A BBC News notification just popped up on my phone and I was terrified to read it. Last night, I was scrolling down Instagram and I saw photos of conflict-ridden Kandahar reported by Indian Journalist Danish Siddiqui. At that moment, I thought of Danish, his courage to report from a place that diplomats had to flee and I was praying for his safety.
Danish has been a source of truthful news for me ever since I started to use Social Media. Today, he was killed in an attack by the Taliban on Afghan security forces.
I was in Class XI (2011) when Iraq and Syria were ravaged by the Islamic State (ISIS). Iraqis kept crying for support but no country stepped in. People in these countries and in their neighboring countries were left to be brutally killed, subjugated, and enslaved by ISIS. It was only after Russia's intervention in Syria to support Assad's regime that the US and coalition forces began airstrikes against ISIS.
I have no doubt that it was not out of sympathy and commitment to safeguard democracies and save people's lives but a sense of sheer competitiveness to safeguard the US's supremacy and interests that compelled the US to step in. They did not want Russia to play the boss.
10 years later in 2021, yet another country – Afghanistan has again been abandoned by the US and the West. The formula is simple - Invade a country that does not suit you, remove its leaders from power, push the entire country into the civil war, and when you can not control the havoc you have caused – ABANDON, FLEE. And all these – in the name of protecting democracy.
Would it be a wild accusation if I say that the US with its Western partners has started a series of wars across the world and destabilize the entire middle-east and Asia? Only the timeline in history can tell us so.
But it is certainly the hypocrisy and the absolute colonial mindset that has driven the Western countries and now, the US to destabilize nations and leave them to fail.
Afghanistan needs help. Afghani people need peace. They deserve to lead a life of dignity just like the rest of us. The perpetual invasion by the USSR, the Taliban nourished by the US, and NATO has destroyed a beautiful country in Asia.
The US and NATO are leaving Afghan – not because they have succeeded in their mission but because they have created a monster they can not win over. So, they have left the innocent Afghani to decide for their own fate, as US President Biden has put it.
I see history repeating itself. We are replaying the mistake of 2011. The world needs to help Afghanistan when they need it the most, not when they have nothing left to save. Today, Iraq is a failed nation. Lybia is a failed nation. Syria is a failed nation. They all needed the world's support (not another war and tyranny) but no support arrived at them in time.
Asian countries need to stand up for themselves. The West and the Americans can not help us except for serving their own interests in the name of saving democracies.
Our peace depends on the peace in Afghanistan. A simple Google search will tell you that all major countries in Asia such as Iran, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, etc. share a fair stretch of border with Afghanistan. This beautiful country is bordered by Iran on the west, by Pakistan on the east and south, and by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan on the north; a narrow strip, the Vakhan (Wakhan), extends in the northeast along with Pakistan to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.
A civil war in Afghanistan will cause a humanitarian crisis. Afghani people are already fleeing their homes and a refugee crisis is just weeks away. An already weak economy in the neighboring countries can not survive this crisis. So, Asian countries need to stop looking away and focus on supporting a stable government and peaceful political negotiations in Afghanistan.
We can not remain in denial. We need to face the truth that no country in Asia is safe until Afghani people are safe.
I dedicate this write-up to my friend - Danish Siddiqui. His courage is my inspiration.
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