Social Media Reaction to Afghan Attacks
By: Solmaz Sharif
Kabul and several other cities in Afghanistan were rocked by gunfire and explosions on Sunday, April 15, 2012 as the Taliban launched one of the largest co-ordinated attack on national and foreign targets in their 11-year insurgency. The Interior Minister, Bismillah Mohammadi, said in a press conference held on April 16 in Kabul, that the Taliban attacks resulted in 48 deaths and 65 injuries.
The fear of these attacks not only influenced people living in Afghanistan, but was also spread among the Afghan community online through social media.
Parwiz Kawa, an Afghan journalist, expressed his feelings about the attacks on his Facebook page: “I can’t forget the fear in the eyes of Afghan children on their way to school today and I, thus, can’t forgive the ‘men’ who caused this. Whoever makes peace with you, will become my enemy because these attacks proved that making peace with you is impossible and pointless.”
Najieh Gholami, an Afghan TV host based in London, also wrote on Facebook: “It’s after midnight in my city, Kabul, and people still hear the gunfire sound. Kabul’s children think of their future and I think of the past. My past and those children’s present are tied together. My city still is awake of the gunfire sounds. Alas, there is no peace.”
Kayhan Iran, an Emmy award winning writer and activist, currently works in Kabul helping Afghan people through art. She stated on her blog: “I’m Alright … But It’s Not OK.”
Keyhan continued, “Some young men, this afternoon, were trying something; filled with fear, rage and hopelessness. I thought about the poor victims, their families. And then I wondered about the lives of these fighters. How dark and confused must their way be? Six men against national and international armies isn’t a fair fight, and they know it. They know that the most they can do is disrupt things for a day or two before dying in the fight. It saddens me that no one had a candle for them. No one could help them see a future worth living for. They had given up on life.”
