I heard the mother of soldier who died in Afghanistan on the radio today. She was clearly well educated and might have been a doctor.
As a reaction, I think, to the death of her son, she set out to find out why Afghanistan had the problems that led to the war, which included visiting the country. The things she said she had discovered, speaking as if they were a complete revelation that nobody knew, included things like. Afghanistan is still a tribal country, that tribal conflict and revenge fighting is still a significant factor in the country.
All the things she mentioned, as if nobody in the UK realised, were things that have been on television, on the radio and in the newspapers for at least the 12 years of the conflict, if not longer.
It constantly amazes me the number of women and some men who launch themselves into multicultural marriages without, not just researching, but visiting the country, seeing what it is like on the ground, finding out what laws are governing marriage children etc.
I had a friend who got engaged to an Australian and insisted on going to Australia for six months before they married. They never did marry. As she said in his own country with his family and friends he was an entirely different person. Please do not say but people are in love. Love is no excuse for crass stupidity.