Afghanistan (MNN) — Political allies in the United States defend the Biden administration as the second anniversary of the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal approaches.
California Representative Barbara Lee tells CNN that former president Donald Trump is to blame. Meanwhile, a senior Taliban leader attributes the current despair in Afghanistan to decades of U.S. interference.
As politicians play the blame game, Afghan Christians share the Gospel.
The United States evacuated 124,000 Afghan civilians during the chaotic troop withdrawal in August 2021.
(Wikimedia Commons)
“One of the complex challenges is, ‘We have a new believer. How will we help them grow in their faith?’ because this is a very challenging environment,” Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says.
“You’re not gathering 20 people together and say[ing], ‘Hey, let’s have discipleship class!’”
VOM USA helps persecuted Christians who left Afghanistan and those who stayed behind. Send tangible aid through VOM here.
“Many people think, ‘Oh, the Taliban took over, and now all the Christians [are] persecuted.’ Well, no, the Christians were persecuted before the Taliban takeover,” Nettleton says.
Most importantly, pray. Ask the Lord to give Afghan Christians wisdom and supernatural courage.
Sharing the Gospel is no easy feat. “Those conversations are a real exercise in observing the person you’re talking to and trying to gauge, ‘Okay, how’s this going?’” Nettleton says.
“An Afghan Christian might tell a story. They won’t say, ‘This is a story from the Bible,’ they’ll say, ‘Hey, let me tell you a story.’ And then they’re watching the person’s face,” he continues.
“They’re measuring the response because the Afghan Christian knows, ‘if this goes south, literally, I could be killed.’”
In the header image, U.S. Air Force loadmasters and pilots assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron load passengers aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), Afghanistan, Aug. 24, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen)
