As a man with a family, I have to admit to having more than a little sympathy for anyone caught in the terrible situation any Afghan with a mindset that is post-14th century CE must have found himself (and particularly herself) in during the Taleban years. However, (there’s always an ‘however’), I do have a slight problem with the fact that, (laudable as this is), these people seemed as focused on providing as good a life as was possible for their loved ones in flying all the way to the UK rather than stopping at the first safe port outside Afghanistan. Their actions bear a close parallel with the many from the same area who traipsed through five to ten safe countries before declaring themselves refugees in far off Australia.
Whilst it’s totally understandable for any man to try to get the best package on offer (or not on offer!) for his family, the sad fact remains (and this is something that seems to escape many well-meaning bleeding hearts who’ve never lived in the Third World) that if everyone who wants to live in the West is allowed to move there, the West will become exactly what these (economic?) ‘refugees’ are escaping from.
It’s not as though this hasn’t happened before. The Roman Empire wasn’t destroyed by marauding armies of armed invaders – it collapsed from within after many thousands of people from its conquered outer provinces moved to Rome to enjoy the better, easier life that was available there… until so many were sharing a slice of the all too finite cake, the cake was no more and Rome collapsed and Europe entered into what became known as the Dark Ages.
Don’t for one moment think it couldn’t happen again. Just try walking down the street in parts of Brixton late at night or catching a tube alone on certain lines at night and you might think we’re already there.
It will undoubtedly be painful for the people involved, but now that the Taleban have been removed from power, if the UK Government doesn’t send each and every one of the people who arrived on that aircraft back to Afghanistan, what in the world were our troops doing there putting their lives on the line for? - a bloody oil pipeline that has yet to be built?
Oh, did I really say that? Silly, silly me.