future their husbands don't even have to let them wander that far, but could literally chain them to the compound.

The mosque provided a potential barrier for outside parties, but by using the postal system as a Trojan horse it allows the Taliban to more tightly control and target individuals remotely.

I can probably think of more.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

a country ran by

*run

'is ran' makes people think you share teeth.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

"Ran" in this context is part of a dialect of English in certain parts of the US. It is spoken that way, on purpose, by native speakers, and is thus perfectly correct.

Saying that it "makes people think you share teeth" shows that you are in fact aware of this cultural distinction and your problem with the usage is not about grammar but about classism, which is also clearly on show with your bigoted description of poor southern US people.

[-] [email protected] -4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You don't know how to use your "native" language, but the other guy is the bad guy. The sad part is that this is probably your only language.

[-] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago

How long till the Taliban forces everyone back into making mosques the center of financial transactions?

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

With the far-right winning elections all over the world, the Taliban are going to feel right at home when they finally get to the 20th century.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Pretty sure it’s the other way around in many nations. The right’s goal is to meet the Taliban in BCE.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

heh, some far right is more progressive than others...some want to go back to 1939, some want to go back to 1775...and some want to to back to 0AD (the new testament is for chumps, I guess, GOP Jesus all the way)

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

When the Taliban raised it's ugly head the Brave Sir Afghan Army bravely fled. Brave brave Sir Afghan Army.

[-] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The lofty aspirations include introducing access to shopping via e-commerce sites and issuing debit cards for online purchases.

It will be a leap in a country where most of the population is unbanked, air cargo is in its infancy and international courier companies don’t deliver even to the capital, Kabul.

Post offices in Afghanistan are vital for women wanting to access services or products they would otherwise be denied, since they are often barred from entering ministries or other official premises.

At the entrance to the main Kabul branch, a sign tells women to correctly wear hijab, or the Islamic headscarf.

She wanted to get her documents certified, a practical measure amid the country’s precarious economic situation and the sweeping restrictions on women and girls.

Hamid Khan Hussain Khel is one of the country’s 400 postmen, zipping around the capital on a motorcycle bearing Afghan Post’s jaunty blue and yellow.


The original article contains 734 words, the summary contains 150 words. Saved 80%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
153 points (96.4% liked)

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