Miniskirts and Military Intervention: Behind the 1970s Kabul Photo That Swayed Trump

President Trump has announced his decision to remain in Afghanistan and increase U.S. troop levels there, continuing the 16-year-long conflict.

And what helped shape his decision, according to The Washington Post and several other sources, was a black and white photograph from Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1970s.

I'm working on a @WNYC story on the 1970s Kabul pic that swayed Trump to stay in Afghanistan (1st image). Here's my grandma in 70s Tehran! pic.twitter.com/YxHavZAGNO

— Shumita Basu (@shubasu) August 23, 2017

NYU Associate Professor Arang Keshavarzian provides context for that image. He also talks about why the argument for "women's liberation" is so appealing to people of different political and social stripes, but also why it's a problematic means of justifying military intervention that we've seen used in U.S. history many, many times.