It is encouraging to see Bangladesh stepping up to the occasion and deciding to offer humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan through food and medical support. The announcement was made at the 17th OIC session. It is especially encouraging to see that this announcement came on the heel of our celebration of 50 years of being a liberated nation, signifying how far we have come in our journey as an independent nation.
Bangladesh has been setting a strong example when it comes to helping other nations and communities for a while now. From accommodating the Rohingya population to our top-notch, continued support to the UN’s peacekeeping missions -- Bangladesh has grown from a nation that needed help in the direst times to a success story that has become a model of development for the whole of South Asia, and a model of benevolence for countries that are rich but otherwise silent on the matters that need their attention.
To that end, Bangladesh offering this much-needed aid to the people of Afghanistan is praiseworthy, but this is a role that Bangladesh shouldn’t have to play alone. Just like in the case of the Rohingya population, Bangladesh does not have enough resources to assist Afghanistan in a major way by themselves, and they shouldn’t be expected to do so in the first place.
We live in an interconnected world where things that happen on a local scale have a ripple effect on a global scale. To that end, Bangladesh is doing its part, but other countries have to take note and step up.