<p> The heart-shaped hole where 18-year-old Aisha’s nose should be is a mark of Taliban justice — a visceral illustration, the headline suggests, of “what happens if we leave Afghanistan.”<br /><br />The portrait has quickly become a symbol of the stakes of a nearly decade-old war. It has been brandished before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on TV, dissected in online commentary and extrapolated into a conversation-starter about topics ranging from anti-abortion activism to violence against women.<br /><br />“Disturbing on so many levels,” Cory Albrecht, a telecommunications technology worker in Kitchener, Canada, wrote of the photo on his Twitter feed. And “completely necessary, unfortunately,” he added by e-mail.<br /><br />If the response proves it’s still possible for pictures to provoke a visually saturated culture, it also shows how much viewers have come to accept graphic images. Time braced for an outcry — even consulting psychologists about how the photo might affect children — but relatively little of the ensuing discussion has centred on the graphic nature of the image.<br /><br />Punishment<br /><br />Under orders from a Taliban commander acting as a judge, Aisha’s nose and ears were sliced off last year as punishment for fleeing her husband’s home. She said she fled to escape her in-laws’ beatings and abuse. <br /><br />Now in a women’s shelter, she is set to get reconstructive surgery in the US, with the help of Time, humanitarian organisations and others.<br /><br />Aisha posed for the Time cover photo because she wanted readers to see the potential consequences of a Taliban resurgence, the magazine said. Prominent Afghan women have expressed concerns that a potential government reconciliation with the insurgents could cost them freedoms they have gained since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the former Taliban regime.<br /><br />Since the magazine hit newsstands on Friday, the photo has been discussed on many news shows, including ABC’s This Week, when host Christiane Amanpour held it up and asked Pelosi about America’s commitment to Afghan women as the US weighs its future involvement in their country. Pelosi looked away before replying that educational and other goals for Afghanistan’s women depend on establishing security and ending corruption.<br /><br />The picture and story have elicited more than 500 comments on Time’s website alone, plus countless others on social networks and websites ranging from the political behemoth The Huffington Post to BagNews, a forum for dissecting photography. It already has brought in more than twice as many e-mailed letters to the editor as hot-button issues usually generate, the magazine said.</p>
<p> The heart-shaped hole where 18-year-old Aisha’s nose should be is a mark of Taliban justice — a visceral illustration, the headline suggests, of “what happens if we leave Afghanistan.”<br /><br />The portrait has quickly become a symbol of the stakes of a nearly decade-old war. It has been brandished before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on TV, dissected in online commentary and extrapolated into a conversation-starter about topics ranging from anti-abortion activism to violence against women.<br /><br />“Disturbing on so many levels,” Cory Albrecht, a telecommunications technology worker in Kitchener, Canada, wrote of the photo on his Twitter feed. And “completely necessary, unfortunately,” he added by e-mail.<br /><br />If the response proves it’s still possible for pictures to provoke a visually saturated culture, it also shows how much viewers have come to accept graphic images. Time braced for an outcry — even consulting psychologists about how the photo might affect children — but relatively little of the ensuing discussion has centred on the graphic nature of the image.<br /><br />Punishment<br /><br />Under orders from a Taliban commander acting as a judge, Aisha’s nose and ears were sliced off last year as punishment for fleeing her husband’s home. She said she fled to escape her in-laws’ beatings and abuse. <br /><br />Now in a women’s shelter, she is set to get reconstructive surgery in the US, with the help of Time, humanitarian organisations and others.<br /><br />Aisha posed for the Time cover photo because she wanted readers to see the potential consequences of a Taliban resurgence, the magazine said. Prominent Afghan women have expressed concerns that a potential government reconciliation with the insurgents could cost them freedoms they have gained since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the former Taliban regime.<br /><br />Since the magazine hit newsstands on Friday, the photo has been discussed on many news shows, including ABC’s This Week, when host Christiane Amanpour held it up and asked Pelosi about America’s commitment to Afghan women as the US weighs its future involvement in their country. Pelosi looked away before replying that educational and other goals for Afghanistan’s women depend on establishing security and ending corruption.<br /><br />The picture and story have elicited more than 500 comments on Time’s website alone, plus countless others on social networks and websites ranging from the political behemoth The Huffington Post to BagNews, a forum for dissecting photography. It already has brought in more than twice as many e-mailed letters to the editor as hot-button issues usually generate, the magazine said.</p>