Evil Must not Prevail in Afghanistan
Evil wears so many masks. Denial, revenge, rage and self-serving rhetoric have all taken to centre stage in the last awful weeks in Afghanistan.
The thoroughly evil Taliban claim they execute innocents because it’s God’s will. Those like former President Donald Trump cut deals with these devils for self promotion. And the ones who choose to look the other way and those who claim the Afghans were never worth saving in the first place. The warlords and tribal leaders who stood down while the Taliban walked across the country unimpeded also made their views known. There’s no shortage of villains in this debacle.
The antidote to evil turned up in my inbox. Even before Kabul fell, the voices of good rang out. People like fixers and translators and women begging for help to get out of Afghanistan filled inboxes in huge numbers but so did the activists wanting to help with the evacuation of the vulnerable – women journalists, women judges, human rights advocates and those who tried to build a better Afghanistan.
Famous authors like Louise Penny and journalists like Wendy Mesley and Anna Maria Tremonti, Mellissa Fung, folk singer Bob Bossin from the west coast and highly respected human rights negotiators like Jane McElhone from distant places around the world joined the rescue chorus. Academics like Janice Stein chimed in with advice. And a couple of outstanding pros in the business of lifelines – Wendy Cukier and Ratna Omidvar who created Lifeline Syria took on the resettlement file while Rachel Pulfer and her team from Journalists for Human Rights spearheaded evacuation.
There was a reassuring theme to their messages: “We’ve got this.” “We must take action.” And “Tell me what to do.” And “I don’t know how to do this but I can donate money.” And this, “I have room for two at my home – send them to me.” They vow to evacuate everyone who wants to get out of Afghanistan and resettle the lucky ones who managed to escape and hope we all have muscle memory to do for the Afghans what we did for the Syrians. As Hila Taraky said to the women she was reaching out to when the airport closed, “Get out of the country, hide. We’ll find you.”
In my experience covering conflict from the point of view of what happens to women and girls and in particular Afghanistan since 1997, that is a constant: most Canadians are outraged by injustice and step up to try to right the wrongs. This rapidly gathered collection of heroes held zoom meetings and traded literally thousands of emails all through the night and then launched a web site to answer questions, to suggest ways to help and how to donate. The website Lifeline Afghanistan.ca went live last week.
Click here to read the full article in the Toronto Star