Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
It’s our duty to care for terrified Afghans
My heart bleeds for the people of Afghanistan. Over the last week, I have sobbed at scenes of desperate mothers throwing their babies over barbed wire to soldiers with a plea to keep them safe; people falling to their deaths from the wheels of planes; women screaming and begging to catch flights out of the country; men clasping their children with tears, panic and bewilderment etched into their faces; hundreds of Afghans packed like sardines into a US military cargo plane – all trying to flee Kabul.
Afghanistan fell to the Taliban so quickly it has made a mockery of all those who fought so hard to keep the country safe and all those who died in trying to do so.
These shameful scenes have to be laid at the feet of US President Joe Biden, who has shown a lack of foresight and planning, and total ignorance by pulling troops from this highly volatile area. Is it any wonder that so many people mistrust the West and its politics?
Of course there would have come a time when the Americans would have to withdraw, but to leave people at the mercy of the Taliban in such chaos is dishonourable.
The Taliban are the very people who in 2012 shot Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai in the head when she was just 15, and carried out the deadly Peshawar Army School terror attack in 2014 – in which 132 children were killed.
As a woman, the thought of living under Taliban rule makes my blood run cold. These are men whose interpretation of the Islamic Scripture is so austere that people are willing to risk their lives clinging on to moving aircraft rather than live under their rule.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has come out to reassure people: “Our nation is a Muslim nation, whether 20 years ago or now… but when it comes to experience, maturity, vision, there is a huge difference between us in comparison to 20 years ago.”
Until I see that music hasn’t been banned, that hands are not cut off for thieving, that adulterers are not stoned, that ethnic minorities are not persecuted, that girls and women can attend school, hold jobs, wear what they want and leave home without male escorts, I won’t believe anything has changed.
Meantime, where are the women around the world who should be coming out in solidarity with their Afghan sisters? Why aren’t they demonstrating on the streets, calling on their governments to ensure that those who want to leave their homeland will have safe passage and be welcomed?
Reports of betrayal are already emerging. Afghans who risked their lives to work alongside the British are being turned away and denied visas.
The West owes it to the Afghan people to show that we are better than the Taliban – that we care about human rights, and that loyalty is rewarded – not ignored in the hour of need.
We have to come together and show solidarity in ensuring their safety. We cannot stand by, watch the suffering and pretend it has nothing to do with us.
We can’t reward their loyalty by betraying them