Book review: ‘The Underground Girls of Kabul,’ by Jenny Nordberg --- Since the U.S. entry into Afghanistan in 2001, the idea of “saving” Afghan women has been used by politicians and the media as a justification for war. Invoking images of women brutalized by the Taliban, commentators and pundits have argued that one byproduct of international involvement would be a safer world for the women of this war-torn country. -- Thirteen years into the conflict, Swedish journalist Jenny Nordberg has produced a striking and nuanced work that explores the current status of Afghan women through one of their subcultures. “The Underground Girls of Kabul” does not seek out the stereotypically oppressed, burka-clad woman in need of a savior, but rather shows Afghan women as active agents navigating a culture that often disadvantages them and making the most of their limited options for freedom and autonomy. ---- Nordberg is critical of international aid organizations’ hubris in purporting to be able to solve Afghanistan’s problems. If Afghanistan has been known as “the Graveyard of Empires,” she suggests, “in our time, it may also be called ‘the Playground of Foreign Aid Experimentation.’­ ” From 2006 to 2011, development aid from countries and multilateral organizations amounted to more than $30 billion, with limited results, much of the funds fueling “mismanagement and corruption.” In a single year, there were more than 700 projects dedicated to girls and women, yet these focused predominantly on women in urban areas, with barely measurable results that are likely to be reversed in the event of a Taliban return to power. Supposedly successful initiatives in education boast impressive numbers of students registered, but “half of Afghanistan’s newly created schools have no actual buildings, many lack teachers, most students never graduate, and one-fifth of the registered students are permanently absent.” - Read More, Rachel Newcomb is an associate professor of anthropology, Washingtonpost