To think most people have forgotten about Afghanistan rather quickly

[KrispyKremeDream]

Not really intending this as a guilt trip thread. I was just reading about the shooting of the Afghan women’s rights activist Frozan Safi this weekend and it occurred to me that I’ve not seen any discussion on here for weeks now. It was always going to die down and become accepted but it seems a bit sad that it’s disappeared off the radar so quickly.

Good evening OP. I'm still haunted by the images, in particular the little girl found sleeping alone by the side of a busy road in the run up to the evacuation, who was temporarily taken in by a local family. I feel for the people of the country and have been reading what I can online. I still just feel so helpless. Locally lots has been going on for the refugees who are here, but the people who were stuck or chose to stay and are at risk and the ordinary folk now living in fear or hopelessness are on my mind.

I feel so helpless too. And its not making the news now. People must be absolutely desperate.

It's really sad. I have been working non stop on getting my colleagues out of the country and the drop in interest and moving on from afghanistan has been heartbreaking. Don't know if you saw the cnn report of the little girl being sold for money to buy food for the rest of her family. I was crying very loudly.

rollercoastermum, I'm so glad you've been able to get colleagues out.

I haven't forgotten about it either, but like posters above feel helpless.

@rollercoastermum

It's really sad. I have been working non stop on getting my colleagues out of the country and the drop in interest and moving on from afghanistan has been heartbreaking. Don't know if you saw the cnn report of the little girl being sold for money to buy food for the rest of her family. I was crying very loudly.

Yes, I read there were quite a few cases of this. Pretty grim.

I think the media might have moved on, todays chip papers, but the people trying to help are still trying.

The BBC are running an article today, 95% of the population are starving.

I think the issues are just so huge, so varied, so long standing, that like with Yemen, eventually there comes a point when people just feel that it is all too insurmountable.

It's just dreadful.

Afghans facing 'hell on earth' as winter looms

It was on Radio 4 Today program this morning - the reporting journalist very distressed and as he said it hasn't really hit yet but it's very clear that the immediate future looks really bleak for many there.

Awful, so tragic. Not sure people have forgotten but just feel so helpless

It was overtaken in the news by the petrol supply problems. Old news doesn't sell.

I've been thinking exactly the same. We had rolling coverage about how countries were trying to get their own citizens out. Then nothing. It's like nobody cares about the Afghan citizens. I think about it a lot and can't imagine what some of those people must be going through.

I don’t think it’s a lack of caring per se.
It’s more that we cannot do anything to intervene and the fact that it’s not even safe for foreign press in Afghanistan so all we get are Taliban propaganda announcements.

There was a hugely distressing thread about girls from poor families being sold.... Maybe in feminism.

I don’t think it’s a lack of caring per se.
It’s more that we cannot do anything to intervene and the fact that it’s not even safe for foreign press in Afghanistan so all we get are Taliban propaganda announcements

Yet another sensible post, Plan
We all know the situation's appalling, but there's only so much we can do when too many Afghans actively wanted this shower running the place. We've already spent so much in lives and money trying to make a difference, got no thanks for it, and if we interfere again we'll still be eveything that's wrong

Never mind though; there'll doubtless be an appeal for cash to help them, and that'll all end up in the hands of the Taliban too

It's natural that people and the media have moved on from Afghanistan. We all know that human rights abuses will be taking place, girls will being denied an education, people will be getting shot for playing music (Greta Thunberg would no doubt add "blah, blah, blah"). News is very much here today, gone tomorrow, not for the people affected by it of course but for the people who read or watch it.

What do you actually want to happen? Being reminded of something over and over doesn't bring change. Do you want the US to re-invade? How would you persuade ordinary civilians to reject the Taliban and harder interpretations of Islam? As far as I can see the only way to make Afghanistan more westernised is for there to be troops on the ground and a proper war to elimate anyone who doesn't share western values. Is that acceptable? Many would say not.

I haven't forgotten about them, their lives are sheer hell at the moment. I can't imagine how awful it must be with a Taliban government. But there is nothing that I can do about it. If there was something I could do, I'd do it, but there isn't.

I used to learn about historical events and wonder how they happened. How other people sat by and let things go on. But as Ive got older Ive realised more and more that most people have minimum power or no power to change things.

Then your brain sort of has to compartmentalise it or you go mad.

I can't see any resolution either tbh. There's no way the general population have the means to overthrow the Taliban no matter how bad things get. In fact, as time goes on peoples ability to stage resistance will get worse as the focus becomes basic survival.

It's depressing and upsetting. There was a recent case where 6-8 children, little orphans ranging from 18 months to about 8 were found dead from starvation. I'm Afghan and every day I feel an insurmountable guilt, the guilt that I got away and I'm safe living here whilst those back in Afghanistan are suffering this way.

Then you get the Taliban propaganda and some news channels showing them in a positive light which is a hard pill to swallow when we know their true evil nature.

Those children have been on my mind ever since, the fear in their last moments, I can't begin to fathom. The world has well and truly failed Afghanistan, no country or its people deserve anything like the catastrophic events that have happened there through this proxy war...

To be honest, a lot of Afghans have been campaigning to be heard, but at the same time for the sake of our mental health, quite a lot of us have shut down from it a bit, it's all too much to take and see, especially when we are not heard and cannot do anything about it.

The little girls being sold to disgusting filthy old perverts as wives is difficult to take, those dirty filthy men could have helped by just giving the damn money instead in that time of need. But that desperation meant those families had to sell their girls, the money will run out but the hole left by their daughters will never be replaced.

My heart feels heavy every day from all this.

What can we do? We tried to help these people, they didn't want it hence the taliban rule.
Also we have our own problems with brexit etc, people going hungry in our own country, we can't help everyone.

@Elephantsparade

I used to learn about historical events and wonder how they happened. How other people sat by and let things go on. But as Ive got older Ive realised more and more that most people have minimum power or no power to change things. Then your brain sort of has to compartmentalise it or you go mad.

I think this is it.

The world is filled with horror that for the most part none of us can do anything about. That's not for lack of caring.

There is a resistance though, the National Resistance Front, they will forever try to fight back, they just need the support. They don't have that though because the world is currently in a fine line of accepting the Taliban but they need time to do this and so the resistance doesn't get the coverage it needs. It'll just be another showdown like before. World superpowers fighting it out in a no man's land they've decided should be Afghanistan and the poor civilian casualties mean nothing...

There's also been almost no mention in the media (I'm looking at you, BBC) of the persecution facing the Christian minority in Afghanistan, where being a Christian leaves you with 3 choices: keep your faith secret, flee or die. Being a Christian under the Taliban rule is simply not allowed, and Christians from a Muslim background may even be sectioned in a psychiatric hospital (as leaving Islam there is seen as a sign of insanity), or punished by death. Beatings, torture and kidnappings are routine for Afghan Christians, and converts to Islam are often killed by family members. Their deaths usually occur without public knowledge. The Taliban have been checking people's phones to see if Bibles are downloaded onto them, and lists with the names of Christians are being circulated. This is especially sad considering that Christianity in Afghanistan dates back to 2 AD.

@LadyAria

There is a resistance though, the National Resistance Front, they will forever try to fight back, they just need the support. They don't have that though because the world is currently in a fine line of accepting the Taliban but they need time to do this and so the resistance doesn't get the coverage it needs. It'll just be another showdown like before. World superpowers fighting it out in a no man's land they've decided should be Afghanistan and the poor civilian casualties mean nothing...

By support, do you mean weapons? Isn't decade after decade of pouring weapons into Afghanistan to support various resistance movements what caused this mess in the first place?