Afghan Christians Are Facing A Taliban Reign Of Terror
International | August 26, 2021
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(OPINION) After days of increasing disbelief, America watched on Aug. 16 as President Joe Biden officially abandoned Afghanistan. We listened to his awkward speech as he publicly dismissed a 20-year American investment in blood and treasure while putting at risk untold thousands of Afghan lives.
Perhaps The Economist summed up the big picture best:
“America has spent $2trn in Afghanistan; more than 2,000 American lives have been lost, not to mention countless Afghan ones. And yet, even if Afghans are more prosperous now than when America invaded, Afghanistan is back to square one. The Taliban control more of the country than they did when they lost power, they are better armed, having seized the weapons America showered on the Afghan army, and they have now won the ultimate affirmation: defeating a superpower.”
But that “defeat” is not the only result of the U.S. pull-out. More than a few of us walked away from Biden’s broadcast stunned, well-aware of our country’s international disgrace. Even worse, we also knew that for many Afghanis – including a little-known community of Christian converts – the worst is yet to come.
READ: Young Afghans Speak Out About Rapidly Changing Life Under The Taliban
By hastily fleeing Afghanistan’s notoriously difficult battlefield after 20 years – where thousands of American fighters gave their lives and countless more were permanently disabled – millions of Afghans are now facing denunciation, personal disaster and death for their loyalty to American military efforts. Still others are already being terrorized by religious persecution of the most dangerous kind – ISIS-like violence against non-observant Muslims and, worse, secret converts from Islam, including underground Christian believers.
First in line for impending abuse are the most obvious: girls and women. Even those who are already covered by robe-and-hijab are scurrying to locate burkas to fully hide their faces and bodies altogether from the Taliban’s vicious scrutiny. Christine Rosen writes for Commentary Magazine:…
(Excerpts from Religion Unplugged)