"Objectifying The Pakhtun"

Farhat Taj criticizes a ridiculous trend in commentary about Afghanistan, especially the sorts of caricatures of the great Pashtun people that Canadians are also routinely forced to read in their newspapers (sometimes, you'd think you were reading Rudyard Kipling). The Pashtun (Pakhtun) of the Northwest Frontier Province are not "highly-religious tribesmen" who sit around all day brooding about the offences to Islam attributed to King Richard II all those centuries ago. Furthermore: "They are sick and tired of the Taliban. The Taliban have killed
innocent people--men, women, children--they have destroyed the
educational institutions in the area, devastated businesses and
shattered the peace there. The Taliban even exhume and humiliate the
dead bodies."