Afghanistan Falls

[Abigail Longmeadow]

Regrettably, only a small percentage of the Afghan people wanted liberal (western) democracy. The majority never believed in it.
We should have at least evacuated all the interpreters and others who worked for the international forces and those who would be most at risk. The US made a great effort to evacuate as many as possible in a very short time, but had to leave some behind. The evacuation should have begun months ago - more could have gotten out if there was more time allocated.

 

[Free]

Potential Steven Segal wannabe on our hands.



Rep. Markwayne Mullin's office says he is 'completely safe,' won't confirm or deny Washington Post's story about threatening embassy staff as he tried to enter Afghanistan

 

[Fionalein]

today I got the first useful YT reccommendation in years

 

[Free]

19 times is NOT A LOT? If I had someone contact me 19 times in 6 months, I might consider filing for a restraining order. Or wonder just how badly they need that payment...

 

[Free]

Also,



I don't like to do the money thing in these kind of discussions, but if Biden is correct, that's only about a dollar a day for every American...

 

[Essence Lumin]

Taliban 'angry and disappointed' after US disabled military equipment before leaving Kabul

 

[Innula Zenovka]

UK has no coherent plan for Afghan refugee crisis, says ex-Whitehall chief

Mark Sedwill also attacks west’s withdrawal as a ‘bad policy, badly implemented’

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link

The achievement of the emergency airlift, in which 114,000 people were evacuated from Kabul in just over two weeks “can’t and shouldn’t conceal that overall, we do not yet have a coherent policy and plan in place to deal with refugee flows out of Afghanistan”, Sedwill added.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR has warned there could now be a further 500,000 Afghans crossing the border into neighbouring countries, on top of the 2.2 million who fled to countries such as Pakistan before the end of last year.

Thousands of people recognised as having a firm or likely claim for resettlement in the UK were left behind in Afghanistan when the airlift ended – leaving Britain to call directly on the Taliban to allow others safe passage out of the country. Many other western countries are in a similar position

 

[Arkady Arkright]

UK has no coherent plan

I think that covers everything...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote link

A little over half a century ago, in 1970, my mother’s parents took her to Kabul to shop for her wedding. From Lahore, Kabul was only a short flight or a long drive away, much closer than Karachi. It was the first time my mother had left Pakistan.

They stayed in a hotel but were shown around Kabul by a family friend, a young Persian-speaking Afghan woman who had attended medical school in Lahore with my mother’s sister. This friend wore stylish western dresses, as many well-off women in Kabul did, and my mother was struck by how modern and cosmopolitan Kabul seemed. The city was full of westerners, including, in my mother’s recounting, throngs of “hippies and druggies”. My mother loved it at once.

One day they went for a picnic in a park. There was a river or a canal nearby, and beside this body of water some western women were sunbathing in bikinis. A group of Afghan men in traditional attire emerged from the trees and began to stare. Clearly uncomfortable, the women covered themselves and ran off.

My mother’s party all laughed as they watched this scene unfold. It seemed harmless enough. “Westerners come here,” their Afghan friend said, “and forget where they are.”

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Afghanistan crisis: How Europe's relationship with Joe Biden turned sour

In many EU circles, the honeymoon period for Donald Trump's successor may be coming to an end.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Helmand's Golden Age

Afghanistan once faced the future with confidence. Caught here on film, it's an era the world has forgotten.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Essence Lumin]

Helmand's Golden Age

Afghanistan once faced the future with confidence. Caught here on film, it's an era the world has forgotten.

www.bbc.co.uk

Impressive web design there.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Afghanistan: Taliban break up women's rights protest in Kabul

The women say the Taliban used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the latest such protest.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Beyond Kabul, a humanitarian crisis is developing in Afghanistan | Astrid Sletten

As an aid worker, I can see how a perfect storm of conflict, drought and Covid has gripped the country, says Astrid Sletten of the Norwegian Refugee Council

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Rural Afghans tell BBC of relief at new 'peace'

In more rural areas of Afghanistan, people welcome the end of a war that has killed tens of thousands.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Afghanistan services collapsing and aid about to run out, says UN

Unicef says hundreds of children have been separated from their families in chaos of Kabul evacuation

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link because paywall

 

[Abigail Longmeadow]

NGO groups continue to try to rescue people who are at risk from the Taliban. There seems to be much confusion about needed passports and visas. Plus the Taliban may be trying to pressure the USA to release the assets of the Afghan central bank (which are mostly deposited in the US). The US has frozen those assets. I am not sure what is happening with these people who were "left behind".
What most people now realize is that the war was never going to turn Afghanistan into a western democracy. We should have spent the trillions on security and energy development at home.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote link

 

[Innula Zenovka]