They are supporting the people that support the mastermind behind it...

I guess? No one was trying to make u emo, but you should at least care.

The Afghan Red Crescent Society survived the last period of Taliban rule, so I suspect they'll survive your fantasy world where Al Qaeda has managed to detonate a WMD that kills only people who vote.

my god, what happened in this thread ?
1.) the thought that the red crosses/crecents first aid and low level surgeries (they are in a war zone without the gigantic financial backing of the us army, guys) could instantly heal "insurgents" and make them combat rdy again is so naive I want to laugh out loudly

2.) of course their main priority is the civilians and not any of the war fractions, but they will treat those as well - there is no scan of the personal background and a 400 pages questionnaire before they treat a person, you know -> and that is a huge service to the west, because that makes it harder for anti-western fractions to demonize the west (like we do to the Taliban) and to gather followers

3.) it's funded by people from all over the world and people from some states obviously can give more, but does that mean they should prioritize those states? fucking, no

4.) the red cross/crecent was created to treat wounded people and strictly doesn't get into politics or pass judgment over a person/organization/country/race/religion/.. - they treat every human without discrimination

Yea I must say a lot of these responses show a very silly view of the world as if everything was black and white.  I mean I'm not a personal fan of terrorists either, and given the situation I doubt I'd do the right thing either, but I'd swear some are suggesting not only threatening them to change their ways in exchange for medical attention, but even execute them right there on the ground.  Is that right?

But as you've been saying, the Red Cross is trying to be neutral and just to be doctors giving medical attention to whoever is in need of it.  To them, they are just all human beings in need of help.  But as I said, not sure I would be able to do that.  Guess these Red Cross guys are better men than me, and I'm alright admitting that.  Thank you for at least putting some sense in this thread. 

The red cross isn't British, or American, or Afghan, or anything. It's international, it is independent and neutral. Just because they have American roots does not mean they hold any allegiance to you (they actually started in Switzerland too). Their only concern is that people are dying in conflict, and regardless of nationality or cause they want to help them.

I sometimes come across doctor colleagues that sometimes work for international health organizations such as the Red Cross and go abroad to help, by directly treating the sick or by fostering other health care personel. Typically they go to Africa.

I would despise a doctor who went to help the Talibans.

The Red cross has no business to do in taliban regions when urgent medical help is needed elsewhere in the world. Bad bad morals.

It's funny, just yesterday I had a patient who is a refugee from Afghanistan. He's lived in Sweden for at least 10 years.

He was depressed and was crying in front of me. The memories had recently come back to haunt him, memories from 1993 when he witnessed his father and brother get shot by the Talibans.

The reason: his brother had just arrived from university studies in Pakistan and didn't have a beard. The father got shot because he rushed to protect his son.

I understand that the red cross is neutral and everything but helping in my view the enemy is just a big no go especially when so many British troops are getting killed.

I withdraw my support for the red cross. I would be very surprised if many others didn't if they knew what was going on.

Thanks for the correction. It makes a lot more sense now!

I dont know. When I first heard this I was ardently opposed, but when I think about it I wonder if our Western ideals of humanity could be tranfsered to these animals through actions such as this.