On August 15, the Afghan government surrendered to the Taliban and agreed to hand over power to them. This puts Afghanistan back in the hands of the Taliban since 2001, when U.S. declared a war against the Taliban. Who is the Taliban? Why did this happen? It is necessary to understand the history of Afghanistan and the Taliban and the current situation.

Then, it would be meaningful to think about South Korea because this crisis is also related to Korea. This article aims to examine Korea's past events in comparison to Afghanistan, and to explore the future that Korea must move forward. The UOS Times hopes that the readers will consider how the current situation relates to Korea and why Korea should pay attention to it.

Afghanistan’s History and Current Situation

The Taliban was formed in 1994. Amid the chaos of the 3rd Afghan civil war, Mohammed Omar formed an Islamic fundamentalist militant organization, the Taliban. They claimed to end the civil war and stabilize the country, winning the support of the public who had been tired of the tyranny of warlords. In 1996, the Taliban took over the capital, Kabul, becoming the de facto official government of Afghanistan. The Taliban suppressed civilians with the rule of terror. They focused on repression, such as a total ban on women's social activities and the screening of television and movies.

However, in 2001, U.S. invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban that supported al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, the main culprits of the September 11 attacks. With this war in Afghanistan, U.S. overthrew the Taliban regime and established the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, but while U.S. went to war in Iraq, the remnants of the Taliban were not wiped out.

The war continued for approximately 20 years. In 2021, the U.S. President Joe Biden announced that U.S. would withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. After the withdrawal of US forces, the Taliban won back-to-back victories against the Afghan government forces. Consequently, on August 15, 2021, the Taliban became the ultimate victor in the war in Afghanistan.

Now, there are constant testimonies that the Taliban are perpetrating atrocities and committing war crimes, including the massacre of civilians. Women are the most affected. They are the group with the highest casualties. Since the Taliban asserts that it is immoral for women to be seen by men, they force women to wear burka, which covers the whole body. They also insist that women should not go out unless they are in an absolutely necessary situation. As a result, overwhelmed by the fear of being beaten or killed, women disappeared from the streets. Not only that, but the Taliban have beaten a man just for wearing jeans, and shot Afghan reporters working for Western media. This is because they force people to wear Islamic clothes and reject foreign power. Civilians are reliving the rule of terror of the past, with their basic freedoms being suppressed.

Korea’s Past: the pain of Korean War

This year marks the 71st anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Afghanistan has a history similar to that of Korea. Afghanistan was supported by U.S. for 20 years but collapsed in an instant. During the Korean War, Korean troops gave up Seoul just three days after the U.S. withdrawal. Above all else, it is necessary to pay attention to the suffering of civilians.

During the Korean War, about 140,000 soldiers and over 1 million civilians died. In their newly occupied area, both South and North Korean forces brutally killed civilians, who had had no choice but to cooperate with the other side.

In the war in Afghanistan, even the U.S. soldiers sometimes slaughtered innocent civilians. In one instance, U.S. soldiers attacked by militants randomly opened fire on nearby villages, killing civilians. In 2010, the “Kill Team” incident, in which U.S. Army soldiers gathered to massacre civilians and even photographed them, took place.

There is also a similar case. On the night of August 15, people who were trying to escape from Afghanistan flocked to Kabul Airport and entered the opened U.S. transport plane. Instead of unloading them, the pilots loaded them up and flew to the U.S. base in Qatar. In the case of Korea, the Hungnam Evacuation Operation safely transported 14,500 refugees from Heungnam to Geoje Island in 1950. The ship was not originally mandated to carry refugees, but Captain Leonard LaRue made the decision to transport them. Photos of hundreds of Afghan civilians riding on like cargo with no space to set foot reminded many people of Korea’s painful past.

The UOS Times hopes that the Koreans think of the Afghan crisis as their business, not someone else's. The pain the Afghan civilians suffered from the war is the same as Koreans suffered in the past. It feels bad that what happened long ago in 1950 serves as a comparative case for what is happening in 2021. Korea must not ignore the suffering of innocent civilians and must help them get out of the pain.

Korea’s Future: efforts for self-defense

Currently, South Korea is far from the situation in Afghanistan. The war is a thing of the past, and South Koreans now live in a democratic society, and the country has developed with incredible speed. However, the situation in Afghanistan teaches Korea a great lesson: the importance of efforts for self-defense in one's country.

U.S. President Joe Biden said that the U.S. military should not fight and die in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. This means that the Afghan government and troops were not willing to fight for their country. Afghanistan received 1,200 trillion U.S. aid for 20 years and had more than 300,000 soldiers, but the administration collapsed three months after the U.S. troops left. Experts say that corruption in the Afghan administration is the cause of the situation.

In fact, the number of Afghan troops was actually one-sixth, and the rest were ghost soldiers listed only in military records. Various supplies and equipment leaked out of the army and were used to satisfy the self-interest of the warlords. The massive U.S. funds suddenly fell into the pockets of Afghan officials. In this situation, the salaries of the soldiers and police officers were delayed for several months, and the morale of the soldiers was low. They did not try to defend their country. Therefore, the result was the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the conquest of the Taliban.

Afghanistan has shown Korea that a country that does not try to defend itself can no longer receive any help, and that there is no permanent alliance. Korea is a divided country, and the Korean War is not yet over. It is Korea’s responsibility to make a better future by trying to protect the country on its own, and if they fail, they will fully suffer the damage caused by it.

Korea’s Future: pros and cons of accepting refugees

Afghanistan has made Korea think about one major issue: refugees. The plan to temporarily accommodate Afghan refugees at the U.S. base in Korea was abolished, but several Afghans who cooperated with Korea were transferred to Korea as special contributors. They lie in the dissatisfaction and welcome of Koreans.

Korea was once a refugee country, too. In 1950, the UN formed an organization called UNKRA, the UN Korea Reconstruction Agency. UNKRA was responsible for rebuilding Korea to a pre-war level and caring for refugees from the war. A question has been raised: Is it appropriate for Korea, which has received help from many countries and is now a developed country, to show a hostile attitude toward refugees?

However, several hard problems remain, such as refugees’ residential problems, language problems, economic support problems, and negative perceptions of domestic people. In the case of Muslim refugees, there is a concern about whether they can assimilate into the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights. In addition, precedents in Europe, which suffered from numerous felonies, terrorism, and cultural conflicts after accepting refugees, reinforce negative public opinion against refugees.

It is natural for people to be concerned about the risks that can be caused by refugees. However, from a long-term perspective, it is likely that it will be difficult for Korea to completely avoid its moral responsibility. Since Korea is not ready to accept refugees, what happens after acceptance is more of a problem than whether to accept refugees. Therefore, it seems better for Korea to find a way for refugees to fit well with Korean society. Deciding whether to accept refugees in the future could depend on whether they will be able to integrate into Korean society.

Conclusion

As such, the situation in Afghanistan reminds Korea of the past war and makes Koreans think about the future. Korean society must continue to pay attention to the suffering of Afghanistan civilians, especially those who are socially disadvantaged. Moreover, it is time for Koreans to think about the state of Korea as a divided country, the importance of defending the country on their own, and whether they should accept refugees. The UOS Times hopes that this article will give readers an opportunity to consider the meaning of this incident, rather than looking at it as someone else’s incident that has nothing to do with them.