The Danger of Misdirection

Nov 21, 2023

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Introduction

Hi, happy Sunday. I’m Carla with Raised to Walk, and these are just some thoughts on a Sunday. Today’s topic is the dangers of misdirection.

So, what I do on these weekly livestream updates is I just share a few thoughts, and then I also give an update about where we’re at helping some Afghan Christians in their immigration journey.

Background: How I Got Involved

I got involved in this a year ago, when I filled in teaching some Bible studies for some Afghan Christians who are currently in Pakistan. These were classes that my friend Mark Ritchie had been teaching. I had been teaching some classes for him with Pakistanis for about a year at this point.

When I started teaching the Bible studies in Pakistan in October of 2021 via Zoom, but I filled in on the classes with the Afghans. The big concern among the Afghans at the time was that Pakistan had given an order that the Afghan refugees would be arrested and deported if they didn’t have valid visas by December 31st. So there was a really big effort to try to get them straightened out. We were looking at different immigration options for them and just trying to figure out what to do to keep them safe.

While that was all going on, Mark had some health issues in December of 2022, and I took over the Bible studies with the Afghans, and I’ve been teaching them ever since. I do teach a Bible study for the Afghan Christians once a week. Then also, our Bible study at church has also continued as a hybrid class, so there’s a Zoom option for people who can’t make it, and quite a few of the Afghans will join us on Sundays for my Bible study.

That’s what we’ve been doing — I’ve been teaching Bible studies, and also I’ve been learning about the interaction between Afghanistan and Pakistan, our ridiculous immigration system in the US, and our failure to follow through on our promises to our Afghan allies. So it’s all been an education.

Mark brought in his friend Don Shire, and Don Shire has an international ministry called Don Shire Ministries International. You can go to it at donshireministries.org, and he agreed that if donations are made to his ministry and you select “Raised to Walk,” that money will be allocated to these Afghan Christians. So anyway, we’ve just been trying to keep them going and trying to get them to the next step.

If you would like to help in that journey, you can again go to donshireministries.org, select Raised to Walk, and donations there will be allocated to our people. If you send me a message at contact@raisedtowalk.org, that’s helpful — sometimes I don’t get notifications of the donations for a little while after that, so if you let me know when they’re coming, that’s also helpful.

The Dangers of Misdirection

Timestamp: 00:03:50

The topic of the stream today is the dangers of misdirection, and I think sometimes this kind of goes into seeking God’s will — it doesn’t just kind of go into it, it does go into seeking God’s will. Sometimes you’ve had a word from God about a thing that’s going to happen, or you’ve been praying about a certain thing, and something looks like the answer, the fulfillment of the promise. And I think it’s always at the moment when God’s blessing is about ready to come, right there, that the biggest danger is.

The Example of Abraham and Sarah

I think the clearest biblical example of this is Abraham. He’d been told by God that God was going to make him a father of many nations, that Sarah would have a son. Sarah didn’t believe that, and so she was thinking, “I’m too old, I’m not going to have a child.” So she gave Abraham her handmaid, Hagar, which caused all kinds of problems and conflict, because she didn’t trust God. The promise took a long time in coming, and she didn’t think the promise was going to come.

Then finally, strangers come, and Abraham is hosting an angel of the Lord, who is telling Abraham that this time next year, Sarah’s going to have a child. She laughs — she doesn’t think it’s going to be coming, because she thinks they’re way too old for any child to be born. I think it’s in Hebrews that the writer says their bodies were as good as dead, that it was almost like life from death, because they were way beyond the age when they should have been able to have a child.

Right then, at this moment, there’s this account where — this has happened repeatedly throughout the story of Abraham’s life — Sarah is very beautiful, and so when they’re going through different countries, the rulers of the country see Sarah and want her, and Abraham is afraid they’re going to kill him to have Sarah. He gives Sarah over to these rulers. This happens multiple times — he’s basically pimping her out for his own safety. Nobody ever says that, but that’s actually what’s going on. Sarah’s infertility is really actually a protection for her, so that she would not have a child during one of these times when Abraham’s handing her over for his own safety.

This is a reality: Abraham was a human being just like everyone else. He did have faith that God was somehow going to fulfill the promise, but that didn’t mean he was always acting faithfully.

So anyway, it happens again — they’re in this country, Abimelech sees Sarah and he wants her. And you have to think — I’ve heard people say, “Why would he want to steal the 75-year-old woman?” And I’m thinking, there must have been some sort of regeneration too, right — some restoration of youth, almost — and that must have been what was going on. Maybe she’s like Martha Stewart — have you seen her? She’s probably about Sarah’s age. Have you seen what she looks like? She looks amazing, she looks like she could still be modeling (she used to be a model).

But anyway, so Abimelech takes her, and then God appears to Abimelech and says, “This is a prophet’s wife — if you touch her, you are a dead man.” Abimelech goes to Abraham and says, “What are you doing to me? Why are you causing me to sin? You lied to me.” And Abraham says, “Well, I’m afraid.”

This was a misdirection — it was an attempt to misdirect the promise of God.

Because if God had opened her womb so that she was able to have children — the angel had told Abraham that this time next year Sarah’s going to have a child — this is just at the moment where she’s going to conceive a child, and someone comes in and takes her, and Abraham lets Abimelech walk off with the promised blessing that God had promised. He’s like, “Okay, what the heck.” You have to realize how good God is — that even in the middle of Abraham’s cowardice, God is still protecting the promised blessing that He promised to Abraham. But that was a misdirection.

The Account of Abraham, Sarah, & Abimelech: Genesis 20

Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.

3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”

4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”

6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”

8 Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” 10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?”

11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

14 Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.”

16 To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekels[a] of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.”

17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

From a commentary on this chapter:

When Abimelech takes Sarah with Abraham’s permission, God abruptly enters into the situation to protect her, speaking to Abimelech in a dream (20:6-7). After God informs him that Sarah is really Abraham’s wife, Abimelech confronts Abraham, (20:9-10). In response, Abraham seeks to justify his actions, with an elaborate series of reasons, which may or may not be true (20:11-13). He even blames God (20:13)! But, even given Abraham’s intricate rationalization of his behavior, Abimelech refuses to respond in kind. He maximizes Sarah’s welfare, restores her honor, and loads them up with gifts.

Perhaps uncomfortably to us, this text shows that God is present and active among such outsiders to the faith. God engages “non-Christians” in dialogue and uses them to be teachers of the community of faith. We are invited to see that many of the good things in our daily life have been generated by the wisdom and common sense of the Abimelechs of this world. They can even become our confessors, speaking a sharp prophetic word to us.[1]

Applying the Lesson

I think that is true for us as well — that whenever we’re on the edge of the blessing, on the edge of a promise, that’s the time when we have to be most careful, because there’s going to be something come in right before that fulfillment of the blessing that God has for us, to get us off on the wrong track.

I’ve read commentary about the time of Jesus, where there were all these claimants to being the Messiah, because everybody knew the Messiah was coming soon. So it wasn’t just Jesus who was walking around Judea and preaching — there were a bunch of people, all this noise. So even though people knew the time was there, and that the time had come for the Messiah, there were a lot of things conflicting for people’s attention and confusing the situation.

A Personal Story of Misdirection

Timestamp: 00:10:30

One of the reasons I was thinking about this — I mentioned in last week’s livestream, talking about watching out for snakes, that situation I had gone through this year with somebody who was causing me problems. If you want to hear more of the story, I started talking about it back in April or May — it was called “Watching Out for Manipulation,” when I started that series talking about manipulators and manipulation.[2] [3]

But the reason I got connected with this person was that a friend of mine had made a suggestion — he said, “Oh, you should do this,” and I was like, “Oh, that sounds like a great idea.” And it was a good idea — my friend did not tell me to get connected with this particular person, but this person just kind of appeared on the scene right after that, and it seemed like it was a good thing.

I did not pray about it. I mentioned last week there were multiple warning signs that I ignored right at the beginning. Long story short, it ended up that the time I invested in it was a waste. I basically wasted a year of my life — there were other things I could have been working on, a lot of other things I could have been working on besides this project with this person. That’s besides the fact of just having to deal with the issues that this person was causing, which really kind of derailed me again from more projects I could have been doing besides helping the Afghans. It was just really kind of massive misdirection, and it cost me time and emotional energy and money.

So, getting out of it and discovering the scope of the danger of the situation was the grace of God, because it was information I just kind of came across, but it could have been a lot more damaging than it was if that situation had continued. It was a case where my friend’s idea, his suggestion, was good — but it was “right plan, wrong person.” That person was the misdirection.

A New Discernment Dilemma

There’s something that came up just recently that I am having to really pause and consider and pray about. I was talking with the Afghans, and I was telling them that I need a certain thing — there’s a particular type of connection that I need. I got a contact from someone that could be maybe exactly what I need. I had actually tried to make this contact a year ago, and then all of a sudden they replied. It could be what I need, but then I was thinking about it — there are some conditions with this connection — this could be misdirection.

I guess I’m just going to have to pray about it. The consequences, if it’s a misdirection and not the right thing, would be a lot more severe than the other situation — this could cause me a lot more problems than the one I was dealing with before. So anyway, that has been my dilemma this week — what do I do about that, how do I respond to it, because if it is an answer to prayer, I don’t want to miss it, I want to take advantage of it.

Recognizing Answered Prayer

I think a lot of times God gives us answers to prayer and we miss them. If you’re praying for something, think — what would that look like if God answered your prayer? What would that look like? Because I think sometimes either we don’t really think God’s going to answer, and so we miss it, or the answer comes in a different way than we expected.

