An unforgettable emblem
The Abbey Gate bombing as symbol of a disastrous U.S. exit from Afghanistan
A year ago I was clocking 18-hour days at my desk, tracking Afghans I knew and some I did not during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal and takeover by the Taliban. The rest of the time I couldn’t sleep, thinking in particular about 22 leaders of the Christian house church networks—leadership I’d connected with years ago in Afghanistan—who were sleeping on the ground outside the Kabul airport. On Aug. 25 as this story about them went to press, they were trapped near Abbey Gate. The next morning as I sat down to my laptop (5:36 p.m. Kabul time), the alert popped up of a bombing at the gate. Soon one of my contacts at the airport forwarded images from the site, saying in his text, “These should never be published.”
The sea of carnage at the crowded entry point, bodies strewn in a bloody canal with 13 U.S. Marines and an estimated 160 Afghans killed, is an unforgettable emblem of our dishonorable and disastrous exit from the 20-year war the United States entered in Afghanistan.
One year later what’s changed is that we have less access to the happenings under Taliban rule (and our attention has swerved to Ukraine). But the calamity is far from over. The 22 church leaders managed to escape the airport carnage. Shot at by U.S. military personnel, forced into safe houses and thwarted in a land border crossing, they ultimately made it to safety aboard a privately chartered flight.
Subsequent flights run by Mercury One (and largely funded by Glenn Beck’s Nazarene Fund) brought out thousands of Christians and other religious minorities, all facing written death threats from Taliban and other militants. But the United States has proved reluctant to resettle them, with hundreds currently looking to Brazil, Canada, and other countries for asylum. I’ll be reporting more on their story: Look for it next week.
Welcome to this Aug. 19 edition of Globe Trot. Here a moment of crisis, as in Afghanistan, needs “to find its place in something greater: the prayers of the church, yes, but more, the vast mystery of God, the surety of God’s power, the reassurance of God’s goodness.” (Prayer in the Night by Tish Harrison Warren)
Afghanistan: House Republicans published a scathing report on the Biden-led withdrawal. Their findings include:
far more U.S. citizens were left behind—800 or more—than the 100 to 200 the White House estimated
key Afghan military personnel with security clearances and access to U.S. intelligence were forced to take refuge in Iran
The White House fired back, but The Washington Post and others aren’t taking their side, in particular highlighting the absence one year later of any formal congressional investigation. As Foreign Policy notes: “The Afghanistan Disaster Is Still Missing One Thing: Accountability.”
Ukraine: Families living close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine are starting to the flee the area today amid rising tensions that they fear could result in a nuclear disaster.
As the war crosses its six-month threshold this weekend, Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko (a good follow on Twitter) writes about the gift of the unexpected:
When global media were anticipating Ukraine’s dark fate in February, did many expect the spectacular failure of Russia’s blitzkrieg? Or that the Russian military would turn out to be very far from the forever-victorious space marine force it portrayed itself in its propaganda for decades?
Or that Russia would lose a fleet’s flagship to a nation that has no navy? Or that it would be celebrating a 10-kilometer advance, following months of fierce hostilities, as a Stalingrad-scale victory?
The Post’s series on the war continues.
Henry Kissinger—who at age 99 has just published his 19th book—has drawn controversy by suggesting Ukraine cede territory to Russia to end the war. But he has a word of experience about leadership, the book’s subject. Two archetypes are needed in a world of conflict, he says: the farsighted pragmatism of the statesman and the visionary boldness of the prophet.
Nigeria: Suspected members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) shot their way into St. Agnes Catholic Church in Dinya, a village in Taraba state, abducting Catholic teacher Gideon Tsehemba. The kidnapping comes after more than 20 Christians were killed earlier this month in terrorist attacks in two areas of Taraba state.
In Defense of Christians hosts a panel of experts on Aug. 24 to discuss “Jihad and Christian Persecution in Nigeria: How to Manage a Persistent and Metastasizing Threat.”
When in Jerusalem… Just inside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate is a new multimedia exhibition, “The Experience of Resurrection,” showing events leading up to Jesus’ ascension, what happened after, and a replica of his tomb.
Remembering: Baylor announced the July 21 death of Rodney Stark, 88, the same day that novelist and minister Frederick Buechner died, Aug. 15. A “prolific and pioneering scholar,” Stark’s The Rise of Christianity was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. A lesser noted work about the Crusades, God’s Battalions, stayed on Kindle repeat for me covering Middle Eastern wars.
Buechner, 96, “was a serious Christian who seemed to see what I could feel but couldn’t really articulate: that life is a mystery, a mystery that’s a plotline, a plotline that connects us with the story of Jesus,” writes Russell Moore. Yes. Buechner’s novel Godric, writes Micah Mattix, is one of the best works of fiction in the past 50 years. Read Mattix’s tribute, plus the Twitter threads all week of favorite Buechner quotes at #frederickbuechner.
I’m reading Suffering and the Heart of God by Diane Langberg. Have a refreshing weekend.