Politics

The Afghanistan-Taliban War Simplified: What You Need To Know

Afghanistan is currently in a humanitarian crisis- and they are counting on our international support to bring them through this crisis.

Kiara Fernando | August 17, 2021

In just three months, the Taliban has nearly doubled it's power in Afghanistan.

Currently in Afghanistan there is a war occurring; a war that has left many people harmed, killed, or in a state of crisis. This war goes beyond just politics and into the lives of innocent citizens, women, and children. It’s not enough to just know about the Afghanistan-Taliban war; we must do more.

The Taliban originally had control over the Afghan region during the post-Soviet era. However, when the Taliban government gave aid to Osama bin Laden, the US government destabilized their control, allowing for the current Afghanistan government to take over. The US continued to play a hand in their progression and gave support, aid, and weapons to the Afghanistan government in order for them to remain in power. However, this past year when the US withdrew out of Afghanistan, many problems began to occur.

The US withdrawing out of Afghanistan's affairs gave the Taliban a chance to gain back control. Previously, regions of Afghanistan were split between the two powers but now war has broken out as the Taliban continue to invade Afghanistan provinces and attempt to reclaim power. Thus far there have been an immense amount of civilian deaths during the civil war, so much to raise concern from the rest of the globe.

One of the biggest concerns is over the children and youth in Afghanistan. Prior to the offensive attacks of the Taliban, Afghanistan struggled with poverty and malnutrition in their citizens due to a lack of food security. When COVID began to spread they were hit especially hard due to a lack of proper resources and protocol to combat the pandemic. This caused many issues and instabilities in their infrastructure. The implications this has on Afghanistan's youth is immense. Many children are endangered by undernutrition as well as the pandemic but on top of that many have been killed in the war. A large percentage of civilian casualties belong to women and children. They are one of the main targets in the war meaning they are not only threatened by lack of nutrition and the coronavirus, but by taliban armies as well.

In the attacks of the Afghanistan provinces so far 1,000 civilians have been killed, and around 136 children injured. This has happened relatively recently, over the past week, as violence, especially against children, has rapidly escalated.

We know that this civil war is a power struggle with the Taliban on the offensive. It is a war that has been brewing for many years. We also know that civilian lives are being endangered by poverty, COVID, and war attacks themselves. Children especially are being targeted. While there are some efforts from UNICEF and the UN to give aid to civilians and children during this time, it is not enough. More light must be shed on this humanitarian crisis; the loss of lives is not worth any political takeover. So continue to educate yourself on the Afghanistan war, donate to UNICEF or other humanitarian efforts to bring aid to those affected by the war, and help spread information and awareness to others. It’s the least we can do.