Example — the translator: This week in our Bible study, we didn’t actually do the Bible study itself; we just had a little bit of a chat, because my normal translators weren’t there. I said, “Okay, well, we’re going to have to find another translator.” Literally, not even an hour later — I think it was like 20 minutes — I got a message from somebody. There’s somebody in our group I’ve talked about before — he’s like the “miracle-working chicken farmer” that I mentioned, who was able to get passports, visas, UNHCR certifications, and he’s supposed to be getting a referral to Germany — they told him they’re going to resettle him in Germany. I was like, this is literally the hand of God with him.

You know how Catholics consider somebody a saint? I guess they don’t pray to saints, but they ask saints to basically be their prayer partners, I guess is the way to consider it. On one of the segments for An Unexpected Journal, our Saints and Sanctuary issue, there’s Teresa Pihl — she talks about how one saint is her prayer partner, and this whole situation — it’s still a little weird for me. But anyway, talking about this guy — they consider them saints, as if you ask for intercession on the part of this person and a miracle happens. This guy — I swear, when you are in his church in Germany, he is a person you want praying for you, because the hand of God is with him, literally.

So anyway, within 20 minutes after the class ended, somebody had contacted me and said, “Yeah, this person — I know him, I’m friends with him, and he can translate.” I was like, awesome — that was a total answer to prayer, and it came fast.

Example — My Parents

Then I was talking to — I guess this was last week — I was talking to my dad. He had called about something else, but he started talking about these projects he wanted to do, and he was telling me about multiple people who had wanted to help him and didn’t want to charge him for it, and he’s like, “No, I’m not going to do that.”

I said, “Dad, if somebody wants to help you, you let them help you.”

My parents have given so much help to so many people over the years — my dad has given so much free advice to people, and they literally made their fortune off the advice and help my dad gave them for free, for no compensation whatsoever. If somebody wants to help you and bless you, let them.

I had actually had this on my prayer list — I had even asked people in my apologetics group, “Hey, can you keep this on your prayer list,” for help for my mom specifically, but for my parents. And I was like, God answered my prayer, and they turned it down. I was like, oh my goodness.

The moral of the story: If you’re praying for something for someone else, and they haven’t specifically asked for it — even if they have asked for it, because sometimes even we ask for it and we’re not really open to it — pray also that God makes them willing to receive the answer to the prayer. Otherwise God can be answering the prayer over and over and over again, and God doesn’t force blessings on people — we have free will, and we can refuse it, and sometimes we do. So expect God to answer prayers, and also pray for the people you’re praying for, that they’re willing to receive it.

But anyway,  — this one particular situation — I’m going to have to get some clarity on what I should do, whether this is my answer to prayer or if it’s misdirection.

Afghanistan and Pakistan Update

Timestamp: 00:20:40

Deportations Continue

So, on to Afghans and Pakistan — it’s still not good.Afghans are still being deported by Pakistan. SIGAR, which is the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, is a commission that oversees US actions in Afghanistan, and they do quarterly reports. They have said that Pakistan is handing Afghan allies over to the Taliban in this mass deportation, and they’re being arrested.

@SIGARHQ IG – November 14, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @SIGARHQ IG Sopko: We believe many of the Afghans SIGAR referred are currently at risk of deportation and being handed over to Taliban officials, who have issued arrest warrants for them, ransacked their homes, and threatened their lives[4]

The State Department’s “Helpline”

I had mentioned a couple weeks ago that the State Department had put up a helpline in case Afghans were harassed or arrested, so they could call and get advice on visas and maybe some help. But the helpline was a Virginia number, which was completely, completely unhelpful to Afghans in Pakistan. How many of them have international calling? I had been mocking them on Twitter — this is ridiculous, they can’t even get a WhatsApp number. This just shows how completely inept our State Department is, and how completely unaware they are of the reality of the situation of the people they’re supposed to be serving.

So anyway, it turns out they actually did get a WhatsApp number, but they can only text on it — they can call on the helpline and text on the WhatsApp number. So I guess eventually they do catch a clue.

@afghanevac – November 16, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @afghanevac Big news: #Afghans in Pakistan can now reach the emergency hotline for those being detained or deported via phone or WhatsApp text! The hours are Mon-Sat, 8AM through midnight ISL time. WhatsApp (text only): +1(956) 291-4571 Phone: +1 757-916-4100[5]

@shawnjvandiver  – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @shawnjvandiver This is a massive win for Afghans and a direct result of feedback from the @afghanevac team. An unqualified win. Thank you @StateDept == Great news, @StateDept has launched a form for Afghans seeking family reunification to get status updates! We don’t yet know what turnaround times will be but at the very least there is now a way for Afghans to get answers themselves. Thank you CARE![6]

A New Form for Family Reunification

Also this just came out a couple days ago, the State Department put out a form, so if Afghans need help and need some advice on immigration paths, they can submit to — I think it’s USCIS — just so they have some idea of who’s where. There’s an organization called Afghan Evac, which is  a coalition of what were originally unofficial people and some immigration organizations, coming together and networking together. They were promoting it, and I’m thinking, okay, that’s nice, but what good is it going to actually do? It was specifically about family reunification visas. There wasn’t a lot of detail on it, so I’m not sure if it’s family reunification for Afghans who were evacuated in 2021, for their families, because it didn’t say that. I don’t know what the intent was. It just said “Afghans, family reunification visas.”

Note 2026: I originally linked to this page in the article.

https://www.state.gov/afghanistan-family-reunification

Not only has the page since been deleted, but it’s been completely scrubbed from Archive.org

A Specific Family’s Case

I’ve talked about this one particular family group quite a bit. There’s a brother and a sister living with their families in the same apartment in Islamabad. They have a sister in the US. Their youngest brother was killed by the Taliban when their sister became a Christian. She got asylum in the US, and she got her parents and her youngest sister to the US on a family reunification visa. They filed for family reunification visas for the two remaining siblings who were in Afghanistan at the time. The brother and the brother-in-law both worked for a US contractor in Afghanistan, and based on that they can apply for an SIV application, but their SIV applications are just sitting there. Their sister, who’s a US citizen, also submitted humanitarian parole applications based on the fact that they’re Christians.

The reason they left Afghanistan in 2021: the brother was just taking the sister to the hospital. The Taliban runs checkpoints and checks people’s phones. They left their phones at home because they knew their phones would be checked. If you just have a Bible app on your phone,  you could be beaten, arrested, and maybe killed. I know of a family where the husband was arrested and convicted, just because he had a Bible app on his phone. I know another family where the brother was beaten very badly when he was stopped at a checkpoint for the same reason. It’s very common.

So anyway, I have pictures of the brother and sister when they were beaten at this stop at this checkpoint, because they didn’t have their phones with them. After that, they escaped Afghanistan and went to Pakistan, and they’ve been waiting there ever since. This family has applications with the US and also in other countries. Their sister is literally trying to find anywhere she can get them to safety.

I created a WhatsApp group and sent the sister the information about the form that just came out. The State Department said this is for family reunification visas for Afghans, so maybe they will look at it, because supposedly, at least, the State Department is making a show of an effort. I don’t know if they actually are, but at least they’re trying to pretend they are.

Six or Seven Months of Follow-Up

The sister said she had recently called USCIS — because she doesn’t just file the application, she literally follows up on these applications. I was talking to her about the visas probably six or seven months ago and she said that her closest USCIS office is in Portland (she’s in Vancouver), and she called to check on the status of the humanitarian parole application. The Portland USCIS office said they had sent it to DC. So it’s like they’re consolidating all the humanitarian parole applications for Afghans, I guess, in the main office. Field offices aren’t even processing them. It’s a tight control of the processing.

I mentioned before that there was a Freedom of Information request by an immigration organization, and they have proof that the State Department basically blocked processing of humanitarian parole applications. They literally shut down the processing of Afghan applications.

So anyway, there was a “show of effort” with the form. Their sister said, “I recently called USCIS” — this is after all the notices about Pakistan deporting Afghans. From what I’m hearing from the people who are there, it sounds to me like it’s not even just people who don’t have valid visas — they are literally planning on deporting Afghans even if they do have valid visas. There are accounts of Pakistan deporting people who have been registered as refugees in Pakistan (which is a whole separate process), people who have UNHCR certifications, people who are waiting for evacuation, and who have visas and applications in process with multiple countries. The status doesn’t even matter.

She had recently contacted USCIS, and they wanted evidence that the siblings were at risk. She’s like, “How can I prove that they’re at risk unless they’ve already been arrested?” It was ridiculous. I said, “This person and this person were arrested, this is happening” I have videos of when one of the people was arrested. Basically, USCIS is saying they’re not at risk until the worst has already happened and they’ve been arrested and deported.

Keep in mind: they have a family member who’s already been killed by the Taliban — dead is pretty much a risk, right? They have a letter where the Taliban said they’re going to hunt all of the family down and kill them — that’s already happened. They’ve already been beaten by the Taliban — that’s already happened. And that’s in the humanitarian parole application, which is over 1,000 pages long.

She said they know it, but it’s like they keep throwing up stupid questions — “Okay, jump through another hoop, jump through another hoop, jump through another hoop” — before they’re going to do anything. So I don’t know, maybe they’re just literally that inept. I don’t know if this form from the Afghan Evac team is going to consolidate the people who need help and advocate for them. I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem to me like it has anything to do with the State Department, because when they talk to them at the offices, they’re still clueless.

It’s just a complete lack of empathy. I’ve talked about that before, it’s like they don’t see them as real human beings, like they’re just filling in boxes on a piece of paper, like it doesn’t have any impact on people’s lives. It’s absolutely ridiculous. They’re trying to act like they’re doing something but I don’t know that the State Department is actually doing anything. I kind of doubt it, based on the other things I’ve been hearing.

