This is a case in which I don’t want to say, “We told you so,” but -- well — we told you so.

If you dug into this recent podcast-post — “ 'What's next in Afghanistan?' Warning: this news topic involves religion” — you’d know that the GetReligion team has been worried about what will happen to elite news coverage of human rights issues and, specifically, religious freedom, in Afghanistan under this new Taliban regime. In fact, that podcast included many themes from an earlier GetReligion podcast-post with this headline: “When the Taliban cracks down, will all the victims be worthy of news coverage?”

It appears that there are two problems.

Reality No. 1: It’s hard to cover the hellish realities of life in the new-old Afghanistan without discussing the messy exit of U.S. diplomats and troops from that troubled nation. Thus, new coverage will please Republicans, who are infuriated about that issue, and anger the White House team of President Joe Biden, which wants to move on. New coverage allows Republicans to “pounce,” as the saying goes.

Reality No. 2: There are many valid stories inside Afghanistan right now, but some are more explosive than others in terms of fallout here in America. This is especially true when dealing with stories about Americans who are still trapped there. Then there are religious believers — including Christians and members of minority groups inside Islam — who face persecution and even executions because of their beliefs. It appears that some journalism executives (and foreign-policy pros) continue to struggle with the reality that religious issues are at the heart of the Afghanistan conflict.

Thus, cases of political and religious persecution in Afghanistan are “conservative news.” For a quick overview, see this National Review piece: “In Afghanistan, ‘Almost Everyone Is in Danger Now.’ “ Note this snarky line:

The sort of headline that shouldn’t just be local news. … Those knee-jerk Biden critics over at . . . er, the Connecticut affiliate of NBC News report: “43 Connecticut Residents Still Stuck In Afghanistan.”

Here is a key chunk of that NBCConnecticut.com report:

More than three dozen Connecticut residents are still trying to leave Afghanistan after American forces withdrew. Elected officials, relief organizations, and veterans groups are trying to get them out. 

“Their school teachers are calling me asking me where are the students. The 10-year-old student from New Haven who is stuck in Kabul is sending me voicemail messages,” Chris George, executive director of IRIS said. George is talking about some of the 43 Connecticut residents stuck in Afghanistan. 

Then there is this headline at The Dallas Morning News: “Cornyn meets with Afghans, who tell him of the many left behind in their homeland.” Alas, Sen. John Cornyn is a Republican.

Once again, let me stress that there are many valid stories to cover in Afghanistan, these days, and mainstream newsrooms are getting to some of them.

Consider this important story from The New York Times: “Musicians Flee Afghanistan, Fearing Taliban Rule.”

Here is another arts-culture story, from The Washington Post: “Afghans bury paintings and hide books out of fear of Taliban crackdown on arts and culture.”

From the beginning, the plight of Afghan women has — with good cause — been a major theme in mainstream news coverage. Like this USA Today stunner: “Staying could mean death. The escape nearly killed her. How one woman fled Afghanistan for freedom.”

These are all valid stories and, if you look closely, there are religious themes in almost all of them — such as the Taliban’s interpretations of Islamic teachings on works of visual art.

But what about the plight of Christian missionaries stranded in Afghanistan or the deadly challenges facing those who have chosen to stay there? Right now, some religious websites are turning to Baptist Press for convent such as this: “For Christians left in Afghanistan, extreme secrecy only option.”

Consider these claims from William Stark, regional manager the South Asia work of International Christian Concern, talking about Christians who continue to operate secret churches in Afghanistan:

“They’ve kind of accepted the fact that God has a plan for them, in that God wants a church in Afghanistan and they want to be members of that church, regardless of the persecution that is likely to come forward and affect them.”

An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Christians remain in Afghanistan, a country of about 38 million people that ranks second only to North Korea in its persecution of Christians, according to the 2021 World Watch List from persecution watchdog Open Doors.

This Baptist Press story takes a wider human-rights angle, leading — of course — with pleas from the Southern Baptist Convention’s activists on these issues: “ERLC, others urge U.S. to help Afghan religious minorities.” This is long, but essential:

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and other members of a diverse coalition have urged President Biden to establish a special refugee category for members of religious minorities in Afghanistan who are threatened by the Taliban and other terrorist groups.

The ERLC and more than 30 other organizations signed onto an Oct. 12 letter to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken that called for the administration to create a new Priority 2 (P-2) refugee status category for Afghan religious minorities. Short of that action, the letter from the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable — which was also endorsed by nearly 40 individuals — encouraged the White House and State Department to endorse attempts in Congress to expand the P-2 category.

Including Afghan religious minorities in the P-2 category would enable members of such groups that the American government has identified as “of special humanitarian concern” to apply to the United States Refugee Admissions Program without first receiving a referral from a U.S. embassy, non-governmental organization or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the coalition explained in the letter. This would speed up the process for these refugees, though they would still go through the American government’s thorough vetting procedures, according to the letter.

“Many Afghans are at risk of oppression under the Taliban rule with religious minorities being especially vulnerable to persecution,” said Chelsea Sobolik, the ERLC’s director of public policy. “A number of these people fear imminent death or are forced into hiding due to fear of what the Taliban might do to them.

“Our government should immediately offer Priority-2 refugee status for religious minorities fleeing this kind of violence and oppression from Afghanistan,” she said in written comments.

But you can see the problem, right? Many, not all, of the groups making this appeal to the Biden White House and U.S. State Department are — wait for it — religious conservatives.

You know, as in “Religious Right leaders pounce.”

Did I miss major mainstream media coverage of imperilled Christians in Afghanistan, as well believers in minority forms of Islam and other religious groups? Readers: What do you think is influencing the coverage of these issues?

FIRST IMAGE: International Mission Board photo used with “What will happen to the Christians in Afghanistan?”, a feature at the Evangelical Focus website in Europe.