I’ve been told there’s a contagious hope in Kabul…you see it in the people’s eyes as they welcome you to Afghanistan and sincerely thank you for the little work you contribute; you hear it in their laughter as families gather in refurbished Mogul parks once destroyed by war now adorned with roses, water pools, and mosques…you can almost feel it. I’ve watched this hope unfold as Samin, our 23-year-old night-shift guard resolutely studies simple arithmetic in attempt to pass his university entrance exam. Having spent most of his adolescence as a refugee in Pakistan, his access to constant, quality education was spotty at best.

I’ve also been told this hope is interrupted…but unyielding offenses against women’s rights and by violent acts where civilians get caught in the wake of political factions and foreign interest. The 35 deaths from the Kabul city bus bomb on Sunday morning and the weekly civilian death toll from foreign/US coalition operations are both bold interruptions.

It’s really difficult to know what to say, and how to respond with any sense of wisdom and compassion. I remain acutely aware that I don’t understand the “why’s” of most of what goes on here, and quite honestly feel ill-equipped and tongue-tied as I write. But…if I can hold any ground on this conflict, it is that innocent civilians largely reap the effects of these wars, both directly and indirectly.

Though opinions here widely vary, from what I gather most Afghans welcomed the initial US/foreign presence, as they saw it as the end of the tyrannical rule of the Taliban as well as a chance for a new start. Six years down the road, however, it is easily argued that little has changed for the average Afghan, corruption and road banditry have returned (nearly eliminated under the Taliban), and their lives are now threatened both by insurgents and international forces.

In 2006 alone, 3,700 Afghans were killed by NATO-ISAF operations, with an estimated third as civilian casualties. This compares to an estimated 700 civilians killed by insurgent forces in 2006. Such a comparison does not condone Taliban activity (which has included bombings of educational institutions for girls/women and direct assassinations of leaders in women’s rights) but sheds an interesting and needed light on public opinion on foreign forces.

I try to take this chance to listen…to watch my colleague Sahibulla’s eyes brim with tears as he asks why his people, attempting to recoup after over 25 years of war, would attack one another; to watch men from the ministry gather round Dr. Zia Jon as he shares the news that his nephew was killed in the bomb; and to hear Mr. Zekria, both sincerely welcome me to his country while explaining with anger that he believes Americans are largely responsible for the chronic conflict over the past 6 years. Perhaps if we spent more time listening we could also hear the simple cries of people in Afghanistan, and that these cries aren’t so different from those we call at home ….we want to live to see our children married and well, we want to have an education which surpasses the 2nd grade, we want our friends to survive childbirth, and above all…we want peace. I hope that as the news rages with flashy titles, and analysts give (though perhaps valid) reports of tactics and theories, that these cries, muffled by the fantastic, are not forgotten.


“Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.” --Thomas Merton