Thread by @JaneFerguson5

1. Gentle rant thread: When I see comments posted below stories on the humanitarian crisis in #Afghanistan and many tweets on here, it makes me sad to witness people equate ordinary Afghans, millions of human beings just trying to survive impossible odds, with the #Taliban.

2. [I have spent my whole career trying to draw attention to the fact that wars are fought by a tiny minority of people, amongst a massive group who feel the worst impact of it. They are the civilians. I worry in no small degree sometimes that I’ve failed in that.] #afghanistan

3. The impact of war is increasingly causing economic collapse and #famine. Whether on purpose (in places like #SouthSudan and #Syria), as an unintended side effect (as in #Afghanistan) or somewhere between (like in #Yemen). So these conflict induced crises are@not going away.

4. I worry about a refusal to see even the most obvious humanist nuances, like the difference between a civilian trying to survive whatever regime shows up at his village, and the regime itself. I’m not talking policy here, but our private, emotional response. Our compassion.

5. We see arguments that are inaccurate, often used to justify a lack of compassion. Like ‘maybe if they had fought for their country...’ #Afghan security forces fought and died in devastating numbers, the casualty rates were unprecedented. [Politicians surrendered and fled.]

6. We see the argument “let the #Taliban figure all this out - it’s their mess”. There is truth here, but it won’t negate two truths. Firstly, the civilians who are suffering remain innocent. And secondly, millions of those innocents could die. #afghanistan

7. The implications of lack of compassion worry me because I think we ‘other’ people to do so. They are strangers who have a dysfunctional way of being and sometimes they pay the price,
I hear underneath the arguments. This can be applied to conflicts all over the world.

8. Anyway, I’m not arguing for this or that policy and hope I’m not moralizing or finger wagging. I’m just worried about the slow creep of our collective acceptance of people starving. Why is war and its implications so acceptable to us? Can we make it unacceptable? #afghanistan