Why Afghanistan Can't Wait

[sad sally]

Wednesday, 08 August 2012 - By Kathy Kelly and Hakim, RootsAction


Ali and Abdulhai, members of the Afghan Peace Volunteers. (Photo: RootsAction)

Two days ago, we spent three anxious hours in an outer waiting area of the "Non-Immigrant Visa" section of the U.S. consulate here in Kabul, Afghanistan, waiting for our young friends Ali and Abdulhai to return from a sojourn through the inner offices where they were being interviewed for visas to come speak to audiences in the United States.

They are members of the Afghan Peace Volunteers and have been invited to travel with the U.S.-Mexico "Caravan for Peace" that will be touring the United States later this summer. We didn't want to see their hopes dashed, and we didn't want to see this opportunity lost to connect the experiences of poor people around the world suffering from war. The organizers of the Caravan envision and demand alternatives to the failed systems of militarized policing in the terrifyingly violent, seemingly endless U.S.-Mexico drug war. They want to connect with victims of war in Afghanistan especially since, as the top producer of opium and marijuana in the world, Afghanistan has a failing war against drugs as well.

It's an unprecedented invitation, at a desperately crucial human moment.

A friendly Afghan woman working there as a security guard suggested that the length of the wait might be a good sign - perhaps it meant that one of their interviewers had taken a special interest in our young friends' case. This was what we'd been hoping for. Ali and Abdulhai each carried packets containing letters of support from four U.S. Senators and three U.S. Congressional Representatives, along with the summary of a petition signed by 4775 people. Maybe some interviewer was taking time to read the letter from Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire -- and perhaps Ali and Abdulhai had been given a chance to mention that Mairead would be joining them in Kabul this coming Human Rights Day on December 10th for a campaign calling on 2 million friends worldwide to support a cease-fire mediated by the U.N., silencing the guns of all sides currently fighting in Afghanistan.

The kindly guard, at least, was interested to know more about who the boys were. In snatches of conversation throughout the morning, having little actually to do in the United States' fortress of an embassy, she seemed to welcome a slight relief from boredom.

To find out if their visas were approved:http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10783-why-afghanistan-cant-wait

[cbrer]

1. Kabul citizens

Are being murdered every day. Violence, though an unavoidable consequence of poverty, is especially acute here in Kabul where the Taliban attack Afghani citizens rather than face the growing power of the ANA & ANP. Even using suicide attacks in religious locales.

While the United States cannot reasonably lay claim to the deep and real rifts that lay between factions here in the "Graveyard of Empires", there is no question that such an invading force exacerbates the issues, increases divides, and causes brutality of its own. Injected into a tense and unstable situation.