Please Stop this Shameful Treatment of Afghanistan

Following “The West’s” evacuation from Kabul in September last year little has been said about the plight of the Afghanistani people. Instead, I perceive politicians talking about two things. First, we have seen many politicians posturing about what has been have characterised as ‘our’ shameful exit from Afghanistan and second many have expressed their fears that the Taliban will return to the medieval ways that characterised their last period of power twenty-one years ago.

This is despite the fact that the Taliban themselves said, at the time of the transfer of power, that they would be different, emphasising that a new generation of Taliban leaders were now in leadership positions and that they would treat women differently to what had happened in the past.

Shouldn’t we also recognise that we had been an occupying power in Afghanistan for over twenty years? And whilst many progressive achievements were accomplished, of which we can be proud, shouldn’t we also recognise that the lightning speed of the virtually bloodless take over of Afghanistan by the Taliban in the late summer of 2021 tells us that the Afghanistani people had tired of having foreign troops patrolling their streets and wanted us out.

And what did the West do immediately after evacuating from Kabul. All economic aid was STOPPED COMPLETELY. Supposedly on the basis of waiting til the Taliban had been in power a sufficient time to be enable us to decide whether the Taliban were an acceptable partner to receive aid.

The loss of this economic aid to one of the world’s poorest countries has been devastating. The economy has ground to a halt with the result that hunger and famine are affecting the MAJORITY (some say over 90%) of the population.

I believe it is completely unacceptable for western countries to invade, occupy, and then, when leaving a country, with which they’ve had a relationship for over twenty years, to then pull the plug on all economic aid, on which that country completely relies.

I’m ashamed to be a citizen of a country that does this.