EDITORIAL
REMEMBER Afghanistan?
The nation dominated the news headlines throughout last summer when US President Joe Biden carried out a disastrous withdrawal of troops from the country.
From a British perspective, we saw animals being prioritised for evacuation over human beings. According to leaked emails this week, this may have been on the order of Downing Street.
We also saw humanity – refugees were, in many parts of the UK, welcomed and thanked for their service.
In the six months following the evacuation waves, however, Afghanistan has barely got a mention.
News coverage last year helped highlight the tragic situation for millions under impending Taliban rule, spurring governments into action.
A lack of focus thereafter – once the British and American interests were ‘over’ – has meant the nation has silently descended into chaos.
Reports this week harrowingly suggested families are being forced to sell their own organs and children to put food on the table.
More than half of the country’s estimated 40 million population faces “extreme levels of hunger”, according to UN figures.
And while the UK pledged £97million in aid this week, the sum will barely scratch the surface as to what is truly needed.
The country is in tatters – economically, socially and politically.
NATO’s primary focus is, for obvious reasons, tensions in Russia and Ukraine.
But that doesn’t cut it in this situation. Two decades of occupation and no care for a once-proud nation’s legacy spells irresponsibility.
The blueprint is all too well known – NATO intervention arrives, achieves its goals and leaves without securing any sort of structure.
We’ve seen this in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The ‘moderate rebels’ don’t often turn out to be the saviours.
So while Vladimir Putin ramps up tensions and weapons are subsequently being funnelled to all sorts of rebel groups in Ukraine – Redaction will be a media source that stays with a nation long after NATO has left.
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Featured Image: Defence Imagery @ Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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