: I Returned to Afghanistan 20 Years Ago to Help My Country. I’m Not Leaving Now #WorldNEWS In the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, a veteran Afghan political activist tells TIME

I Returned to Afghanistan 20 Years Ago to Help My Country. I’m Not Leaving Now #WorldNEWS
In the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, a veteran Afghan political activist tells TIME why despair over the country’s future is misplaced — at least for the moment. TIME agreed to grant him anonymity over concerns for his security. I came back to Afghanistan when the Taliban fell in 2001 because I wanted to make a difference for my country. I was always thinking that Afghanistan had the potential to be a prosperous place. I thought if we could replicate some of the values of the West—the opportunities and investment and entrepreneurship and social openness—that if we could bring in technology, and connect it with the country’s natural resources, that we would be able to create an opportunity for this country to progress. Just because the Taliban has returned does not mean all is lost. If we do things right, there is reason for optimism. U. S. President Joe Biden says that the Taliban won because Afghans weren’t willing to fight. He doesn’t know what he is talking about. The Taliban succeeded because Afghans were fed up with their government and didn’t see why they should fight for it. Should they die so President Ashfraf Ghani could keep running the country into the ground? Should they fight so all the corrupt politicians and old warlords could laugh all the way to the banks? You fight for something that you don’t want to lose. What has the government created that would be worth fighting for? The Afghan flag? A flag has to be wrapped around certain values. When an American flag is raised, it’s not just the Stars and Stripes. It is wrapped around freedom, democracy, a sense of ownership and the promises that the institutions, companies, corporations and government make to the people. It’s education, health care, law enforcement, a legal system. What are we offering wrapped in our flag? Only corruption and incompetence. I do not blame this nation for opening up to the Taliban after what they have been subjected to throughout Karzai and Ghanis reign. Taliban or no Taliban, people wanted to get rid of the status quo. The fact that a guy like Ghani has gone, in some ways its a relief for many of us. He was a drag on everybody, and he should not be let off the hook.
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We have to keep up the pressure to bring change
The fear of the Taliban is justified, for what they did in the past. All fears have a historic background. But it’s also not a proven fact that what happened in the past will happen again. Some people have good reasons to leave, but Afghanistan needs its people more than ever. When I left Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion I had no choice.

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