Afghan schoolgirds. Image by WikiImages from Pixabay
As I watch the fall of Kabul, I am reminded of the fall of Saigon and the people I have known over the years who got out on the last flights and how it scared them. I think of the people I have known who escaped after the fall of Saigon. Many of the people I have known came as refugees to San Diego County and the Camp Pendleton military base. All these years later, the stories are still fresh. Stories of escapes and family left behind. Many books have been written. Try a google search for “Escape from Saigon” and the list is very long.
I was a teenager when Saigon fell and don’t think I really grasped the full significance and horror of it all. At that point in my life, I wasn’t really aware of what happened to my own father when Estonia fell first to the Soviet Union, then the Nazis, and then to the Soviet Union again for many long years. The scars are deep and we keep repeating the pattern. As World War II was ending, the Estonians believed that the west would liberate them from the Soviets, forced deportation to Siberia, and execution for many. But that didn’t happen.
There are thousands of women and girls who supported the USA when we were there (not that I wanted us there) and whose lives are now at risk. No One Left Behind is trying to help US allies at risk get out of Afghanistan. #nolbmoralobligation
Let’s keep our promise to those who supported our troops and get them somewhere safe. Let’s support Afghani women in their question for self-determination. Let’s not repeat Vietnam and WWII and abandon those who were our allies. We have a moral obligation to stand with those who stood with us.
