Staunch Partisanship, A Stepping Stone to Dehumanization
If you truly think the Taliban’s takeover is primarily due to Biden or Trump, you’re a victim of your own partisanship. This war has been going on long before America’s fatal and fruitless reaction to 9-11, directed at a country that’s government had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda. It just led to shedding even more civilian blood with little to no consequences towards the actual conspirators.
Airtime is controlled by commentary about which sole political decision led to the downfall of Afghanistan. News panels seem to be more enthralled by the prospect of using the Taliban’s takeover as a talking point, proving this Trump meeting or that Biden’s decision caused the entire situation. However, neither of these men are to blame for what’s happening in Afghanistan—or at least, not them alone.
Soviet soldiers invaded in 1979 and placed their supporter Babrak Karmal in power a year later. Ronald Reagan invited and was photographed with Mujahideen fighters (who later became the Taliban) in the Oval Office, a group who the CIA later on supplied arms to. Pakistan and the United Nations have had their fair share of crises with the Afghan government and the Taliban.¹ Britain has poured over 31 billion euros into their various military campaigns and humanitarian assistance projects in the area.² Germany, a nation that has infamously close relations to Afghanistan, has been sending out evacuation planes to fly people out to neighboring nations until they can board commercial flights to Germany.³ There are official reports of the Chinese government wanting to use this as an opportunity to help reconstruct the nation and many officials seem to take the rise of the Taliban as a positive, while some officials still criticize the US for their speedy withdrawal.⁴
I don’t want to downplay any American president’s involvement in the situation, but solely blaming one recent president or one recent action showcases nothing but ignorance. Country after country has exploited Afghanistan and left nothing but trails of blood in their wake. You cannot expect one man to take the blame when it’s been countless men, from countless countries, all using and abusing a once beautiful land, who are at fault.
This disgusting fixation of having the “better” party has caused most Americans to see a literal travesty, a humanitarian catastrophe, an ultra-conservative terrorist group takeover into making memes and TikToks dedicated to “powning” each other side.
Here’s what people should care about: focus on donations, organizing, finding reliable sources to help people evacuate. What’s funny about women's rights being taken away? What’s a good one-liner about human trafficking? What’s a pun to connect the US’s exploitation and the Taliban’s?
Even though I myself tend to vote blue and have even touted the same “less of two evils” crap we always hear come election time, I’m truly appalled that people are even making the plights of Afghans into a which president was best situation. Neither did well. None since Reagan, but especially those who came after Bush, have done anything to benefit the people of Afghanistan.
I’m glad newscasters and journalists are reflecting on political blunders, but it’s gotten to the point where it’s not reflecting, it’s deflecting and creating controversy that distracts from what people in Afghanistan are going through. People would rather praise a man for what he didn’t do rather than hold a nation with decades of imperialism under its belt accountable.
The American media needs to focus on drawing attention to anti-Taliban insurgencies, what journalists and women in the region are experiencing, how drastically this will change daily lives of anyone living in Afghanistan, and how evacuation efforts are going. I think I’d be prouder to call myself an American if we gave a shit about the countries we were destroying rather than used it as an opportunity to showcase our non-existent moral high ground.
Works Referenced:
Bloch, H. (2021, August 19). A Look At Afghanistan’s 40 Years Of Crisis — From The Soviet War To Taliban Recapture. NPR. https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/2021/08/19/1028472005/afghanistan-conflict-timeline
Cowan, D. A. (2021, August 20). What the Fall of Afghanistan Means for Britain. National Review. https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/08/what-the-fall-of-afghanistan-means-for-britain/
Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). (2021, August 15). Germany sends evacuation planes to Kabul. DW.COM. https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sending-military-planes-to-afghanistan-for-evacuation/a-58872743
Roth, A., Ellis-Petersen, H., & Ni, V. (2021, August 17). China, Pakistan and Russia set to increase Afghanistan influence. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/china-russia-pakistan-expect-increase-influence-afghanistan
Cover Photo by Michael Luenen. Edited by Madison Case.