@RaisedtoWalk – November 16, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @RaisedtoWalk Forms are great … what are they going to do with them? Has the @statedept The sibling with two families sitting at risk in Pakistan that have family reunification visas/SIV & HP apps filed was just told by @uscis that they had to provide EVIDENCE of Pakistani police harassment! == Nevermind the 1,000 plus page HP application documenting the murder of their youngest brother bc their sister became a Christian, or the beating they took after the Taliban takeover just because they didn’t have their phones w/them at a checkpoint. == Nevermind the 1,000 plus page HP application documenting the murder of their youngest brother bc their sister became a Christian, or the beating they took after the Taliban takeover just because they didn’t have their phones w/them at a checkpoint. == .. they aren’t at risk UNTIL they follow all that up with brutalization by Pakistani police. But there’s a form! Wonderful! With inane responses from @uscis like the sibling received, it sounds like it’s not going to be any better than that VA “helpline” for ????????s in ???????? ==Is it any wonder that the @StateDept hasn’t managed to secure the release of an ????????held hostage by the Taliban for OVER A YR when it can’t even communicate to its OWN staff what is going on. Either that, or the @StateDept & @USCIS are callous & sadistic == It would have been nice if it didn’t take a lawsuit for @USCIS @StateDept to actually DO something == The @StateDept drags its feet & puts on a show of concern while Afghans, & people trying to help them, are bled dry by Pakistani vultures.[7]

September 5, 2021: State Dept blocking private rescue flights from leaving Afghanistan, organizers say: ‘Blood is on their hands’
Americans involved in private evacuation efforts tell Fox News the State Department is only reason their planes haven’t left Afghanistan[8]
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/state-department-blocking-private-evacuation-flights-afghanistan

FOIA: USCIS processing of Afghan humanitarian parole

FOIA: USCIS processing of Afghan humanitarian parole

After the United States’ military withdrawal from Afghanistan, tens of thousands of Afghans applied for humanitarian parole to the United States as a path to escape conditions in their Taliban-led country. Most of those applications remain pending, with little public information as to what the U.S. government is doing to process them. This lawsuit seeks to improve transparency around the Afghan humanitarian parole application process and ensure applications are adjudicated in a fair and timely manner.[9]

June 22, 2022: Council Sues USCIS To Obtain Records About Humanitarian Parole Applications of Afghan Nationals
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/litigation/uscis-records-about-humanitarian-parole-applications-afghan-nationals

Reports have indicated that despite the government’s stated commitment to support Afghan nationals who helped the United States’ mission in Afghanistan, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has processed only a small fraction of the humanitarian parole applications filed by or on behalf of people who have been unable to reach the United States. Humanitarian parole is a key component of the U.S. government’s operation to resettle Afghans arriving in the United States. Less is known, however, about the process USCIS uses to determine whether to grant humanitarian parole to Afghan nationals who have not reached the United States and the agency’s performance in adjudicating these applications.

On March 15, the American Immigration Council and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to uncover data relating to USCIS’s adjudication of humanitarian parole applications. The FOIA request also sought data and guidance regarding applications for fee waivers filed in connection with humanitarian parole applications, as fees can make the application process cost prohibitive for those who recently came to the United States and want to reunite with family members who may face danger in Afghanistan.[10]

The March 15 FOIA request supplemented a request filed by IRAP on October 26, 2021 with USCIS to find out the procedures and guidelines used by the agency to determine whether to approve or deny an application for humanitarian parole.

March 16, 2023: Advocates Release FOIA Data, Seek Transparency for Thousands of Afghans Seeking Humanitarian Parole and the Extensive Delays They Are Facing
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/news/advocates-release-foia-data-seek-transparency-thousands-afghans-seeking-humanitarian-parole

“These documents show the stark reality of Afghan nationals seeking humanitarian parole. Records gathered thus far demonstrate that USCIS was woefully unprepared to process these applications and the agency implemented a prolonged pause in the adjudication process. Additionally, documents show that the agency scrapped plans to waive the application fees that make this process cost-prohibitive for so many recently arrived Afghan families,” said Raul Pinto, Senior Staff Attorney, American Immigration Council. “The delays caused by the agency’s failures have devastating, real-world consequences for families who face grave danger.[11]”

March 16, 2023: Agency Failures Make Obtaining Humanitarian Parole Almost Impossible for Afghans
USCIS records show how the agency’s response to the high volume of humanitarian parole applications contributed to the massive delays faced by Afghans
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/foia/uscis-failures-afghans-parole

However, Afghan nationals began to see massive delays in the adjudication of their humanitarian parole applications. Government statistics show that from January 1, 2020 to April 6, 2022, USCIS—the agency in charge of adjudicating humanitarian parole applications—received 44,785 applications where the applicant’s country of citizenship was Afghanistan, and only approved 114 of those applications, or less than 0.3%. This bottleneck of applications essentially foreclosed this benefit as a potential option for those Afghans who could not reach the United States, many of whom remained in Afghanistan.[12]

@Larkabroad – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @Larkabroad On Tuesday, the wife of an American aid worker (Ryan Corbett) testified before the US Congress and revealed that he had been taken prisoner by the Taliban over 15 months ago[13]

@RaisedtoWalk – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @RaisedtoWalk So much for the Taliban being our “partners in counterterrorism”[14] == strong>@alexplitsas – November 14, 2023: Ryan and other Americans are being held over baseless nonsense. The Taliban are effectively holding them as hostages in pursuit of concessions. They are being held in poor conditions and it is affecting their health and well being

@skotrds – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @skotrds Seeing this become public is an enormous step-forward for Ryan Corbett. The Taliban dissuade families and foreign diplomatic services from going public, but it is the only thing that works, as Afghanistan is hyper-aid dependent and pressure is not always negative pressure can induce change that the IEA itself would need to become the least bit functional.[15]

American Hostage and Funding to the Taliban

There’s also — it came out this week — that there’s an American who has been held hostage by the Taliban, and the US has been negotiating for his release this whole time. I think this is just one more piece of evidence of the weakness of our State Department. I’ve heard different numbers, but I’ve been told by multiple people that the United States is giving — I think it’s $40 million every two weeks — to the Taliban. We’re basically propping them up, and if you’re basically the only reason that terrorist organization has a hold on the country, and you still can’t manage to get an American citizen released, that’s a problem. That’s a problem.

When I heard that, I was thinking — is that factoring into the whole weirdness about not processing applications? I don’t know. I don’t know.

November 14, 2023: REVEALED: American aid worker Ryan Corbett has been held hostage in Afghanistan for 15 months – as Taliban demands ‘unrealistic’ swap for Osama bin Laden aide held in Gitmo Ryan Corbett, 40, was revealed on Tuesday as a Taliban hostage for over a year The longtime NGO worker was detained on a visit to Afghanistan last year Taliban is reportedly demanding impossible swap for former aide to bin Laden[16]
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12748457/Ryan-Corbett-Taliban-hostage-wife.html

November 15, 2023: WNY woman describes ‘living nightmare’ of husband’s detention in Afghanistan[17]
https://auburnpub.com/news/local/government-politics/wny-woman-husband-afghanistan/article_f32212c4-8377-11ee-a790-73d83b5f8a41.html

November 17, 2023: Families of Americans detained in Afghanistan hope to increase pressure to bring their loved ones home
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/politics/americans-detained-afghanistan/index.html

The families of two Americans detained in Afghanistan hope to ratchet up pressure on the Biden administration to do more to get their loved ones home after more than a year.

Ryan Corbett and Mahmood Shah Habibi were both detained in Afghanistan in August 2022, a year after the country fell back under Taliban control following the US withdrawal from the country after nearly two decades of war.

Now, their families are becoming increasingly concerned about their well-being, and about how much they have missed in the past 15 months. They hope public attention will lead to progress from the Biden administration.

The Taliban has only acknowledged holding Ryan Corbett, and he has been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department. The Taliban has not acknowledged holding Mahmood Habibi, his family said.[18]

@RaisedtoWalk – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @RaisedtoWalk Literally, HOW many times have we gone over this? #NoJoke So what are you going to do about it Here’s a start: pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, follow through on our promise to ???????? allies & GET THEM OUt, & quit FUNDING the Taliban! == CHM @RepMcCaul at today’s full committee hearing examining the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan: “The Taliban, who now control Afghanistan, are terrorists… They abuse women and steal humanitarian aid from starving Afghans.”[19]

·November 14, 2023: Turkey Joins Pakistan and Iran in Deporting Afghan Refugees

Turkey Joins Pakistan and Iran in Deporting Afghan Refugees

Turkey has joined Pakistan and Iran in deporting thousands of Afghan refugees back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, despite the dire humanitarian situation and human rights violations in the country.

Ankara has announced it deported about 3,900 Afghan refugees to Kabul through special flights over the past week.

