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The sudden collapse of the Afghan government led to a frantic attempt to speed up online relief and evacuation operations. The attempts, organized mainly through Google Forms, WhatsApp and private social media groups, are trying to fill the void left by the US government’s failure to protect vulnerable Afghans. This may be the only lifeline for many trying to flee the country, but it also carries risks as observers fear that crowdsourced information could be used by the Taliban to identify the very people in need of rescue.
The war in Afghanistan lasted 20 years and killed at least 174,000 people, but the fall of Kabul happened over the weekend. As the Taliban approached, former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Saturday, August 14. By Sunday, the Taliban entered the Afghan presidential palace.
But while the residents of Kabul either waited in fear to see what the takeover would mean for them or tried to flee through the chaos at the city’s airport, Afghanistan’s only evacuation point, frantic volunteer efforts were made to help as many people as possible.
Bypassing bureaucracy
Afghans and their allies organized for weeks, but as the last major cities fell to the Taliban within a week, often without resistance, the effort took on new urgency. Working primarily on the Internet, informal networks of people inside and outside the country, including journalists, non-profit organizations, universities and even government officials, who sometimes worked outside of official politics, compiled lists of Afghans eligible for various resettlement programs, or even attempted to bypass slow – complete elimination of bureaucratic processes.
“Real-time messaging platforms are used to make instant decisions. This signals the intensity of the crisis and despair. “
Mark Latonero, Harvard Kennedy School
Several groups were planning to lease planes for private air travel. Some planned to collect information on road conditions, as well as identify Afghans stranded in the province and help them get to Kabul. Others, meanwhile, focused on more specific target groups such as journalists, women leaders and Afghans who worked on specific projects.
“If you have someone in Kabul who can get to the airport by the end of the week, enter information here to share with the evacuation company and the State Department,” reads at the top of one Google form created by a coalition of national organizations. security-related hoping to evacuate Afghans who already hold passports.
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