More dangerous than ever
Welcome to SOCIAL CHAIN, a newsletter about important stories that deserve your attention and action—written by me, Daria.
What happened?
US Troops withdrawal from Afghanistan: President Donald Trump has called for troops to come back home from Afghanistan and Iraq. It is raising a lot of questions of security for the West and the return of heavy fighting in Afghanistan.
What is the story?
Afghanistan is the country that was in constant war or civil unrest since the mid-70s,
At the beginning of the 90s when the Soviets withdrew the troops civil war continued and led up to the rise of the Taliban.
And because the Taliban gave shelter to militants from the al-Qaeda group, it made them an immediate target for an attack by US, Afghan and international forces in the wake of 9/11”. Since 2001 Afghanistan became a battleground between western allies fighting international terrorists hiding inside the country. For almost 20 years, “the US and its allies have struggled to stop Afghanistan's government collapsing, and to end deadly attacks by the Taliban”.
Since 2014 when international troops left Afghanistan Taliban “seized territory and detonated bombs against government and civilian targets. In 2018, the BBC found the Taliban was openly active across 70% of Afghanistan.” And considered now more dangerous than ever.
The war without end that was brought to Afghanistan from outside and pushed by external and heavy forces.
Why care?
Just in 2019 more than 10,000 civilians in Afghanistan were killed and injured ;
Afghanistan hardly depends on aid – “donors to fund at least half its annual budget”;
An average of five children have been killed or wounded every day for the past 14 years in war-torn Afghanistan, a charity has found.
Around 1.5 million of Afghanistan’s estimated 33 million population have some kind of physical disability, according to a 2015 national health survey. Many are survivors of the country’s swelling insecurity, sustaining wounds from landmines, explosions and gunshots.
What to do?
Participate in the Women for Aghan Women annual campaign when your donation will be doubled. You can follow-up on the real women's stories that were helped by the NGO.
Attend the online screening of the movie “Climate Change in Afghanistan” to learn about other challenges the country is going through and how people cope, organized by Afghanaid. Your donation will be doubled if you donate thought the campaign page here;
You can sponsor a student with Aid Afghanistan for education . In a country where some 70% of the population is under the age of 25, this demographic is the future.
To go further:
Read a great book by Carol Off All We Leave Behind: A Reporter's Journey Into the Lives of Others - “a memoir that offers both context to and a closeup of uncomfortable truths: the failures of the West's involvement in Afghanistan, the hurdles confronting refugees who seek safety in Canada, and the dilemma of a combat journalist expected to maintain professional distance from her sources."
And follow BBC article about the November attack on the University in Kabul, an overwhelming human story about the atrocities happening just now to young people.
“Afghans are struggling to comprehend how, even in such a merciless war, innocent university students could be killed in cold blood.
"They're afraid of education, they're afraid of us because we are learning," insisted fourth-year economics student Jamshid Roshangar. "We will keep fighting with our pens and books and new ideas."
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