Afghanistan

[Stillwater]

What are the stats on that?

 

[Ahahha]

That's it wish there was another way for pen ben and his pal Boris better do one

 

[whathastheworldcometo]

Maybe it's the same people as before saying he was too old saying it again now?

For lots of things there should be an age limit (like driving!) but implementing it is difficult

Yes, maybe.

I wouldn't even see age as the problem - I think TQ is fairly level headed and she is 95 and also has some limited say in government decisions - but more general health and there were some signs of Biden being confused during the election campaign.

 

[Wirral Rabbit]

I do know about refugee camps though. They are intended as temporary. Not a permanent solution.

Tell that to people living in them for over a decade!

 

[Merpedy]

I’m interested, and slightly worried, to see what happens to the animals that have been rescued. As I understand they will be put into a shelter?

Shelters can struggle to adopt animals out as it is, and while I’m sure their history will draw people, I can still see a few not being very successful. If they were to be put down or spend the rest of their time in a shelter, I don’t think many people would be very happy

 

[emm]

Whether it's officially recognised or not probably makes little difference. I'm sure aid will start flowing in soon that will prop up the Taliban government seeing as millions will face malnutrition otherwise.

I often wonder what would happen if, in situations like this, we didn't give aid. People who are starving have nothing to lose and technically could cause an overthrow of the government, think the Russian Revolution for example. I often wonder what would have happened if the international community hadn't provided aid to north korea during their famine in the 90s. Obviously this is a total ethical minefield

 

[thegirlscout]

Not a tweet to post but people can find it easily enough. If you type her name Mahjabeen Hakimi in to Twitter and scroll down the top tweets you will see at least one person (who's posted a gruesome photo in the tweet) that says she killed herself before the Taliban took over Kabul.

Lots of people have said that is fake news from Pakistan and the Taliban. Apparently they posted her head online but I don’t really want to search that.

 

[Merpedy]

The whole situation is very odd tbh, the people who had the 50 working dogs are still claiming that they’re sorting flights out when the US has already left



It’s a possibility that Charlotte has actually left Kabul on one of the last flights

 

[mcfeez]

UK defence secretary getting choked up talking about the evacuation of allies from Kabul.

 

[emm]

True. But it’s not about the prediction to me, it’s about using the knowledge we have and have gleaned even over the past week to know that they will fight dirty and there never should have been trust in this ‘agreement’ gentlemans agreements only stand when both sides agree too it

exactly, I don't think anyone believed they would be anything but as aggressive (possibly more so from the influence of how even worse ISIS were) but they just wanted to leave and so accepted their lies.
I really wonder what is going to happen to these babies leaving by themselves

 

[Merpedy]

I'm imagining a venn diagram of capturing a country and running a country and the circles don't even touch

They're telling government workers to return to work aren't they?

Tbf to them it's not like many people would know what to do with a country once they capture it, even the politicians we have right now would be toast without civil servants and other employees. Also worth noting that outside the 'leader' circle a lot of the fighters will be in their early 20s which is crazy to think about

It's interesting that they're saying that women will be given more freedom this time around and that the Taliban has generally shifted from what it was 20 years ago. Whether that will actually be the case remains to be seen though, I read an article yesterday speculating that some areas may be safer than others depending on who's in charge and whether the leaders want complete uniformity in everything

Also really not getting Reddit's hype about Clarissa Ward. She's press and is therefore untouchable to a certain extent at the moment, especially when the cameras are on. It's unthinkable to be asking someone from the Taliban questions about women but at the same time, it's really not the same as a random woman doing the same

 

[smellsofbiscuits]

Cultural vandalism is a huge problem in war zones. Granted it’s not one of the biggest issues the country faces but massive swathes of their culture and heritage can be destroyed, wiped out or sold on the black market. The international council of museums has given a statement about the situation.

Statement concerning the situation facing cultural heritage in Afghanistan - International Council of Museums

A global organisation of museums & museum professionals committed to the promotion and protection of cultural heritage

icom.museum

Also this article on Wikipedia gives a helpful outline of what has been destroyed, all those generations of culture have gone.

Destruction of art in Afghanistan - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I do fear for the people who have worked to protect these sites because they will be in the Taliban’s crosshairs. This happened in Syria around 6 years ago. The curator refused to give ISIS information and they beheaded him.

