If you haven't already seen in the news, Afghanistan's government has fallen to the Taliban extremists and the United States is pulling out the country, putting a messy, unsatisfying, and worrying end to a 20 year war in Afghanistan against Islamic extremism.
This news hit me hard, but I know my shock and fear at this failure of freedom is just an insignificant percentage of the fear, sadness, anxiety, and uncertainty Afghan refugees, current Afghan citizens, and even Afghan and Islamic families living all over the world and within the USA must be facing. I am not here to say whether the President's decision to finally leave was right or wrong because the situation is complicated and I have never been here to promote political rhetoric (unless it has to do with civil rights for minorities, women, or the LGBTQA+.) However, I am deeply saddened by the sadness and fear, perhaps even anger, no doubt being felt by the Afghan and Islamic people and being felt by our own Afghan American and Islamic American citizens. The night I heard the news I stayed up to make this piece as quickly as I could in order to process my emotions about the situation and all my worries: worries about the fate of women and young girls in the country, worries about the fate of good progressive and supportive men in the country, worries about little boys growing up under hateful and sexist doctrines, worries about unwarranted growing Islamophobia within this country and around the world. Peaceful Muslims are going through enough right now, and we would all do best to remember that for the vast majority of Muslims the Taliban is their enemy, too. Unfortunately as with any religion or group with power (ex. with the U.S. police force, Catholics, other sects of Christianity), a few bad apples seem to spoil the bunch in terms of public perception. I know we might be scared for the safety of U.S. troops and our safety as U.S. citizens under the growing Taliban threat but I implore everyone to remember who the most impacted victims are and to see the humanity of peoples whose traditions and clothing may differ from that of you or I. The Islamic people, as a whole, are not scary or a threat, they are people with families and interests and passions and dreams, dreams of freedom and fairness, just like you or I. If you are a member of the Islamic or Afghan community or have family or close friends who are, I am sorry for any pain you may be feeling at this time. To U.S. soldiers and military members who did what they could to provide humanitarian aid in the area and fend off terrorist threats, thank you for your service to the American people and to the Afghan people. I offer my condolences if you felt your work was not yet done.
At this juncture, there is little that I see can be done to directly help the people within Afghanistan while the Taliban has control, besides praying for the safety of good and innocent people within the country and not forgetting about their current struggle. So all I want to do is send the message to remind anyone feeling hopeless that when we can seemingly do nothing, our last resort can always be holding each other closer and not losing the hope that a better day will come. We must support and love one another even in the darkest times. We may lose wars, but whatever happens we must not lose the war in our hearts and minds. We must not give up hoping.
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If you wish to provide aid in some way, Please consider donating to one or more of these recognized and trusted charities in order to help make the world a slightly better place:
To Donate to specifically to Refugee Aid amidst the Afghanistan Crisis : irusa.org/asia/afghanistan/
To Donate to Support for U.S. Veterans : www.hopeforthewarriors.org/
To Donate to Humanitarian Aid all around the world, including to Middle East Refugees and the Survivors of the Haitian Earthquake : www.unicefusa.org/
