In Afghanistan, anthropologist Thomas Barfield has observed, centuries can merge as decades do in other countries — the past isn't even the past yet there. The history of contemporary Afghanistan is complicated, yet the last 150 years bear directly on why civil society in Afghanistan is in the same perilous state as its maternal and child health.
The British fought two wars against the Afghans in the 19th century, in an attempt to block the expansion of Czarist Russia's sphere of influence towards British India, the jewel in the crown. The Afghans won, but were then bankrolled by British India. This is a centuries old weakness of the Afghan state: its dependence on outside aid to ensure financial stability.
The arrival of Western powers in Central Asia began to change Afghan political dynamics. During the Anglo-Afghan wars elites engaged rural militias in rebellions against the British, but refused to share power with them after the British were defeated.
Over subsequent decades the refusal of the ruling elites to even consider that ordinary people should have a say in how their country was run, and the brutal suppression of numerous revolts by the new emir, Abdur Rahman, eventually undermined his successors and led to a civil war in 1929.
The establishment of a parliamentary system in 1964 ostensibly widened political participation. However, Zahir Shah, the last king of Afghanistan, refused to give up any executive authority. His cousin, Daud, ousted him in a republican coup in 1973. Five years later Daud was killed in a communist coup — ending 230 yeas of dynastic rule.
But the question of what was to replace the dynasty, who had the right to rule and on what basis, was unresolved even when the Russians withdrew in 1989 and its local regime fell in 1992.
The West supported the mujahideen's resistance to the Russians but victory quickly deteriorated into a civil war which destroyed the state structure and engulfed a huge number of ordinary Afghans in political battles from which they had previously been separate.
Enter the Taliban. Within half a lifetime Afghans had experienced ideological extremes in government. And the country was broke.
The so-called war on terror drew the US and the West into Afghanistan — now the US is leaving. At the first hint of serious negotiations with the Taliban this year US lobbyists and some Afghan women asked: what will happen to women if the Taliban return?
Things are already dire for women and it is fanciful to believe the old Tajik or Uzbek mujahideen leadership did not share the same views of women's place as old Pashtun leaders. Many in government have simply learned to moderate their public expressions.
Australian media last week followed the story of a young Afghan woman behind bars for having been raped by a cousin's husband. She has a choice: marry him or spend 12 years in jail with the child she gave birth to following the rape.
A Ministry of Women's Affairs official told a recent United Nations workshop that half of the country's 476 female prisoners were in jail for 'moral crimes'. These include running away from home, refusing to marry, and marrying without family consent.
However horrific these crimes against women are, the culture that allows them may be slow to change. The protection of women's 'virtue' is fundamental to a family's reputation. Thirty five years of conflict have put a premium on that 'virtue'.
Some Afghans still express exasperation at how ex-mujihadeen warlords implicated in mass killings during the civil war are able to sit in the parliament. The West accepted the deals done to balance competing ethnic and regional interests and to deal with their arguable fear of state disintegration, while simultaneously rolling out Western-style democracy.
Pragmatists argue that Afghanistan would have been a less stable place if these interests had not been accommodated in the revised political order. However, old warlords die and it is unclear whether a recent spate of political assassinations, including that of former President Rabbani, were really perpetrated by the Afghan Taliban or by other political players.
In the meantime various groups are quietly re-arming ahead of the US withdrawal in 2014.
Will there be a civil war when the Americans leave? Some foreigners believe Afghans are weary and wary of more war. Others are convinced further conflict is on the cards, or at least more insecurity. Pakistan is clearly crucial to Afghanistan's future security. Pakistan's anxiety about being surrounded by enemies, particularly India, means it will always try to institute a compliant government in Kabul.
The short window of foreign donor aid has also put a premium on quick grabs for the benefits. And it starts near the top, with President Karzai's recently assassinated half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai.
There are now legendary stories of money grabs from the Kabul Bank which were then invested in Dubai properties, just before the last financial crisis sent prices south. The money 'lent' has disappeared, as has the bank's former governor, Abdul Qadir Fitrat, who is now in the US. Like many moneyed Afghans he had ensured his US permanent resident status well in advance of any trouble.
Corruption, otherwise known as administrative fees, is endemic in most areas of ordinary Afghan life, to the distress of many Afghans.
Jan Forrester is back in Australia after working in Afghanistan for much of the last four years.