Turkey is a major transit destination for Afghan refugees seeking to migrate to Europe. It hosts one of the largest refugee communities in the world, with over 3.6 million Syrians and 300,000 people from other nationalities, the majority of whom are from Afghanistan. Last year, Turkey deported some 50,000 refugees back to Afghanistan.[20]

Afghans at Risk in Pakistan

@RaisedtoWalk – November 13, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @RaisedtoWalk: My happy Monday morning message. One of the Afghan Christians was told that even though they have a valid visa to be in Pakistan, they won’t be allowed to pick up a @MoneyGram transfer. The location did it this time, they are stopping transfers for Afghans. ⁉️‼️????[21]

@RaisedtoWalk – November 13, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) And more Monday news: I was told that there are news reports that Afghans, regardless of visa or residency status, will be deported after the end of the year In retaliation, the Taliban are arresting and deporting Pakistanis from Afghanistan == I asked, “Why would a Pakistani want to go to Afghanistan.” I was told since the Taliban are illiterate, Pakistanis are there to help run the government. It would be really nice if we had a functional @statedept that could mediate this spitting match between a bunch of bounders[22]

@Punk319 – November 13, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @Punk319 Is it a wonder why Afghans are approaching foreigners on social media for help? They’re not getting it from NGOs or from the Taliban, so they have to go to the next-best thing: foreign civilians who wear their hearts on their sleeves. == Taliban benefiting from donor-funded education assistance in #Afghanistan through nefarious methods. For example, establishing fraudulent NGOs and extorting and infiltrating existing NGOs to obtain/direct international donor aid[23]

@Moni_Kakar – November 13, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @Moni_Kakar The Sultanabad Detention Center in Karachi is set to deport two Afghan POR card holders۔This is contradictory to what state claims. They are deporting POR card holders through the courts despite of their recognized refugee status. This is inhumane.[24]

@Punk319 – November 14, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @Punk319 Example of what happens when you return to Afghanistan below: Saifullah Sharifi, who had just returned from Iran and was on his way to his hometown in Badakhshan, was killed in Kabul last night by the Taliban[25]

@Punk319 – November 14, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @Punk319 An official of the Ministry of Interior of the previous government of Afghanistan told Independent Farsi that the Taliban arrests former soldiers who return to the country from abroad.[26]

@ExileTVNetwork – November 14, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @ExileTVNetwork: Arrest of former soldiers by Taliban group at Kabul airport An official of the Ministry of Interior of the previous government of Afghanistan told Independent Farsi that the intelligence of the Taliban group arrests former soldiers who return to the country from abroad. This source added that by scanning the passports of the former soldiers at the Kabul airport, the intelligence forces of the Taliban group gain access to their background in the previous government and put some of the former soldiers under investigation and prosecution at the same place and others after their arrival. Meanwhile, reports have been published about the arrest of a former soldier who returned to the country after being expelled from Pakistan. This is not the first time that reports of the arrest of former soldiers have been published, but in the past two years, despite the general amnesty of the Taliban leader, this group of former soldiers has been arrested, tortured and even killed in some cases.[27]

@Moni_Kakar – November 18, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @Moni_Kakar Mamiyat, a 59-year-old Pakistani Pashtun, unfairly detained in Sultanabad, Karachi, on alleged Afghan ties. Unjust profiling undermines individual rights. Members of his family have now gathered outside the detention center to demand his release.[28]

@StephanAJensen – November 18, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @StephanAJensen ????????Pakistan is actively working with the Taliban have tens of thousands of Afghans arrested by the extremist terrorist organisation. Most will be tortured, and many killed. Because they were our allies. And we are doing absolutely nothing about it.[29]

Taliban in Afghanistan

Timestamp: 00:40:47

@StephanAJensen – November 12, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @StephanAJensen Hundreds of thousands of Afghans fought against this barbarity for two decades -arms in hand- and about 70.000 gave their lives in that fight. They relied on our support in doing so, and believed in our promises that we were committed to maintain it. The, at the behest of two American presidents, against the advice of everyone who knew what they were talking about, we betrayed them. First in Doha in 2020, then on the ground in Afghanistan in 2021. And when the brave soldiers fighting the Taliban literally ran out of bullets, we stood by and did nothing.

And this is the result.[30]
== @AWCSWO – September 29, 2023: Taliban Continues Brutal Acts: Woman Publicly Whipped in Farah Province ;

In a distressing incident that highlights the ongoing human rights violations in Afghanistan, the Taliban has once again demonstrated their brutal and oppressive tactics. Reports have emerged from Farah province, where a woman was subjected to a public whipping by Taliban militants. The incident, which took place in broad daylight, Witnesses described the horrifying scene as the woman was mercilessly lashed, while a crowd of onlookers stood in fear and helplessness. This act of violence against women is a stark reminder of the Taliban’s oppressive regime, which seeks to suppress basic human rights and freedoms. Despite promises of change, the group’s actions continue to perpetuate a culture of fear and subjugation, particularly for women and marginalized communities. As the world closely watches the situation in Afghanistan, incidents like these serve as a reminder of the urgent need for sustained efforts to promote peace, stability, and respect for human rights in the country. The international community must stand united in supporting the Afghan people in their pursuit of a just and inclusive society, free from violence and oppression. Purple Saturdays movement will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as more information becomes available.

@Mariamistan – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed) @Mariamistan Today, I stand in admiration and respect for General @SayedSamiSadat, who spoke before the HFAC congressional committee about the repercussions of President Biden’s withdrawal orders. His words shed light on the reality post-withdrawal, marking the Taliban’s takeover—a narrative of thousands of former soldiers facing imprisonment, death, or torture. This reality is stark, with women being oppressed, effectively erasing Afghanistan’s national identity to be replaced by an extremist ideology made by Pakistans ISI. It’s undeniable that Afghanistan’s plight has been a catalyst for global events we see today. My heart and prayers are with those yearning for a truly peaceful and free Afghanistan—where raising your voice doesn’t result in disappearance or death. The Afghan nation deserves freedom, not a facade of peace under a tyrannical, proxy government. Godspeed to the ANDSF and to all striving for a future where the Afghan spirit is celebrated, not suppressed. #FreeAfghanistan[31]

@skotrds – November 14, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@skotrds Radicalization is a feature not a bug for the Taliban, it’s like asking a fish not to swim.[32]
== @MAshrafHaidari – November 14, 2023: Another blow to Afghanistan’s higher education sector, as Taliban deny Afghan students the opportunity to utilize foreign scholarships. Mass radicalization of Afghan youth in extremist factories carries far-reaching implications for regional stability and international peace.

@Punk319 – November 16, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@Punk319 @SR_Afghanistan @SIGARHQ Under Taliban rule, the people are living in constant fear. Not even children are free of the Taliban’s talons.[33]
== @8AM_Media – November 16, 2023: Detention of Ten Individuals in Parwan Province: Two Residents of Dara-e Ghorband Lost Their Lives Under Taliban Torture

November 16, 2023: Detention of Ten Individuals in Parwan Province: Two Residents of Dara-e Ghorband Lost Their Lives Under Taliban Torture

https://8am.media/eng/2023/11/16/detention-of-ten-individuals-in-parwan-province-two-residents-of-dara-e-ghorband-lost-their-lives-under-taliban-torture

Local sources in Parwan province report that two residents of the province have lost their lives under torture by the Taliban in the group’s prison.

Sources on Thursday, November 16, confirmed to Hasht-e Subh Daily that approximately two weeks ago, the Taliban detained ten individuals from the residents of Dara-e Fandaqistan in the Siahgird district of Parwan province on charges of “theft.”

According to sources, three days ago, the Taliban handed over the dead bodies of two individuals to their families, revealing signs of torture on their bodies.[34]

@SIGARHQ – November 14, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@SIGARHQ (1/2) IG Sopko: SIGAR has found that Taliban officials routinely pressure U.S. partners to hire Taliban allies, insist that U.S. partners contract with Taliban-affiliated companies, dictate which Afghans should receive U.S. aid,[35]

@SIGARHQ – November 14, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@SIGARHQ (2/2)…demand payoffs from U.S. partners before a project can begin, divert U.S. food aid to Taliban soldiers, and tax recipients of aid once it is delivered. This interference in and diversion of U.S. assistance is worrying and presents multiple risks[36]

@NasimiShabnam –

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@NasimiShabnam BREAKING – The Taliban have shutdown educational centres in Herat province of Afghanistan, where girls were studying English and computer courses.

793 days ago, the Taliban BANNED girls from school.

When will this nightmare end?[37]

November 14, 2023: Taliban Shuts Down Educational Centers for Girls In Herat, Say Local Sources
https://www.afintl.com/en/202311141536

Local sources in Herat confirmed that the Taliban prevented female students from attending classes by attacking educational centers.

An educational center official said that the armed Taliban officials took pictures of the girls in the classrooms and asked them to leave the educational center.

According to him, the Taliban fighters said on Tuesday that the girls did not adhere to the hijab preferences of the group and that male teachers were teaching in their classes.

Local officials told Afghanistan International that the Taliban’s education administration in Herat has closed several educational centers in Herat. In some of these centers, girls were studying English, German and computers courses.

According to sources, some other girls’ educational centers in Herat have also closed their doors due to the fear of the Taliban.[38]

@RaisedtoWalk – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@RaisedtoWalk And if they don’t give or sell their daughters willingly, the girls can be stolen. A Christian family asked for help, the husband’s missing, the mother is struggling to survive & has to lock her daughter in a room at night to keep a 60-yr-old Talib from stealing her
== @TomTugendhat: This horrific slavery is happening today. Its cruelty is made possible by the Taliban’s barbaric laws and terrible poverty.[39] https://x.com/TomTugendhat/status/1722756888083697860

@skotrds – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@skotrds hese figures are correct.[40]

=== @cyberpioneer – November 14, 2023: Now around 16.000 Al-Qaeda fighters in ????????*
– AQ leaders are back in ????????
– Kandahar airbase is a training camp for AQ
– 800.000 boys are in radical madrassas

* In 2021 it was around 12.000, so 4.000+ foreign jihadi’s went to #Afghanistan in the past 2 years!

@skotrds –  November 17, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@skotrds This is meaningful, in the political and legal sense, (a) UN member state has said as such and (b) SIGAR reports on that.
== @SIGARHQ – October 26, 2023: According to reports from a UN member state, Taliban committed campaigns of ethnic cleansing by forcefully evicting thousands of ethnic Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, and Turkmen from their homes, beating or killing them, and burning their home[41]

@SIGARHQ – November 14, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@SIGARHQ (1/2) IG Sopko: To a large degree, our research confirms that those who control the guns control the aid. It would appear that the only way to ensure that no aid money reaches the Taliban would be to eliminate all aid to #AFG. Yet this would invite the kind of economic freefall,[42]

@SIGARHQ – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@SIGARHQ UN Secretary-General report: #AFG faced “unprecedented levels of humanitarian need.” Report warns number of Afghans in need of lifesaving assistance had risen from previously predicted 28.3 million to 29.2 million, nearly 70% of Afghanistan’s population[43]

@Punk319 – November 16, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@Punk319 As always, the Taliban denies reports and refuses to accept accountability.[44]
== @TOLOnews – November 16, 2023: The Ministry of Economy rejected SIGAR’s recent report about the involvement of the Islamic Emirate in the aid distribution process.
The ministry said in a statement that the publication of such reports is not constructive and shows the opposite of the objective developments in Afghanistan, and the Islamic Emirate has always tried to ensure that aid reaches the needy and deserving people in a transparent manner.
The statement added that the Islamic Emirate never follows an interventionist approach to the aid distribution process or puts pressure on international institutions.

