Many Afghan Americans protested outside the White House Sunday in support of Afghan civilians following the dramatic fall of the Afghan national government to the Taliban, Fox News reports.
“My family is there. All my people is there. They’re killing all my people,” wept one woman.
Many Afghan civilians crowded the Afghanistan international airport in Kabul in an apparent attempt to flee the country, some so desperate to escape that they held onto an American jet as it took off and plunged to death in an incident that killed at least seven people.
“I have immediate family that’s living in Afghanistan right now. They shut down the airport nobody can fly out – they’re stuck there,” one woman told Fox News.
President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the country despite the Taliban’s swift takeover, saying the U.S. mission was “never supposed to be about nation-building.”
But, he said, the Taliban’s rapid advance, “did unfold more quickly than we anticipated,” he said.
“We’re all incredibly disappointed in President Biden and the administration for pulling out all the troops from Afghanistan literally overnight,” one woman explained to Fox News.
“That was not the only way out,” another protester said.
“It’s all gone back. I feel like it was for nothing,” another woman told Fox News.
Another man agreed: “it’s back to where it was in 1994.”
One protester said she feared for the future. “You’re giving back the power to the people. The same type of people. Savages.”
“This is not just bad for Afghanistan. This is bad for the world. It’s bad for the neighboring countries. It’s bad for America,” she added.
Some protesters voiced concern for the women and girls in Afghanistan as the Taliban takeover puts their rights and lives at stake – when the group last held power, women were denied education and employment opportunities.
“Our girls. The girls who are under 20 don’t know what life is like under Taliban. Their lives are all destroyed. They’re all destroyed,” two women who have family in Afghanistan told Fox News.
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