From a refugee to United Nations
Dear United Nations,
Look at Afghanistan, where terrorism has triumphed. Taliban invaded Afghanistan, threatening democracy, human rights, and international security. Despite your mission as a global peacekeeping body, you have failed to defend democracy and human rights in Afghanistan. Aren’t our people human? Do we not deserve security and peace? Do we not need better living standards? You probably do not understand the pain of war and homelessness.
I know these words are hard to read. I know they sound of violence and anger. I am writing to help you understand what my people and I experienced as a consequence of your decisions. I am a 22-year-old refugee from Afghanistan. I buried a world of dreams and aspirations in Afghanistan and immigrated because of war and terrorism.
On August 15, 2021, it only took two hours for my years of effort to just vanish forever. Not only mine, but with the collapse of our country a whole generation of young Afghans watched their visions and efforts crumble to dust, rotating the clock back 20 years. In recent years, Afghanistan had nurtured a vibrant generation. A generation that had thousands of aspirations and visions for their country’s future. The schools were full of students. The universities were colorful with bright young faces. Young people were active in every field. In the media, the government, the private sector, medicine, politics, science and research, and even the security forces. We had new hopes for Afghanistan’s future. We thought we were on track for a better future. We believed that soon our generation will bring positive changes in Afghanistan, but everything was reversed.
I wanted to tell you in exact words what we experienced while you were just watching. You watched a country fall into the hands of Taliban. You watched how history repeated itself, and how was suffocated of its life overnight. You watched how a homeland, a government and a nation collapse. You watched as the visions of the people were reduced to rubble and you watched as a nation fell into further misery.
Who is responsible for this situation in Afghanistan? There are many possible factors. Yet it is the UN’s lack of acting on behalf of Afghanistan that particularly hurts the most, especially to me and other young Afghans who were raised to believe in the power of the West and global alliances.
We appreciate your help and support over the past 20 years but we will also not forget the traitors of our homeland and silence of the United Nations. We will write that the United Nations allowed a group on its blacklist to occupy Afghanistan. We will write that the United Nations only watched as Afghans fought for their lives. We will write that the United Nations invited Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani, to represent our Afghan women and youth. We will write that the UN staged Imran Khan to seek legitimacy for the Taliban. We will write that the United Nations was just a spectator to the atrocities carried out in Afghanistan. We will write that killing a child, a mother, or a family was not a crime in the eyes of the United Nations in our country. We will write that the immigration of thousands of people from their land was indifferent to the United Nations. We will write that the United Nations was silent.
It is a long story but what I do know is that this time history will remember all the traitors.
Manipulating history in the 21st century is impossible to go unnoticed. At least we will not allow history to be manipulated. We will write and narrate it honestly and without fear so that it will be clear to future generations. Therefore, they should be able to learn from the true history of Afghanistan in the past two decades and they will be capable to use it as a mirror for their decisions ahead.
We will not forget that the United Nations ignored the blood of thousands of Afghan soldiers who fought for freedom, democracy, and humanity. History will not forget our excruciating pain and your silence.
