The Taliban Parade
Taliban.
Did you think of guns? An army? 9/11? The longest war in American history? A lot of us would. Not many of us would think “student”, which is what the word actually means in the Pashto language of Eastern-Iran.
On August 30th, 2021, the United States finished their withdrawal from Afghanistan, effectively ending the longest war in the country’s history and looking to establish diplomacy with the country’s leaders. But control of the land was not relinquished to elected leaders or the general population. Instead, it fell under the control of the Taliban.
Miriam-Webster defines Taliban as: “a fundamentalist Islamic militia in Afghanistan”. Further, Google’s English dictionary by Oxford Language defines fundamentalist as “a person who believes in the strict, literal interpretation of scripture in a religion”.
To put it plainly, the Taliban identifies themselves as students of god, executing his will; but Western perception of those definitions paints the Taliban as religious extremists, and our willingness to keep an open mind ends there. So, when photos of a Taliban “parade” surfaced in the media, US citizens were bombarded with politically charged responses from news outlets, their social platform feeds, and politicians sparking fear-filled debates.
Here’s what happened: troops are much easier to extradite than military tanks, Hum-Vs, and aircrafts. Some of that US military equipment was disabled prior to the exodus, but much of it was not. What was left in tact is now in the hands of Afghanistan’s new governing power.
The popular conception seems to be that the US has left Afghanistan to defend itself against religious extremists who are now in wrongful possession of powerful military equipment. But actually, the US government is cooperating with the Taliban to stop ISIS-K, the group responsible for the recent airport bombing that killed 13 US troops.
What does it mean for Dick and Jane that the Taliban is in charge now? Is their country really in cahoots with a military often perceived to be terrorists?
For today, it means nothing. That’s how big newsworthy stories like this go. People scroll their Facebook feeds, see triggering hot-words in the headline and decide that it’s a terrible story. They get passionate about their opinions in a debate. But most will never actually open that article to find the facts. Most won’t be willing to accept that cooperation between the US military and the Taliban could have positive consequences. Most of us Dick and Janes never live the consequences of their military’s choices. But Afghans are. They are fleeing their homes in haste, fearful for their daughters’ access to education and their spouses safety in the streets. But Dick and Jane can do something about it.
We can have compassion. We can choose not to let the unknown and unfamiliar shutter us up against innocent families. We can keep our minds open when we read powerfully worded article titles and actually click on the link. We can turn to reputable sources and do our own fact-checking so that the media isn’t given the power to shape our minds and harden our hearts.
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Check out my other articles related to global awareness and diplomacy:
“Relentless Diplomacy” from Biden at the UN General Assembly