@Larkabroad – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@Larkabroad The Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, has ordered a review of foreign scholarships awarded to Afghan students to study abroad.[45]

@HodaKhamosh – November 16, 2023

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@HodaKhamosh Parisa Azadeh,a female protester who has been protesting against the misogynist laws,violation of human rights and gender apartheid of the Taliban for two years,was arrested yesterday by the intelligence of the Taliban and transferred to an unknown place.[46]

And no, this is not a joke. This is the Taliban’s idea of positive PR.

@RaisedtoWalk  – November 15, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@RaisedtoWalk The Taliban can’t read or write
Can’t run a government
Can’t keep hospitals open
Can’t feed their people
Are afraid of women

But they CAN do a remake of Rollerboys[47]

Pakistan and Afghanistan Deporting Each Other

This is the other thing my people told me this week: not only is Pakistan deporting Afghans, but now the Taliban are deporting Pakistanis from Afghanistan. I said, “How many Pakistanis are in Afghanistan? Why would anyone want to go there?” And they said, well, some Pakistanis are helping run the government, because the Taliban themselves, most of them are illiterate, they don’t have an education and so they can’t govern. So, according to my people, there are Pakistanis working for the Afghan government, and the Taliban have said they’re going to deport all Pakistanis now. It’s like, oh my gosh, it’s just like a spitting match between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It’s still been really puzzling to try to figure out what’s going on. It’s very corrupt — everybody takes bribes, there’s really not a justice system in either country. I’ve shared different articles about Afghanistan, where they literally dissolved the bar, dissolved the courts and former attorneys and prosecutors are basically on hunt lists from the Taliban. There’s more of a facade of a justice system in Pakistan, but it’s still kind of the same thing.

Reflections on Human Nature

I guess it kind of goes back to what I learned seeing what’s going on with our school board — this is the evil of human nature. This is Derek Prince’s definition of evil: the ruthless pursuit of self-interest. You see that in politics all the time.

This is a thing about conspiracy theorists, we would like to think it’s one big evil plan, and it’s not — evil is self-interest. Everybody’s looking out for their own self-interest. One of the recent books I read by Dean Koontz — I’m trying to remember which one it was, I’ll link to it if I can remember the particular one — he’s really good at showing how ruthless people who don’t have concern for their fellow man are. it’s not just the stated enemy, but they fight against themselves.

I try to remember that, because it’s just chaos — it’s utter chaos, you can’t really rely on anything, because everybody’s in it for themselves. That’s what it is.

The guy I sent an email to a few months ago — he had been kidnapped by the Taliban when he was younger, and he wrote a book about it.[48] I had asked him what the deal was. He wrote a book about being kidnapped, but he’s also written other books about the area. He said Pakistanis  don’t want Afghan children to live and to be well. He was there trying to help with some vaccinations, and Pakistan was blocking it. It’s just self-interest and tribalism.

It’s so weird, because you would think that at some point they would recognize the destructiveness of their behavior. India was a very poor country too, but they’ve invested in their people and the education of their people, and they’re on track to be a major economic power in the world in the next decade. Their neighbor, starting from basically the same position — and maybe even a little bit better, with a little bit more Western help — I don’t know — but they’re still relying on Western powers for help.

If you read comments on Twitter, a lot of people say the Taliban are basically controlled by the Pakistanis — I don’t know, that whole dynamic seems a little weird to me, I’m not really quite understanding it. I do know that Pakistan hosted — like when NATO was in Afghanistan, Pakistan actually let the Taliban stay there when the US was trying to hunt them down. The whole thing is so weird, really weird.

But anyway, so yeah — there’s an American being held hostage, that’s all factoring into the mix. The State Department is making a show of doing something. I don’t think they actually are, but they’re making a show of it. The Taliban are continuing to arrest people who make any sort of criticism of them and dissent — another woman who is advocating for more freedom for women and education was arrested. It’s just not a good situation.

The Osama Bin Laden Letter / TikTok Trend

Timestamp: 00:48:25

I don’t know if you saw this, but if you’re not on Twitter or TikTok, you probably wouldn’t see it. There was a TikTok trend about all these Generation Z kids reading the Osama bin Laden letter, and they’re basically saying he was justified in orchestrating the 9/11 attack — also kind of tying into pro-Palestine, anti-Israel sentiment. There was a whole slew of videos. The thing people pointed out was that a lot of them were very derivative, using some of the same words.

This is the thing to remember about TikTok: it is literally owned by the Chinese and is influenced by the Chinese Communist Party. My thought about that is it’s probably a psyop and they initiated the viral trend. They just have to get it started, and then all these other people who just want to get views and clicks, who don’t know what they’re talking about, jump on it so they can get a bunch of views. So it’s very possible that it started as basically a technological attack from China, and then these Gen Zers, who really don’t know anything about the situation at all, take it and run with it — they just have to start it, then people who want attention go with it.

There were people even supporting the Taliban — it’s like, I’m sorry that you are so unbelievably ignorant. Oh my gosh — this is update number 40 about all of the horrific things the Taliban have done to their own people, and you’re going to support the Taliban and Al-Qaeda? Oh my gosh.

I was talking last week about having to be on guard, recognizing snakes, and realizing that not everything on the internet is true, and that you can be manipulated by bad actors.[49] This isn’t me trying to trash Boomers, but — like the whole QAnon thing, everybody buying into all that stuff — a lot of times Boomers aren’t very savvy about the manipulation coming behind some of these conspiracy theories. It sounds like Gen Z isn’t either. I’m Generation X, you know — the forgotten generation, everybody always leaves us out when they list generations. Are we just going to have to clue in all these people, Boomers and Gen Z? I’m like, oh my goodness.

So anyway, yeah, that was the thing too, and it’s just unbelievable to me — the level of ignorance, and it’s all for some likes on TikTok. It’s really pathetic and disgusting, and people should be a little bit more careful about their words — when you’re talking about international affairs, especially in the Middle East, I hate to break it to you, but a TikTok video is not going to make you an expert. It’s not.

@LucBernard – November 16, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@LucBernard I decided to see for myself if the Bin Laden letter was blowing up that much on TikTok.

And yep ????.

Just what the hell people lol. And some are even endorsing the Taliban and the Iranian regime.

Is anyone aware what the Taliban has done to their own people?[50]

@RaisedtoWalk – November 17, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@RaisedtoWalk This is true. But both things can also be true: that it was initiated as a psyop & jumped on by low-information, imitative attention whores. ???? Just like Qanon[51]
== rothschildmd – November 16, 2023: Skepticism is always appropriate for viral trends like the “Letter to America” rehab. But it’s also common for conspiracy believers to evangelize material they haven’t read or understood. Many also just might be hopping on the trend for viral clout.

@StephanAJensen – November 17, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@StephanAJensen I’m shocked but shouldn’t be by how fast mad know-nothings have gone from vaguely conspiratorial anti-westernism, to actively sympathising with Hamas, to openly praising Osama bin Laden and framing 9/11 as “an act of resistance”

Madness, evil, and idiocy dance in the darkness[52]

@RaisedtoWalk – November 17, 2023

Archived text (in case this tweet is removed)

@RaisedtoWalk Yes, exactly. TikTok = Chinese Communist Party.

The response is the tell

“WaPo should get some reporters who do their own research instead of just publishing whatever spin the CCP-connected app provides them.[53]”
== @AGHamilton29 – November 17, 2023: I refuse to link to WaPo because of their lack of editorial standards, but this is dishonest spin that clearly came directly from Tik Tok.

They are only counting the views under one hashtag, but many of the biggest videos that promoted this nonsense weren’t using that hashtag. The idea that this only became a story because someone highlighted it on X is obviously nonsense. Especially since the X post they are blaming was after Guardian already acted to remove the letter.

WaPo should get some reporters who do their own research instead of just publishing whatever spin the CCP-connected app provides them.

November 17, 2023: The story behind the Osama bin Laden videos on TikTok
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213712136/tik-tok-bin-laden-videos-osama

The frenzy over the videos prompted moral panic among lawmakers and other observers over the idea that TikTok was radicalizing young people and amplifying the writing of a terrorist, according to Jared Holt, senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

“This story speaks to how far there still is to go in boosting social media literacy and how susceptible everyone is to information disorder and suggestion,” Holt told NPR. “Even those who might consider themselves people trying to speak truth against falsehoods are not immune. Next year’s election cycle is sure to be gasoline on these longstanding faults.”

One major unknown in the whole saga is how and why bin Laden’s manifesto was revisited at all. Some of the first now-removed TikToks of the document were created by health and wellness influencers, but what potential online forum, or social media site, or group chat originally resurrected the hateful screed is a mystery.[54]

November 17, 2023: Did a letter written by Osama bin Laden really go viral on TikTok this week?
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213890413/did-a-letter-written-by-osama-bin-laden-really-go-viral-on-tiktok-this-week

YOUSEF: So this is a letter that Osama bin Laden wrote in 2002, criticizing the United States, justifying the September 11 attack. And it’s replete with antisemitism, homophobia, sexism and calls for attacks on civilians. Really, what it is, Ari, is a manifesto – very similar to what we sometimes see from mass shooters. But what’s different is that this has been widely accessible online for decades. And so in these videos, people were accessing an English translation of this document through the website of The Guardian. And after traffic to that page on The Guardian’s site went up, The Guardian pulled it down.[55]

November 16, 2023: TikTok removes hashtag for Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ after viral videos circulate
The Guardian also pulled the text of the Al Qaeda founder’s letter from its website after people cited it on TikTok and X.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/osama-bin-laden-letter-to-america-tiktok-hashtag-removed-viral-videos-rcna125534

TikTok removed the hashtag #lettertoamerica from its search function after videos about Osama bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America” went viral on the platform and were re-uploaded to the social media platform X. Some social media users suggested that the Al Qaeda founder’s document gives an alternative perspective about the U.S.’ involvement in conflicts in the Middle East.

