The picture of the Falling Man, taken within the moments after the 9/11 terror assaults, captured a person’s desperation to flee dying. It confirmed him bisecting the collapsing Twin Towers in New York City, and falling what appeared like an arrow to a shocked world. On a day when a whole bunch died, the 2001 Falling Man picture confirmed somebody truly dying.
About 20 years later, one other picture of a falling man has shocked the world. An Afghan, holding on to a wheel of a US plane flying out of Kabul, appears to be like like a dot within the distant sky as he darts towards the earth and dies. The 2021 picture, equally tough to course of, captures the desperation of hundreds of Afghan civilians to flee the Taliban rule.LONG READ | The rise, fall and rise of Taliban. An Afghan StoryIt’s tough not to think about the quite clichéd adage: ‘An image is price a thousand phrases.’ Because the pictures — although twenty years aside — do what few verbal descriptions can. The first one launched us to a brand new face of worldwide terrorism. The second brings into query so many issues, together with America’s longest struggle that is ending after billions of {dollars} spent and hundreds of lives misplaced. The struggle is ending because it started, with the Taliban ruling Afghanistan.DISCLAIMER: DISTURBING FOOTAGETwo individuals who tied themselves to the wheels of an plane flying from Kabul, tragically fall down. pic.twitter.com/Gr3qwGLrFn— Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) August 16, 2021
The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the Taliban, whom they stated have been harbouring Osama bin Laden and different al-Qaeda figures linked to the 9/11 assaults. The US is estimated to have pumped $1 trillion in sustaining an Afghan authorities and coaching its army.But reviews from Afghanistan advised the US-backed authorities was corrupt at many ranges, defeating the aim for which the US stated it stayed within the nation. Many consider this led to detached loyalties among the many rural and tribal inhabitants of the nation. On the opposite hand, the Taliban obtained energetic help from Pakistan, Saudi Arabian teams, the UAE and Qatar, the place the so-called peace talks have been held. Don’t overlook that the US fought the Afghanistan and Iraq wars concurrently, between 2003 and 2011.ALSO READ | In a graphic: Who are the Taliban 2.0?And now because the US and its allies finish their fight mission in Afghanistan and pace up what many have known as Saigon-like evacuations, according to President Joe Biden’s assertion that he would “not hand over” the Afghan struggle to the fifth US president, the Taliban have taken over the Presidential Palace after recapturing the nation in a lightning offensive.Ashraf Ghani, the US-backed President, has resigned and fled Afghanistan. All this occurred whereas representatives from three sides – the Afghan authorities, the Taliban and the US – have been sitting in plush convention rooms in Doha, Qatar, to debate the switch of energy.But throughout Afghanistan, the pictures are totally different — a scarcity of meals, water and medicines is a standard sight in overcrowded refugee tents. Going by social media vibes, it seems many Afghans consider that the US left them within the lurch with out delivering what they promised to the individuals 20 years in the past once they landed with tanks and fighter planes.ALSO READ | The recurring tragedy of AfghanistanThere are fears of what the return of the Taliban can do. The group had dominated the nation for 5 years till the 2001 US-led invasion. It then saved women from college and ladies from the office. It additionally carried out public executions, chopped off the palms of thieves and stoned ladies accused of adultery. There are additionally considerations that the return of the Taliban might embolden terrorist teams. Prison gates have been opened and dreaded terrorists together with these from ISIS launched.Some would argue that the feelings across the 2001 Falling Man picture, taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew, had some type of closure when the United States Navy SEALs lastly hunted down and killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 in Pakistan’s Abbottabad. As the US faces mounting criticism at dwelling over its pullout, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated that the “mission” in Afghanistan had been achieved and the Afghan tour was “successful”.ALSO READ | Ashraf Ghani: The Afghan president who didn’t make peace with TalibanBut the 2021 picture would possibly simply be manifesting the start of a tragedy that is unfolding and will final years. The man falling off the US plane has come to symbolize the desperation of hundreds of Afghan civilians making an attempt to flee Afghanistan and the Taliban rule, regardless of assurances that the fighters have strict directions to not hurt anybody.