Malala Yousafzai.Photo: Marla Aufmuth/Getty
Malala Yousafzaiis voicing her concerns over the Taliban’s recent control of Afghanistan.
On Sunday, the 24-year-old human rights activist — who was 15 and a student in Pakistan when a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus andshot her in the face— expressed how she worries for women, minorities and human rights advocates in the country while also calling upon global, regional and local powers to provide aid.
“We watch in complete shock as Taliban takes control of Afghanistan,” shetweeted. “I am deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates.”
Added Yousafzai: “Global, regional and local powers must call for an immediate ceasefire, provide urgent humanitarian aid and protect refugees and civilians.”
In just the past week, outlets includingTheNew York Timesreported that the Taliban seized over a dozen provincial capitals in Afghanistan. The group, which ruled Afghanistan in 1996 until the invasion of U.S. forces post-9/11, is now in control of more than half of the country.
A White House official issued the following statement Sunday morning.
In astatementon Saturday, Biden, 78, said he authorized the deployment “to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance.”
Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty
“It is time for American troops to come home,” Biden said duringa speech from the White Housein April. “We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result.”
In the years since, over 2,000 U.S. troops and more than 100,000 civilians have died or been injured in the years-long conflict.
source: people.com
