Picture this Afghanistan, President Trump

We don't know for sure but the Washington Post reports that this was the photograph that made US President Donald Trump change his war mind on Afghanistan. National Security Advisor H. R McMaster showed the picture from 1970s Afghanistan to his boss and managed to convince him that it would be in the war-riven country's best interests for US troops to stay on and fight. Trump was careful not to spell out his new strategy but observers say there could be a troop surge from the current 8,400.

"My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts," Trump said on Monday night. "But all my life, I have heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office."

The black-and-white snapshot from 1972 shows Afghan women in miniskirts walking through Kabul. McMaster told the president that "Western norms had existed there before and could return," the Washington Post reported.

As early as 1919 Afghan women were given the right to vote. Reforms were rolled out and women made strides in all fields under successive liberal administrations. That ended after the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the advent of the Taleban who turned the clock back and denied them basic rights.

Source: Khaleej Times