Syrian archaeologist 'killed in Palmyra' by IS militants

The archaeologist who looked after ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria for 40 years is reported to have been murdered by Islamic State militants.

www.bbc.co.uk

Cultural genocide is a big issue. IIRC one of the first humanitarian missions into Kosovo included those from the heritage sector.

Of course, groups like the Taliban and ISIS just blow stuff up now. I suspect individuals will be trying to take what they can and document what they can't.

Someone made a good point on the radio last night. A female caller said it's all well and good us trying to implement our ideals on Afghanistan, but this country didn't give women the vote until almost 100 years ago. Rape was only made illegal in 1968 in Britain. Can we really sit on the high horse in this situation?

Rape was still legal in heterosexual marriages until the 1980s in Scotland.

 

[thegirlscout]

Update - the MOD has backtracked by the sounds of it!

Oh my god really?!

Update - the MOD has backtracked by the sounds of it!

I went on that Instagram and he’s just released a video and it still sounds like Ben Wallace is calling the shots?

 

[openbook1]

I mean the USA has already been there 20 years... 20 years to prepare for this. So does that mean the USA has to stay there forever? That isn't feasible.

 

[Warpaint]

this only really makes sense in the context of a war zone/people fleeing on dangerous illegal boats, in this case the taliban will soon stop people leaving


totally agree having such a volatile country is a danger for us all
apparently (according to a friend who now lives abroad from Afghanistan so obviously I dknt know if this is true) both the Taliban and Pakistan are taking advantage of the ability to leave without documents to plant terrorists abroad.

There will always be people leaving as people smugglers will pay off the Taliban to get people out.

 

[Bobby Chariot]

Parliament to be recalled early next week.

 

[kev1974]

Hopefully it also means that the American rescue has had some luck with finding a plane and getting some of their animals out.
Very sad for the staff though and I imagine they’re in increased danger due to media presence around this


Has anyone seen this?

Suicide mission surely.

 

[AllSeeingEye123]

Verifying Device

www.thesun.co.uk

I have stayed in this hotel before and my God let me say have these people not been through enough without being put in the worst hotel I have ever been in. It was only around £25 a night on a special deal when I went less than a decade ago but some of these spend hundred quid a night. The reviews on Trip Advisor mention how badly behaved the refugees are. Begging for a cig in the smoking area, kids pressing the lift buttons, kids running around shouting not under control etc. The goodwill to these people will soon disappear if they don't respect their surroundings when people spend a lot of money to go on holiday there and deserve peace and quiet.

 

[Underthetabletop]

From what I'm seeing and reading our government is away to get alot of abuse and to be honest they deserve it. They knew this was going to happen and 2 of them went on holiday and we are now like this

I’m not defending the gov, things have gone tits up massively worldwide. But the truth is, no matter what arrangements were out in place, the world put their trust in the taliban to keep to their deal if this bomb was them. And if it was isos, we watched one group too well and not the others. they could have flown out half the county between all the nations with planes stacked like a morrisons lorry, but ultimately these groups were free to revoke this deal anytime they wanted and anyone with half a brain knew it would happen. That’s the issue, not the speed.
the signs were very clear it was a mistake when Russia started removing people and they claim to be allies!

 

[Rita Chevrolet]

But again, why should people always have to correct her, people were quick enough to spin things about the government to stir things up. I’m not the biggest fan of this gov, many mistakes have been made, but there have been people even on here saying that ministers should be sacked, the same ministers who have saved nearly 15,000 people. People who im sure couldn’t run an operation like this themselves…… And I think people need to praise the fact that actually, the gov saved a shit load of people, despite their views. And this is despite being cut out of the loop by the us (as reported by an itv correspondent, not the gov themselves)

also, https://www.archive.is/oldest/https...ee-climb-barbed-wire-fence-Kabul-airport.html
This is bloody amazing.


We HAVE left a former serviceman behind, there’s one I mentioned last night. Got about 60 women out and now he’s stuck there!!! With his elderly mother…. We left an elderly British woman there which disturbs me tbh, but they didn’t get their voices heard. And I’m assuming based on her sons photo she is a white woman, she has no chance does she. and there’s probably more.

Nothing was ever going to be perfect - we have to be grateful that so many DID get out and hope that the taliban lot are going to be amenable to releasing the rest. They after all are fighting the isis thugs themselves so may well be grateful for assistance to rid themelves of that cancer lurking in their society.