There is No “Black and White” in Afghanistan

Can the Taliban’s rise to power be considered a victory of the Afghan people over the US or a victory of the Islamic struggle in toppling the secular liberal regime?

EDGAR GRIMALDO / US CENTRAL COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS / AFP

In this image courtesy of the US Central Command Public Affairs, Red Cross members handout aid to Afghan evacuees at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on August 21, 2021. - US aircraft flew about 6,000 people, including a couple of hundred US citizens, out of Kabul in the 24 hours to early August 20, until flights had to be halted because of a lack of space at transit bases. Officials confirmed that evacuation operations stalled for several hours on Friday because a receiving base in Qatar was overflowing and could not take any more evacuees.

"Everything is expensive here. There is only one cheap thing: human life,” an Afghan once told me about their country\'s situation.

As a journalist who was on duty in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2009, I experienced such a situation myself. In Kabul, bombs went off at least once every two days. People were gripped by terror amid showers of rockets, robbery, kidnapping and murder.