‘We’ll die slowly in history’: Girl’s tearful video from Afghanistan reveals anguish as Taliban takes control

The girl worries that she and other Afghans will “die slowly in history”

A video of an Afghan girl crying over the Taliban's return to power has gone viral online, capturing the hopelessness some Afghans feel as the US's 20 year presence in the country comes to an end.

The video was posted just days before the Taliban entered Kabul and took control of the capital.

"We don't count because we were born in Afghanistan," the girl says through tears.

The Taliban retook the country as the US withdrew its troops. Over the weekend, 3,000 US military members were used to evacuate American diplomats from the country. Now, President Biden has authorised a total of 7,000 troops to be deployed to Kabul to quell the conflict.

Other harrowing images have emerged in the wake of the withdrawal. In one video, dozens of Afghans race after a US Air Force plane, some clinging to its side as it departs the country. Others show the Taliban marching through the streets of Kabul and entering the presidential palace to declare their authority.

"I cannot help crying," the girl said in the video. "No one cares about us. We'll die slowly in history."

Life for women under the Taliban's rule has traditionally been brutal and repressive. Girls are banned from attending schools and women are only allowed to go out in public in full body coverings while being escorted by a man. Violating those rules could result in beatings or executions.

The US began its war in Afghanistan shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks, ostensibly to seek out and find the mastermind of the attack, Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden was eventually killed in 2011, a decade after the war began.

The majority of the terrorists who actually carried out the September 11th attacks were Saudi Arabian. None were Afghan or Iraqi citizens, though they did train with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Mr Biden is facing harsh criticism for his decision to withdraw troops, including from former President Donald Trump, who has called on him to "resign in disgrace” despite striking a peace deal with the Taliban himself and initiating the US’ drawdown from the country.

Mr Trump also promised to end the war in Afghanistan, but failed to do so. It was Mr Trump that negotiated the 1 May 2021 troop withdrawal date and who decreased the number of US troops in the country to 2,500.

The US has been taking steps to leave Afghanistan for the last decade. Under former President Barack Obama, troop drawdowns began as early as 2001. In 2014, Mr Obama announced that plans that a full troop withdrawal would be carried out by the end of 2016.

The US blew that deadline under Mr Trump, who cautioned against a "hasty" withdrawal, saying it would create a power vacuum in the country.

Corruption in the Afghan government and questions about its military's readiness contributed to the US's reluctance to fully withdraw from the country. However, there is no indication that any of those issues would have changed had the US decided to stay longer.

Critics of both the war and the withdrawal have expressed worry over the fate of Afghan citizens who worked with US forces, fearing they will be hunted and killed by the Taliban.

US officials are scrambling to find countries willing to house Afghan refugees, particularly those who cooperated with US forces during the war. The US has evacuated 1,200 refugees so far, and is set to bring another 3,500 to the states in the coming weeks. It is unclear why plans for resettlement were not cemented prior to the US withdrawal.

So far the US has not successfully brokered a third party agreement with other countries to take the Afghan refugees, though officials speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters it was close to reaching a deal with Qatar to house 8,000 refugees.