Throughout the week, TikTok users had been sharing the link to The Guardian’s transcript of bin Laden’s letter, which was written about a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in the U.S. The Guardian took the letter down from its website Wednesday.

In the letter, bin Laden addressed the American people and sought to answer the following questions: “Why are we fighting and opposing you?” and “What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?” The letter includes antisemitic language and homophobic rhetoric.[56]

YouTube Restriction Note

I just discovered this last week that my update videos are getting flagged as restricted. I did have a conversation with YouTube’s Creator Support about this and didn’t really get a satisfactory answer. I was working on it out somewhere, and if I went to this video myself, I could watch it if I was logged into my account, but the comments were turned off. If I wasn’t logged in and went to the video, I couldn’t see it, it just said it was restricted. They said, well, it’s the network I was on. But YouTube is flagging something, because the network wouldn’t have anything to do with the comments being shut off. So there must be some sort of flag on the video. It doesn’t show in my Creator Studio, but there’s got to be some sort of flag on the video itself that YouTube is putting on it, which this network was picking up on. That means there’s something restricting the distribution of the videos, I think.[57]

So it’s not really a surprise, but I don’t know what else to do — I don’t think I’m saying anything that’s a triggering word, I think it’s just the content, and what are you going to do about it? So share it with friends you think might be interested — that would be very helpful, because it’s not going to hit the YouTube algorithm at all, they’re not going to be pushing it.

I didn’t know this at the time, but my channel had been hijacked into a multi-channel network controlled by people I knew from An Unexpected Journal and the Houston Baptist University apologetics program. Besides the ability to steal watchtime and subscribers and wipe engagement, this gave them more control over my videos and channel than I have myself. I think it is safe to say that the restriction on the videos were from these so-called “friends” sabotaging the videos.

Adding the full transcript to the episode article in August 2026, the timing of the transcript is off, the captions — which I had corrected when I published it — had been altered and sabotaged, and there is some sort of content claim on the video so even uploading the video to another channel, they are still controlling what captions display.  For more information on this, visit Hacked: the Saga.

How You Can Help

As far as what you can do:

Fund Afghan Phone Service

Phone recharges: The only way people have contact with the outside world is through their phones. You can go to mobilerecharge.com — all you need is somebody’s phone number and their carrier, and you can recharge their phone.

Humanitarian Aid for Afghans: Aseel App

Aseel app: There’s an app called Aseel, with two parts. One part is “Buy Good” — kind of like an Etsy for Afghans, where artisans, particularly women who have been shut out of being in public, can sell their handmade goods, which are then shipped to you. The other part is “Do Good,” where you can buy aid packages, either specifying who it’s sent to (if you know somebody who needs help), or just saying “I want to buy an aid package,” and Aseel will give it to someone.

I did mention before that there were mixed reviews on the Aseel app. Beth Bailey, with The Afghanistan Project podcast, said she’d been using the app to send support to an SIV applicant for a long time and never had a problem. My friend Clint did not like it and is not a fan. But I’ve seen that they’ve changed the app a little, so they now have video tracking. If you purchase a package for someone, they’ll tell you what stage it’s at and show a video of the supplies. If you’re sending it to somebody you know, you’d know what kind of package they’re getting and whether it was actually good. So it sounds like Aseel is working on the process and distribution, making it more reliable.

Our Culture Is Giving (ourcultureisgiving.org): I mentioned last week there’s a US-based humanitarian nonprofit that’s been providing medical support and living support to SIV families who have a family member who’s been raped by the Taliban. The person I know who’s team-leading with that group is trying to raise money for wood/fuel for 12 families for the winter. Last winter in Afghanistan was very severe, livestock froze in the cold, wiping out a lot of potential crops, and people died. There are four months of extreme weather in Afghanistan, so they’re trying to get ahead of it. The amount needed for wood/fuel is about $75 per family, so roughly $300 per family, for a total goal of about $3,600. If you go to donate, there’s an option to leave a comment — since their main focus is food and medical supplies, if you want your donation to go toward the fuel/wood, put that in the comments so they know.

The Afghanistan Project Podcast Episode 4: Leslie Merriman with Our Culture is Giving[58]

January 26, 2023: More than 160 Afghans die in bitterly cold weather
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/more-than-160-afghans-die-bitterly-cold-weather-2023-01-26/

More than 160 people have died from the cold in Afghanistan this month in the worst winter in more than a decade, authorities said on Thursday, as residents described being unable to afford fuel to heat homes in temperatures well below freezing.

“162 people have died due to cold weather since January 10 until now,” said Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Minister of Disaster Management. About 84 of the deaths had taken place in the last week.[59]

January 24, 2023: Extreme cold kills more than 150 people in Afghanistan, Taliban says
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/asia/afghanistan-freezing-temperature-deaths-taliban-intl-hnk/index.html

At least 157 people have died in Afghanistan’s harsh winter, a Taliban official said Tuesday, with the death toll doubling in less than a week as millions face bitter temperatures with minimal humanitarian aid.

The country is suffering one of its coldest winters, with temperatures plummeting to as low as minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18 Fahrenheit) in early January – far below the nationwide average of between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius for this time of year.

The impact has been made worse by the limited amount of humanitarian aid being distributed in the country, following the Taliban’s ban on female NGO workers.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said on Twitter Sunday it was delivering aid such as blankets, heating and shelter to some 565,700 people.

“But much more is needed amid one of the coldest spells in years,” it added.

Around 70,000 livestock have also frozen to death across the country, Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Disaster Management told CNN Tuesday.[60]

January 17, 2023: Afghans braving severe cold face stark choice: Food or warmth
Many provinces in Afghanistan have seen an exceptionally cold winter, with temperatures dropping to as low as -21 degrees Celsius.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/17/afghans-reel-from-exceptionally-cold-winter

The youngest of Shah Ibrahim Shahin’s children sit huddled next to each other on the thin “toushaks” – traditional Afghan floor mattresses – trying to stay warm amid freezing weather. The adults, wrapped in thread-bare woollen clothes, surround them in a small chilly room, which makes up the entirety of their home in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan.

Many provinces in Afghanistan have seen an exceptionally cold winter in the last two weeks, with temperatures dropping to as low as -21 degrees Celsius (-5.8 Fahrenheit) in Kabul. More than 20 people have died due to the cold wave, according to media reports.[61]

February 2, 2023: Families struggle for survival during Afghanistan’s coldest winter in a decade
For families living on the brink, cash and other support from UNHCR are a lifeline this winter.
https://www.unhcr.org/us/news/stories/families-struggle-survival-during-afghanistans-coldest-winter-decade

Fatima* nurses her youngest child in her lap, as her two other children scamper around excitedly in the confines of their small living space. She’s too exhausted and consumed by worry to react.

Her family was displaced to another district around 100 kilometres away when conflict intensified in Bamyan province in Afghanistan’s mountainous Central Highlands region two years ago. By the time Fatima returned, she had divorced her husband, who was a drug addict, her mother and brother were living as refugees in Iran, and it was up to her alone to find a place to live with her children.

For the past eight months, that place has been a centuries-old cave in a hillside near where the ancient Bamyan Buddhas once stood – two monumental sixth-century sculptures that were destroyed in 2001. The cave is small but offers shelter from the bitter winter.

“We had nowhere else to go,” she explained. “We couldn’t afford to pay any rent.”[62]

Support Afghan Christians

Direct support for “my people”: We have a lot of people who need passports, visas, help with living expenses, and help paying for English classes. Some of the immigration paths I’ve been finding (not with the US, but with other countries) require English proficiency at a particular level, so it’s really important that they work on their English skills. If you want to help with English classes, you can do that — or if you want to help my people directly, go to donshireministries.org, select “Raised to Walk,” and if you want it to go to a particular need, just put that in the comments.

We’re coming into the holidays, and I realize there’s a lot of need in a lot of different places. If you decide to help in this particular area of need, it would be very much appreciated — but at the very least, keep them in your prayers, and keep me in your prayers. Also, share this with people you know who might be interested in these videos.

Closing

Those are my thoughts for the week. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. I’m not sure if I’m going to do an update next week, I’ll have to see how the week goes. But anyway, keep me in your prayers, keep my people in your prayers. If you want to donate, go to donshireministries.org and select Raised to Walk. I hope you have a great week, and that you’re able to do some good. Talk to you next time.

Endnotes:

[1] “Genesis 20:1-18 – Abraham, Sarah, and Abimelech,” Enter the Bible, n.d., accessed August 2, 2026, https://enterthebible.org/passage/genesis-201-18-abraham-sarah-and-abimelech/.

[2] Carla M. Alvarez, “Recognizing Manipulation: Propaganda & Politics | Sunday Thoughts – Kabul Hope,” Sunday Thoughts, Raised to Walk, April 30, 2023, https://raisedtowalk.org/sunday-thoughts/recognizing-manipulation-propaganda-politics/.

[3] Carla m. Alvarez, “Recognizing Manipulators: Being On Guard | Sunday Thoughts – Kabul Hope,” Raised to Walk, May 10, 2023, https://raisedtowalk.org/sunday-thoughts/recognizing-manipulators-being-on-guard/.

