Engaging People in Peacemaking
What’s Missing in Action in AfghanistanThe lecture that I went on October 8, 2008 was about “Engaging People in Peacemaking, What’s Missing in Action in Afghanistan”. The presenter, Dr. Daniel Taylor, was educated in Harvard and is now the president of Future Generation of Afghanistan. Dr. Taylor explained to us about what was really going on in the Middle East, and his photos showed what conditions are the afghan people currently in. He also discussed about what his organization tried to do to help the people, for example, setting up community action groups and educating women.
But first of all, one might ask, “Why are the Afghan people in such poor circumstances?” First, Afghanistan has unique geographical features – it lies on mountainous and desert areas. The weather there is very dry, with large temperature differences between day and night. Therefore, its arid landscape, climate and limited water supply explain why people there are suffering from poverty for a long time – it is hard to grow crops there. Next, Afghanistan is a Muslim country; and in this religion, women there are being look down upon. Hence, women there were not allowed to go to school. Also, there was the “911 incident”, which I’m sure everyone remembers. On September 11th, 2001, the Twin Tower in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia were hit by planes by the terrorists. United States then launched the War on Terrorism and invaded Afghanistan, trying to get rid of the Taliban. However, this war did not really help in deposing the Taliban – but what it definitely did was negatively affect the Afghan people’s feelings and thoughts.
Dr. Daniel Taylor knows that Afghanistan is poor conditions and therefore, he takes part in the organization of Future Generation of Afghanistan to help out. In his lecture, he explained that the organization has set up schools for women to learn how to read and write. They even give out diplomas for completing certain levels of English or Math, which encourages more people to be educated. Also, they train women to be community health workers and set up Women’s Action Groups. In the group, women will learn some basic medical and health knowledge, such as how to cut umbilical cord in a hygienic way. Moreover, they have set up local leadership councils, and that focus on the resources Afghan people already have and the existing success instead of looking at the problems. That way, Afghan people learn to build progress on their resources – they meet together, set principles and work plans, learn to trust and work together in order to reach success. Hopefully, what his organization did can really improve the lives of the Afghan people.
In Dr. Daniel Taylor’s lecture, he mentions, “The old Afghanistan was the land of tolerance,” (shows the photos of the bombed Buddhas), “Afghan people are looking out to the future,” (then shows the plains of Afghanistan), “… perhaps, they are searching for the doorway to a better place or solution.” Dr. Taylor also said that Afghan people are very strong – and I totally agree with that, but deep down in the Afghan people’s heart, I believe they are quite worried about their future generations. Although Afghanistan is receiving a lot of help by different organizations (like the Future Generation of Afghanistan), it is still a very poor country. And the war between the Taliban and the U.S. – when will it ever end? As the war continues, more innocent lives will be taken. Some might argue that without the War of Terrorism, the women in Afghanistan will never have a chance to be educated since the Taliban would be ruling, and of course because of their Muslim religion, women would not be able to have an education. But besides that, more and more innocent civilians are being killed. People in Afghanistan – they will just be living in a horrifying, frightening environment. They would never know if one day a bomb just drops on top of their roof and kill their family. That is why the Afghan people are definitely worried about what kind of world will their children be living in. An article that I read in TIME magazine (September 15, 2008 edition) is related to this issue, and it talks about “Is the U.S. Guilty In Afghanistan?” It stresses about how the U.S. military is claiming more and more innocent lives, and I definitely agree with the author of this article, Mark Thompson. He mentioned, “But the sad reality is that so long as the war persists, Afghan civilians will be the ones paying the heaviest price.”
Another issue that is the Afghan people are not trusting foreigners. Although organizations in different countries tried to help them by for example, building schools, the Afghan people might just bomb that school. It is because they have lost trust in foreigners – U.S. have been attacking them for almost 7 years now; countries like Canada and UK have been helping U.S. in the war; Soviet Union has invaded Afghanistan in the 1979. We cannot blame Afghanistan for losing trust, but this is certainly an issue in Afghanistan.
Lastly, Dr. Taylor mentioned that, as a whole, people are "veering to the wings of religious thinking". I think that people are becoming more fundamentalist because of the people have already suffered and experienced too much. For hundreds of years, Arabs and Jews have been enemies. The hate might start from a person killing another; but the victim’s family members will be heart-broken and might revenge. Soon, their hatred will only grow deeper and deeper, and the tactics will just become more cruel and brutal.
