George W Bush fears for Afghan women

Even George Bush is now speaking about his fears for Afghanistan, especially for Afghan women whose lives have been transformed after the defeat of the Taliban regime in 2001. The former president was the leader who put US troops into Afghanistan in the first place and then took his eye off the Kabul ball when he became more focused on Iraq and Saddam Hussein, only to start rushing more troops into Afghanistan when it all went bad. Now he has said in an interview with a German news network that he thinks the "brutal" Taliban will go around slaughtering the women. For the former president whose name is so intertwined with war to come out and express his fears it should have real political impact. George Bush has been pretty quiet since finishing his eight years in the White House but clearly felt it was the right time to voice his concerns about the Afghan women in particular. But as far as I know there is nothing in the four-part new US mission in Afghanistan that spells out how the Pentagon or State Department would react/act if it looked like the Taliban were going to do what George Bush fears they might do - murder as many women as possible. Will US special forces located somewhere in the Gulf region be flown in to protect the women? I very much doubt it for the obvious reason that they would have to stay for ever to keep the women safe from the wrath of the Taliban who hate women being in the public eye, doing things they believe only men should do. Will the Pentagon bomb the Taliban to stop or deter them from slaughtering Afghan women? Well, hardly, that would be pointless, unless the Taliban chiefs get scared of the bombers looming over the horizon. They haven't been scared so far in 20 years. What else could the US do if Afghan women are brutally targeted? I fear the answer is: nothing. So George Bush is right to put his concerns into the public arena.