[4] SIGAR [@SIGARHQ], “IG Sopko: We believe many of the Afghans SIGAR referred are currently at risk of deportation and being handed over to Taliban officials, who have issued arrest warrants for them, ransacked their homes, and threatened their lives https://t.co/y3IsIxwbfb,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/SIGARHQ/status/1724481066604335129.

[5] #AfghanEvac [@afghanevac], “Big news: #Afghans in Pakistan can now reach the emergency hotline for those being detained or deported via phone or WhatsApp text! The hours are Mon-Sat, 8AM through midnight ISL time. WhatsApp (text only): +1(956) 291-4571 Phone: +1 757-916-4100,” Tweet, Twitter, November 16, 2023, https://x.com/afghanevac/status/1725115618918051902.

[6] Shawn VanDiver [@shawnjvandiver], “This is a massive win for Afghans and a direct result of feedback from the @afghanevac team. An unqualified win. Thank you @StateDept!,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/shawnjvandiver/status/1724848179860951472.

[7] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “Forms are great … what are they going to do with them? Has the @statedept The sibling with two families sitting at risk in Pakistan that have family reunification visas/SIV & HP apps filed was just told by @uscis that they had to provide EVIDENCE of Pakistani police harassment!,” Tweet, Twitter, November 16, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1725125326525596097.

[8] Houston Keene and Peter Hasson, “State Dept Blocking Private Rescue Flights from Leaving Afghanistan, Organizers Say: ‘Blood Is on Their Hands,’” Fox News, September 5, 21 AD, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/state-department-blocking-private-evacuation-flights-afghanistan.

[9] “FOIA: USCIS Processing of Afghan Humanitarian Parole,” International Refugee Assistance Project, accessed August 3, 2026, https://refugeerights.org/news-resources/foia-uscis-processing-of-afghan-humanitarian-cases.

[10] “Council Sues USCIS To Obtain Records About Humanitarian Parole Applications of Afghan Nationals,” American Immigration Council, June 22, 2022, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/foia-litigation/uscis-records-about-humanitarian-parole-applications-afghan-nationals/.

[11] “Advocates Release FOIA Data, Seek Transparency for Thousands of Afghans Seeking Humanitarian Parole and the Extensive Delays They Are Facing,” American Immigration Council, March 16, 2023, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/press-release/advocates-release-foia-data-seek-transparency-thousands-afghans-seeking-humanitarian-parole/.

[12] “Agency Failures Make Obtaining Humanitarian Parole Almost Impossible for Afghans,” American Immigration Council, March 16, 2023, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/foia-request/uscis-failures-afghans-parole.

[13] Lark Abroad [@Larkabroad], “On Tuesday, the wife of an American aid worker (Ryan Corbett) testified before the US Congress and revealed that he had been taken prisoner by the Taliban over 15 months ago. 1/4,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/Larkabroad/status/1724636245412773893.

[14] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “So much for the Taliban being our ‘partners in counterterrorism,’” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1724645382225850761.

[15] Scott Richards 🧍 [@skotrds], “Seeing this become public is an enormous step-forward for Ryan Corbett. The Taliban dissuade families and foreign diplomatic services from going public, but it is the only thing that works, as Afghanistan is hyper-aid dependent and pressure is not always negative pressure can induce change that the IEA itself would need to become the least bit functional.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/skotrds/status/1724647954206572901.

[16] Keith Griffith, “REVEALED: Taliban Has Held American Hostage for 15 Months,” Mail Online, November 14, 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12748457/Ryan-Corbett-Taliban-hostage-wife.html.

[17] Robert Harding, “WNY Woman Describes ‘living Nightmare’ of Husband’s Detention in Afghanistan,” The Citizen, November 15, 2023, https://auburnpub.com/news/local/government-politics/article_f32212c4-8377-11ee-a790-73d83b5f8a41.html.

[18] Jennifer Hansler, “Families of Americans Detained in Afghanistan Hope to Increase Pressure to Bring Their Loved Ones Home | CNN Politics,” CNN, November 17, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/politics/americans-detained-afghanistan.

[19] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “Literally, HOW many times have we gone over this? #NoJoke So what are you going to do about it Here’s a start: pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, follow through on our promise to 🇦🇫 allies & GET THEM OUt, & quit FUNDING the Taliban!,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1724646332332212707.

[20] “Turkey Joins Pakistan and Iran in Deporting Afghan Refugees,” KabulNow, November 14, 2023, https://kabulnow.com/2023/11/turkey-joins-pakistan-and-iran-in-deporting-afghan-refugees/.

[21] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “My happy Monday morning message. One of the Afghan Christians was told that even though they have a valid visa to be in Pakistan, they won’t be allowed to pick up a @MoneyGram transfer. The location did it this time, they are stopping transfers for Afghans. ⁉️‼️😡 https://t.co/mjvqbF0NMQ,” Tweet, Twitter, November 13, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1724053678787547235.

[22] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “And more Monday news: I was told that there are news reports that Afghans, regardless of visa or residency status, will be deported after the end of the year In retaliation, the Taliban are arresting and deporting Pakistanis from Afghanistan i,” Tweet, Twitter, November 13, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1724092303969501319.

[23] Punk31 [@Punk319], “Is it a wonder why Afghans are approaching foreigners on social media for help? They’re not getting it from NGOs or from the Taliban, so they have to go to the next-best thing: foreign civilians who wear their hearts on their sleeves.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 13, 2023, https://x.com/Punk319/status/1724121083354218847.

[24] Moniza Kakar [@Moni_Kakar], “The Sultanabad Detention Center in Karachi is set to deport two Afghan POR card holders۔This is contradictory to what state claims. They are deporting POR card holders through the courts despite of their recognized refugee status. This is inhumane. #AfghanRefugeesInPakistan https://t.co/t69luzfagM,” Tweet, Twitter, November 13, 2023, https://x.com/Moni_Kakar/status/1724150351920804201.

[25] Punk31 [@Punk319], “Example of what happens when you return to Afghanistan below: Saifullah Sharifi, who had just returned from Iran and was on his way to his hometown in Badakhshan, was killed in Kabul last night by the Taliban.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/Punk319/status/1724402684088795477.

[26] Punk31 [@Punk319], “An official of the Ministry of Interior of the previous government of Afghanistan told Independent Farsi that the Taliban arrests former soldiers who return to the country from abroad.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/Punk319/status/1724402906223231287.

[27] ExTV [@ExileTVNetwork], “X-5262 بازداشت نظامیان پیشین از سوی گروه تالبان در فرودگاه کابل یک مقام وزارت داخله‌ی حکومت پیشین افغانستان، به‌ایندیپندنت فارسی گفته است که استخبارات گروه تالبان، نظامیان پیشین را که از خارج به‌کشور بر می‌گردند، بازداشت می‌کنند. این منبع افزوده که نیروهای استخبارات گروه تالبان با اسکنِ گذرنامه‌ی نظامیان پیشین در فرودگاه کابل، به‌پیشینه‌ی آن‌ها در حکومت پیشین دست‌رسی پیدا می‌کنند و بعضی از نظامیان پیشین را در همان محل و برخی دیگر را پس از ورود، تحت بازجویی و پی‌گرد قرار می‌دهند. در همین‌حال، گزارش‌های از بازداشت یک نظامی پیشین نشر شده که بعد از اخراج از پاکستان به‌کشور بازگشته بود. این‌بار نخست نیست که گزارش‌های از بازداشت نظامیان پیشین نشر می‌شود، بل در دو سال گذشته با وجود عفو عمومی رهبر تالبان، این گروه نظامیان پیشین را بازداشت، شکنجه و در مواردی حتا به‌قتل می‌رسانند. #تلویزیون_ایگزایل #خبر_های_افغانستان #EXTV #ExileNews https://t.co/xGNrHWOn3x,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/ExileTVNetwork/status/1724369545215742300.

[28] Moniza Kakar [@Moni_Kakar], “Mamiyat, a 59-year-old Pakistani Pashtun, unfairly detained in Sultanabad, Karachi, on alleged Afghan ties. Unjust profiling undermines individual rights. Members of his family have now gathered outside the detention center to demand his release. #AfghanRefugeesInPakistan https://t.co/kaaL8DSFaK,” Tweet, Twitter, November 18, 2023, https://x.com/Moni_Kakar/status/1725921314077057133.

[29] Stephan Jensen [@StephanAJensen], “🇵🇰Pakistan is actively working with the Taliban have tens of thousands of Afghans arrested by the extremist terrorist organisation. Most will be tortured, and many killed. Because they were our allies. And we are doing absolutely nothing about it. 🇦🇫🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺🇳🇴,” Tweet, Twitter, November 18, 2023, https://x.com/StephanAJensen/status/1725908124077359503.

[30] Stephan Jensen [@StephanAJensen], “Hundreds of thousands of Afghans fought against this barbarity for two decades -arms in hand- and about 70.000 gave their lives in that fight. They relied on our support in doing so, and believed in our promises that we were committed to maintain it. The, at the behest of two American presidents, against the advice of everyone who knew what they were talking about, we betrayed them. First in Doha in 2020, then on the ground in Afghanistan in 2021. And when the brave soldiers fighting the Taliban literally ran out of bullets, we stood by and did nothing. And this is the result.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 12, 2023, https://x.com/StephanAJensen/status/1723671266740019420.

[31] Mariam Solaimankhil [@Mariamistan], “Today, I stand in admiration and respect for General @SayedSamiSadat , who spoke before the HFAC congressional committee about the repercussions of President Biden’s withdrawal orders. His words shed light on the reality post-withdrawal, marking the Taliban’s takeover—a narrative of thousands of former soldiers facing imprisonment, death, or torture. This reality is stark, with women being oppressed, effectively erasing Afghanistan’s national identity to be replaced by an extremist ideology made by Pakistans ISI. It’s undeniable that Afghanistan’s plight has been a catalyst for global events we see today. My heart and prayers are with those yearning for a truly peaceful and free Afghanistan—where raising your voice doesn’t result in disappearance or death. The Afghan nation deserves freedom, not a facade of peace under a tyrannical, proxy government. Godspeed to the ANDSF and to all striving for a future where the Afghan spirit is celebrated, not suppressed. #FreeAfghanistan,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/Mariamistan/status/1724666256752865392.

