Twenty years ago, on Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda, with the aid and blessing of Afghan Taliban leaders, planned and carried out the horrifying murder of almost 3,000 Americans. This was not the first attack planned and carried out against Americans by its leader Osama bin Laden—since-killed, courtesy of SEAL Team 6.
When our nation required the Taliban to turn over the perpetrators, it denied us justice. Therefore, appropriately, the U.S. military took care of business.
Every president since George W. Bush has tried to limit or end U.S. engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. has been drawing down troops since the Obama administration. Former President Donald Trump was very eager to thoughtfully end U.S. engagement. The question was never if, but how?
The U.S. was down to only 2,500 troops, and Trump administration officials were working on a thoughtful exit strategy. By contrast, the U.S. has about 28,000 troops stationed currently in South Korea.
Unfortunately, the Biden administration reportedly refused to listen to military leaders and intelligence officials’ warnings and instead thoughtlessly withdrew our troops, leaving billions of dollars of U.S. equipment in the hands of terrorists, but more importantly, leaving U.S. personnel and allies in harm’s way.
The current humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan goes beyond the loss of American lives and treasure. It now also means the targeting of Americans, allies that worked with us, and the rape and torture of Afghan women and girls at the hands of the Taliban.
News reports of Taliban abuse are almost more than one can process. Parents are told to mark an “X” on their home if they have a daughter 12 or over to make it easier for the Taliban to collect and distribute these young girls to Taliban terrorists.
Due to its view of Shariah law, the Taliban treats females as objects, available to the service of men. They are not allowed to attend school, to work outside the home, or even be outside showing their faces. They risk becoming sex slaves, being whipped, stoned, or otherwise publicly executed.
As the leader of the nation’s largest women public policy organization, Concerned Women for America, I’ve watched closely and have spoken out against this decimation of each woman’s right to freedom. But where are the leftist women’s groups?
While thousands of women and girls’ lives are at stake, the so-called feminist groups, who claim to be concerned about defending women’s rights, strangely are silent. Planned Parenthood, National Organization, and Ultra Violet have all remained silent online. We aren’t seeing the same women who wore “pussy hats” and marched in the streets concerned about this total attack on a woman’s very existence.
President Joe Biden’s decision has sparked the worst humanitarian crisis in decades. People’s dreams and hopes have been replaced by fear and terror for the future to come. Afghans who fought along the U.S. troops to defeat the Taliban, risking their lives for a better future, have also been abandoned and their families will suffer for their work with the United States.
It is shocking to see the president of the most powerful country in the world surrendering to a group of thugs and killers, handing over his power, and forgetting about these women and girls. Instead of taking action, he is pleading with a terrorist group to respect their lives.
It is heartbreaking to think that Afghan girls born during the last 20 years who once dreamed of becoming doctors, engineers, and architects are seeing their dreams falling apart, living in fear for their future and their lives.
At one point, the world saw the U.S. as the world’s most powerful country, the country to bring hope, a country willing to risk the lives of its own to save other’s lives. Today, the world sees a weak country and incompetent president who turned his back on thousands of women and girls who once dreamed of freedom.
Concerned Women for America has its arms open to embrace those women and girls. Our call to our government is to not turn our backs on our allies. The leftist women may not care, but we do.
Please join us either in person or on Concerned Women for America’s Facebook page on Wednesday, Aug. 25, at 11 a.m. EST at Lafayette Park, outside the White House, for a prayer vigil to ask for God’s protection and to remind our president of our responsibility to honor our word.
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