A Matter of Life and Death?

The recent evacuation of people from Kabul international airport was presented as a matter of life and death. And yet among those spirited out of Afghanistan were two paralympians who wanted to compete in  Tokyo. Since when was taking part in the Tokyo Games a matter of life and death? Did this pair take places in the evacuation that should have gone to people with much more to lose under the new Taliban regime in Kabul? And who else got a seat that could have gone to someone with a legitimate fear of the Taliban? And let's not go into the morality of airlifting 150 cats and dogs instead of people. Many Afghans would have been delighted to fly out in the cargo hold.  Too much was the western media's coverage of Afghanistan has involved interviewing the English-speaking chattering classes in Kabul. Kabul is no more of a microcosm of Afghanistan than London is of the United Kingdom. What I want to know is what is happening to ordinary Afghans.