[32] Scott Richards 🧍 [@skotrds], “Radicalization is a feature not a bug for the Taliban, it’s like asking a fish not to swim.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/skotrds/status/1724445834807235013.

[33] Punk31 [@Punk319], “@SR_Afghanistan @SIGARHQ Under Taliban rule, the people are living in constant fear. Not even children are free of the Taliban’s talons.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 16, 2023, https://x.com/Punk319/status/1725125614842093987.

[34] Moqim mehran, “Detention of Ten Individuals in Parwan Province: Two Residents of Dara-e Ghorband Lost Their Lives Under Taliban Torture,” Afghanistan News, Hasht-e Subh, November 16, 2023, https://8am.media/eng/detention-of-ten-individuals-in-parwan-province-two-residents-of-dara-e-ghorband-lost-their-lives-under-taliban-torture/.

[35] SIGAR [@SIGARHQ], “(1/2) IG Sopko: SIGAR has found that Taliban officials routinely pressure U.S. partners to hire Taliban allies, insist that U.S. partners contract with Taliban-affiliated companies, dictate which Afghans should receive U.S. aid,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/SIGARHQ/status/1724459020046471521.

[36] SIGAR [@SIGARHQ], “(2/2)…demand payoffs from U.S. partners before a project can begin, divert U.S. food aid to Taliban soldiers, and tax recipients of aid once it is delivered. This interference in and diversion of U.S. assistance is worrying and presents multiple risks https://t.co/y3IsIxwbfb,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/SIGARHQ/status/1724459025171931433.

[37] Shabnam Nasimi [@NasimiShabnam], “BREAKING – The Taliban have shutdown educational centres in Herat province of Afghanistan, where girls were studying English and computer courses. 793 days ago, the Taliban BANNED girls from school. When will this nightmare end? https://t.co/vDs9A8vb8W,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/NasimiShabnam/status/1724471295817949590.

[38] “Taliban Shuts Down Educational Centers for Girls In Herat, Say Local Sources,” Afghanistan International, November 14, 2023, https://www.afintl.com/en/202311141536.

[39] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “And if they don’t give or sell their daughters willingly, the girls can be stolen. A Christian family asked for help, the husband’s missing, the mother is struggling to survive & has to lock her daughter in a room at night to keep a 60-yr-old Talib from stealing her,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1724647876922355873.

[40] Scott Richards 🧍 [@skotrds], “These figures are correct.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/skotrds/status/1724648442838868117.

[41] Scott Richards 🧍 [@skotrds], “This is meaningful, in the political and legal sense, (a) UN member state has said as such and (b) SIGAR reports on that.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 17, 2023, https://x.com/skotrds/status/1725375244074885273.

[42] SIGAR [@SIGARHQ], “(1/2) IG Sopko: To a large degree, our research confirms that those who control the guns control the aid. It would appear that the only way to ensure that no aid money reaches the Taliban would be to eliminate all aid to #AFG. Yet this would invite the kind of economic freefall,” Tweet, Twitter, November 14, 2023, https://x.com/SIGARHQ/status/1724537760957018512.

[43] SIGAR [@SIGARHQ], “UN Secretary-General report: #AFG faced ‘unprecedented levels of humanitarian need.’ Report warns number of Afghans in need of lifesaving assistance had risen from previously predicted 28.3 million to 29.2 million, nearly 70% of Afghanistan’s population https://t.co/hdp33HMpQt,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/SIGARHQ/status/1724698753146429695.

[44] Punk31 [@Punk319], “As always, the Taliban denies reports and refuses to accept accountability.,” Tweet, Twitter, November 16, 2023, https://x.com/Punk319/status/1725130899346399354.

[45] Lark Abroad [@Larkabroad], “The Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, has ordered a review of foreign scholarships awarded to Afghan students to study abroad. 1/4,” Tweet, Twitter, November 15, 2023, https://x.com/Larkabroad/status/1724637537908490323.

[46] Hoda Khamosh [@HodaKhamosh], “Parisa Azadeh,a female protester who has been protesting against the misogynist laws,violation of human rights and gender apartheid of the Taliban for two years,was arrested yesterday by the intelligence of the Taliban and transferred to an unknown place. #Free_Parisa_Azada https://t.co/udrUNmZxGk,” Tweet, Twitter, November 16, 2023, https://x.com/HodaKhamosh/status/1725036238581776683.

[47] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “The Taliban can’t read or write Can’t run a government Can’t keep hospitals open Can’t feed their people Are afraid of women But they CAN do a remake of Rollerboys,” Tweet, Twitter, November 16, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1725300812899893401.

[48] “Jere van Dyk,” Wikipedia, May 30, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jere_van_Dyk

[49] Carla M. Alvarez, “Watching Out for Snakes | Sunday Thoughts – Kabul Hope,” Sunday Thoughts, Raised to Walk, November 15, 2023, https://raisedtowalk.org/sunday-thoughts/watching-out-for-snakes/.

[50] Luc Bernard [@LucBernard], “I decided to see for myself if the Bin Laden letter was blowing up that much on TikTok. And yep 🤪. Just what the hell people lol. And some are even endorsing the Taliban and the Iranian regime. Is anyone aware what the Taliban has done to their own people? https://t.co/zVf2jU3H4m,” Tweet, Twitter, November 16, 2023, https://x.com/LucBernard/status/1725073804404363500.

[51] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “This is true. But both things can also be true: that it was initiated as a psyop & jumped on by low-information, imitative attention whores. 👈 Just like Qanon,” Tweet, Twitter, November 17, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1725503364241248722.

[52] Stephan Jensen [@StephanAJensen], “I’m shocked but shouldn’t be by how fast mad know-nothings have gone from vaguely conspiratorial anti-westernism, to actively sympathising with Hamas, to openly praising Osama bin Laden and framing 9/11 as ‘an act of resistance’ Madness, evil, and idiocy dance in the darkness https://t.co/L5a8JnAuon,” Tweet, Twitter, November 17, 2023, https://x.com/StephanAJensen/status/1725455141640249359.

[53] Carla Alvarez – Raised to Walk [@RaisedtoWalk], “Yes, exactly. TikTok = Chinese Communist Party. The response is the tell ‘WaPo should get some reporters who do their own research instead of just publishing whatever spin the CCP-connected app provides them.,’” Tweet, Twitter, November 17, 2023, https://x.com/RaisedtoWalk/status/1725530569084215780.

[54] Bobby Allen, “The Story behind the Osama Bin Laden Videos on TikTok,” Technology, NPR, November 17, 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213712136/tik-tok-bin-laden-videos-osama.

[55] Odette Yousef and Shannon Bond, “Did a Letter Written by Osama Bin Laden Really Go Viral on TikTok This Week?,” National, NPR, November 17, 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213890413/did-a-letter-written-by-osama-bin-laden-really-go-viral-on-tiktok-this-week.

[56] Daysia Tolentino, “Hashtag Related to Osama Bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ Removed by TikTok,” NBC News, November 16, 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/osama-bin-laden-letter-to-america-tiktok-hashtag-removed-viral-videos-rcna125534.

[57] I didn’t know this at the time, but my channel had been hijacked into a multi-channel network controlled by people I knew from An Unexpected Journal and the HBU apologetics program. Besides the ability to steal watchtime and subscribers and wipe engagement, this gave them more control over my videos and channel than I have myself. I think it is safe to say that the restriction on the videos were from these so-called “friends” sabotaging the videos. Adding the full transcript to the episode article in August 2026, the timing of the transcript is off, the captions — which I had corrected when I published it — had been altered and sabotaged, and there is some sort of content claim on the video so even uploading the video to another channel, they are still controlling what captions display.  For more information on this, visit Hacked: the Saga.

[58] The Afghanistan Project Podcast, The Afghanistan Project Podcast Episode 4: Leslie Merriman with Our Culture Is Giving (YouTube, 2023), 1:09:21, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4topxNlgoUw.

[59] “More than 160 Afghans Die in Bitterly Cold Weather,” Asia Pacific, Reuters, January 26, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/more-than-160-afghans-die-bitterly-cold-weather-2023-01-26/.

[60] Ehsan Popalzai Magramo Monica Garrett,Allegra Goodwin,Kathleen, “Extreme Cold Kills More than 150 People in Afghanistan, Taliban Says,” CNN, January 25, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/asia/afghanistan-freezing-temperature-deaths-taliban-intl-hnk.

[61] Ruchi Kumar, “Afghans Braving Severe Cold Face Stark Choice: Food or Warmth,” Al Jazeera, January 17, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/17/afghans-reel-from-exceptionally-cold-winter.

[62] Caroline Gluck and Central Highlands, “Families Struggle for Survival during Afghanistan’s Coldest Winter in a Decade,” UNHCR US, February 2, 2023, https://www.unhcr.org/us/news/stories/families-struggle-survival-during-afghanistans-coldest-winter-decade.

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<a href="https://raisedtowalk.org/author/carla/" target="_self">Carla Alvarez</a>

Carla Alvarez

Carla Alvarez is the founder of Raised to Walk and a founding board member of An Unexpected Journal, a Communications Director at Legacy Marketing Services where she uses her BS in Marketing to create communication strategies for business, and an unlikely case manager and Bible Study teacher for the Afghan Christians of Kabul Hope Latest Series: Hacked: the Saga How an oily politician and a band of intellectual property and identity thieves conspired to erase a third-grade Sunday school teacher, Read more of her work on Google Scholar and Substack or contact her to write for you.

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