- When I landed at the Kabul Airport in March 2003, it only hadthree walls, and they had been bombed and were riddled withbullet holes. I don’t remember whether the roof was intact, but Ican’t imagine that it was. I do remember chuckling slightly at the“Welcome to the Kabul International Airport” sign written in thenative languages and English and the gamut of large,intimidating bearded men in turbans and long shirts coveringloose pants that I had to walk by as I descended from theweirdest &ight I had ever been on.Like the strange experience of that arrival, my nine years inAfghanistan were filled with unique and exciting experiences. Itwas also led, at least in the beginning, with real conviction thatthis new time would be a good time for Afghanistan. Surely thecombined power of the International Community would begin toright the wrongs that the Afghan people had su-ered for so long,and the world would see the end of terrorism. Surely thingswould get increasingly better.Unfortunately, after nine years there, seven of which were spentin the creation of a truly exceptional pilot program that trainedAfghan journalists under the umbrella of a hybrid press serviceto speak truth and encouragement to the Afghans, I began torealize that even my own government really didn’t care aboutchanging things for the better. My own State Department did notsee the value in speaking to the very people in whose country wewere operating. Even the company in the US and the men theyhired to go to Afghanistan for whom I worked did not realizewhat the work I did was and what it could mean for the Afghanexperiment. Somehow, the millions and millions of dollars thatwere being spent and the grand salaries that were being earnedbegan to mean more than all else. That’s when the chasmbetween the Afghans and their international allies began to grow,causing all previous alliances to crumble.When I left Afghanistan after nine years, I had seen thedeterioration of what could have been a wildly successful andproductive experience in the annals of humanity become justanother historic tragedy.This novelette is my poor attempt to convey some small part ofhow that sad experience evolved.
The Clouded Hope That Was Afghanistan
Afghanistan, Afghanistan bomb, international, isaf, isis, kabul, kabul bombing, nation building, taliban, terrorism, trump, united nations, us foreign policy, war machine
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