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Maya Evans peace delegation to Afghanistan
19 December 2011: Forgiving the Taliban
In the morning we were visited by one
of the female members of the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers; Lena,
a young intelligent outspoken Afghan woman who has just qualified
as a teacher and has already taught in various schools inside
Kabul. Over tea and left over birthday cake we talked about change
in Afghanistan, she was adamant that real change for women, society
and the country could only come for families and the community;
she had no faith in the Government. Lena was very much anti NATO
intervention and felt that foreign involvement in Afghanistan
was only bringing further violence and unrest. She also empathised
the importance of Free State education for all, explaining that
she could earn a very good wage working for private schools, but
she preferred to work in government schools, educating the people
of Afghanistan; she felt that providing she had food for lunch
and dinner that was good enough for her.
We were then visited
by Feda Mohammed former official in the ministry of education
and now an education consultant. Over lunch we got round to the
current hot topic of the now: foreign intervention in Afghanistan.
Feda, a slim tall middle aged family man dressed in a neat suit
and tie put across the opposing view to Lena, he was very much
in favour of NATO and foreign intervention, his analysis was very
black and white, Afghanistan could either have foreign occupation
or the Taliban (a horrible prospect to most in Afghanistan, especially
those who had experienced their previous reign) he viewed the
death of civilians by NATO “collateral damage” as
a necessary part of the course to eradicating the Taliban, even
if those deaths included his 3 sons… there was a stony silence
in the room.
AYPV Abduli, a 16 year old Hazara boy from
Bamiyan whose father had been killed by the Taliban was asked
for his opinion... then possibly one of the most moving moments
of my life took place, Abduli was silent for a while and then
quietly said "If a talib was in this room now I know there
is only one way forward to resolve the situation … forgiveness".
The room fell silent, I looked down and wept quietly, I wept for
his pain and wept for his strength and wisdom, I was astounded
that such a young person who had experienced one of the worst
things a child could endure had chosen the hardest path to walk.
Without a doubt that moment will stay with me forever and whenever
I weaken in my conviction to walk the path of non-violence and
forgiveness I will think of Adbuli.
The discussion continued for a further 2
hours, I was so impressed that the teenage members of the AYPV
sat through the whole thing making intelligent, wise and insightful
contributions. By the end of the discussion Feda looked bombarded,
thankfully USA Ken warmly thanked Feda and affirmed that he was
a brother as his views were formed by what he thought was best
for Afghan people.
After the meeting we went for a walk to the
nearby river which I had past the day before, more or less dry
except for a murky trickle which wriggles a path through piles
of rubbish. Roughly 7 ft deep it’s easy to jump into the
basin, as a result it has become a hang-out for local drug addicts.
Men addicted to heroin
As we approached the bridge I could see a group of men huddled
in the middle of the dry waste ridden river bed, some men were
sheltering underneath the bridge while there was a crowd of men
gathered on the bank sitting and watching the gathered party in
the river bed. When we got closer the desperate situation became
clear, a group of around 40 men were sitting in the middle of
the river bed, completely in the open, without inhibition or self-respect
getting high on heroin. Many of them were black with grime, beaten
up weathered faces, lost eyes. Their were small groups huddled
under scarves inhaling the intoxicating fumes, some huddled round
an open fire cooking up the drug, lost bodies stagger around without
consciousness, another man picked through the rubbish looking
for any scraps of value .
Hakim told me that the previous week a dead
body was pulled out of the river bed and left on the side of the
bank. Apparently many Afghan men travel to Iran for work and gain
a drug habit in periods of unemployment, they return to Afghanistan
and continue their addictions stealing off family and relying
on crime to maintain their habit. Bizarrely there was a small
crowd of men sitting on the bank watching the addicts; it was
almost like watching animals in a zoo. The whole scene was totally
depressing, Hakim turned to me: “the human race are not
coping, it’s gone so wrong”.
When we returned to the apartment more members
of the AYPV had turned up, a film making couple; Farzana a female
actress, (possibly one of only ten actresses in the country) and
Farrod a camera man and editor. They spoke about their work and
future short film ideas. Farzana currently works with a young
theatre group (she is the only woman) who are working on the story
The Little Prince. We then watched a short film which Farrod had
been involved in making, a short Iranian film about a Hazara refugee
boy who has an unquenchable thirst for learning and going to school.
Like many Iranian films it was beautifully paced and filmed. The
couple stayed for our usual carb based dinner before the evening
wound down with 2 hours of English studies and then several intense
rounds of the card game Uno.
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