Monday, September 21, 2009

Not Just Relief Agencies Bailing Out

Just checking the latest count of Afghan refugees who have taken asylum in Indonesia. The latest count is over 1,300 and that number is low as the real number of asylum seekers is more like 2,400. Now, doesn't this seem silly? Why are the Afghan citizens cramming themselves on tiny boats and floating across the treacherous waters to Indonesia if things are so great at home? These refugees are mostly comprised of displaced Afghans who were in Pakistan and just do not see "home" as a safe place any longer. The even larger groups are mostly from interior Afghanistan and plainly cannot take the insecurity and horrible conditions any longer. With all the aid dollars being pumped into Afghanistan this just makes no sense and should not be happening. It just screams out to the world that there is still so much more work to be done in Afghanistan and that the world needs to step up and continue to stretch our hands out to these desperate people. This is going to be a huge problem for many years to come and will continue to grow worse unless the international community puts pressure on the government to allow more help to be made available to the people of Afghanistan. It is getting way too "top heavy" to do anyone any good. Let's get down to business, the business of helping these people, not hindering them.

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