A group of Arizona State University students is organizing a vigil for the victims of recent attacks they believe aren’t getting the recognition they deserve: Those killed by recent bombings in Afghanistan. 

More than 150 people were killed in multiple explosions in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, in the past week. 

“It’s absolutely tragic, and what hurts more is you hear these things going on like the Manchester tragedy and bombing in London and you see this outcry. … It just kind of feels like there is this kind of selective mourning going on,” ASU student Fara Arefi said.

“It feels like Afghan blood has become really cheap, because every time it is spilled, people don’t seem to care.”

She and the Afghan Student Association at ASU are organizing #AFGBleeds, a vigil to mourn those lives lost, on the university’s Tempe campus Monday evening.

Afghanistan in recent days

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday that a suicide bomb that exploded in Kabul’s diplomatic quarter on May 31 killed at least 150 people and injured at least 300, possibly making it one of the deadliest attacks in the country since the American invasion in 2001.

A demonstration at the bomb site on June 2 drew at least 1,000 people and turned violent as protesters threw rocks at police and police shot and killed several protesters, according to The Associated Press. 

On June 3, multiple explosions killed at least six people who were attending a funeral in Kabul for one of the protesters.

After Ghani’s statement Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that a bomb killed at least seven people and wounded eight near a mosque in the city of Herat, which is about 400 miles west of Kabul. 

A vigil to “offer those souls … some peace”

Arefi, a 23-year-old senior majoring in biological sciences, was born in the United States, but her family is from Afghanistan. She has helped organize many interfaith events on campus, recently fundraising for an Islam Awareness Week at ASU.

The vigil, planned from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday at Old Main on the Tempe campus, is open to the public. It will include an opening speech, a moment of silence, speakers from various faith groups, and possibly an open mic where “people from the community can come express their grief and viewpoints,” Arefi said. 

She will end the event by reciting a spoken-word poem about Afghanistan.

“The point of the vigil is basically to bring awareness and offer those souls a moment of silence, a prayer — some peace, hopefully,” Arefi said. 

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