Over There

“Violence Against Women Is the Foreigners’ Fault”

What happens to Afghan women when the U.S. military pulls out?

Slate has partnered with Brooklyn Brewery and RISC to bring its hit war correspondent interview series to our readers. In this special sixth installment, Sebastian Junger—founder of RISC, and a best-selling author and journalist—sits down with Elliott Ackerman (author, Green on Blue), Jennifer Percy (author, Demon Camp), and Peter van Agtmael (photojournalist and author, Disco Night Sept. 11).

“You don’t want the United States to be at war in a country, in Afghanistan, but you also sort of understand if we pull out, human rights might plummet,” says Sebastian Junger, in the clip above, on the liberal conundrum that is military intervention in Afghanistan. “What are we supposed to hope for? Are we supposed to hope that we stay, or not stay?” In response, Jennifer Percy, recalling her time in the country, reflects on the role that American involvement has had on women’s rights—or the lack thereof—in the region. “There’s a tightrope walk there,” she says, on whether U.S. involvement helps or hurts Afghan women, but “once foreign funding pulls out, it doesn’t look good.”