Some hot takes from Western Men:
Roshah M Salih @rmshalih
(Editor of the British Muslim site 5pillars 5pillarsuk.com)
Whatever you think of the Taliban their seemingly imminent victory is a historic defeat of colonialism and imperialism. This should be the main narrative of media around the world, rather than the red herrings about women's rights etc that we are being sold.
Women's Rights are unimportant
Yanis varoufakis @ yanisvaroufakis
On the day liberal-neocon imperialism was defeated once and for all, DiEM25's thoughts are with the women of Afghanistan. Our solidarity probably means little to them but it is what we can offer - for the time being. Hang in there sisters!
Solidarity Slaves! Thoughts and prayers.
Alex Thomson @alextomo
(Chief Correspondent and presenter for Channel 4 news)
So- the takeover of the Afghan capital is more or less bloodless. That , at least, a huge relief for all Afghans and beyond. A city where the memory of the pulverising civil war of the 90s still hangs heavy.
Can't even see women and their fate.
Strangely no one in the media is commenting on the screens of Kabul airport where thousands of people try to board planes to escape.
A statement in which gender neutral language innocently hides a bigger horror - women aren't trying to flee via the airport. Its already too late for them. Its men who are almost exclusively at the airport.
Meanwhile
Samira Shackle @samirashackle
To give a small sense of the nightmare unfolding for Afghans: weeks ago, my friend in Kabul, a female TV journalist and single mother of two, asked me to help her find info about legal routes out of the country.
She's been threatened by the Taliban for several years, as a woman in the public eye, and these threats were intensifying. I tried to find info; there were very few options for visas or resettlement, despite western govs grandstanding about vulnerable women.
Obviously over the last few days the situation has become critical. It is too dangerous for her to go to work (even before today's catastrophe, she was followed home from the office and intimidated) and she's the sole breadwinner for her kids.
There are many NGOs and committed individuals trying their best to galvanise efforts to get at-risk people like my friend out of Afghanistan, but it's pretty much impossible unless you meet very narrow criteria (eg directly working for a foreign military). There are no flights.
The US has vaguely said it will extend its programme, but there's barely any info. Europe and the UK are silent. Canada is the only country to announce a major resettlement scheme; they said they'd take 20k Afghans, but no details yet on how this will work or how to apply.
I'm a native English speaker and someone who researches things for a living, and it's extremely difficult to find any clear info. Demand is huge, response times are slow. NGOs are doing all they can, but they're really limited without concerted, coordinated government action.
Through a small charity, earlier today I got my friend and her kids booked onto a flight out of Kabul in a few days, to a third country, where they'd be safe and could continue to seek resettlement. Relief! Then by this afternoon all commercial flights had been cancelled.
This was today, as Kabul fell. Soon after the flight was cancelled, my friend called sobbing to say that armed men had come to her door. She managed to get away and she and her children are currently in hiding with friends and relatives.
Her details are with different NGOs working on getting visas for women to get to the US or Canada, and I'm still trying, but all these efforts have limited capacity to succeed while there are no flights out. This is absolutely chaotic, and people will die unnecessarily.
Western countries spent the last two decades using every opportunity to utilise women in Afghanistan as a political talking point. So many women put their heads above the parapet, and now they are being left to die. This is just one example; there are thousands more.
And in Pakistan
Qasim Nauman @qasimnauman
"They have broken the chains of mental slavery in Afghanistan," says Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Not shocked, but incredibly embarrassed. You have to wonder why Khan and his supporters complain about the "Taliban Khan" nickname.
Also spotted on twitter this morning
LSE British Politics @lsepoliticsblog
Many male MPs are willing to represent women’s interest in parliament. However, one of the key reasons seems to be a rational calculation of how they can enhance their re-election prospects, rather than to stand up for gender equality per se:
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/gendered-leeway-male-mps/
For the win! Male politicians are more likely to represent women’s interests if their re-election is at risk
Its striking. Women are bit parts or a means to an end by all of these. They aren't valued in their own right. They've been abandoned already and any visas granted wont be going to women. Not that those visas are worth anything now, with no means to get out anyway.
Biden followed through with Trump's plan to leave. It was obvious this was likely to happen.
The stories of the women left behind will not be told going forward.
What has the war achieved? There were opportunities for women who now are left dreadfully exposed and there's billions of dollars worth of military equipment left to the Taliban. The situation is worse than when the west intervened. If thats even conceivable. Arguably it makes the security situation worse by giving a base to terrorism too.
But yeah women are an afterthought and inconvenience.