Writings related to ‘Afghanistan’
August 3rd, 2010
This is the third in a series of posts about the necessity of protecting the rights of Afghan women in creating a sustainable peace. I discuss what is involved in that process and what can be done to help. This analysis is based on scores of interviews from two trips to Kabul and on-going communication […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Social Action, Women's Rights
Posted in: Letters from the Road
July 20th, 2010
This is the second in a series of posts about the necessity of protecting the rights of Afghan women in creating a sustainable peace. I discuss what is involved in that process and what can be done to help. This analysis is based on scores of interviews from two trips to Kabul and on-going communication […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Women's Rights
Posted in: Letters from the Road
July 16th, 2010
This is the first in a series of posts about the necessity of protecting Afghan women’s rights in creating a sustainable peace. I discuss what is involved in that process and what can be done to help. This analysis is based on scores of interviews from two trips I have taken to Kabul and on-going […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Bearing Witness, Women's Rights
Posted in: Letters from the Road
May 12th, 2010
Kabul, Afghanistan The Streets Kabul was nervous today. The car bomb went off at rush hour, rattling the windows of our guesthouse, the smoke rising about a mile to the west. People came out on their roofs and stood quietly, watching the cloud of smoke ascend. I saw one woman staring, her hand to her […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Bearing Witness, Nonduality, Peace, Social Action
Posted in: Letters from the Road
April 28th, 2010
. The U.S. Role in the Return of the Taliban After 9/11 the people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and many international optimists like me expected the US-led international community to commit to rebuilding Afghanistan and undertaking reforms in Pakistan – a western-led Marshal plan for the region. What we got instead was a Republican president and […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Bearing Witness, Pakistan, Peace, Social Action
Posted in: Letters from the Road
April 22nd, 2010
It was tea break. I joined the stream into a large gloomy room with no windows (for our security I was told) in the National Library in Islamabad and confronted a sea of men, all of us pushing for our portion of strong sugary tea. None of the faces felt familiar – Muslims from all […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Bearing Witness, Pakistan, Peace, Social Action
Posted in: Letters from the Road
March 31st, 2010
The following letter by Elias – and the next ones to come by Elizabeth – were written from Pakistan, where Elias was invited to address a conference on “Sufism and Peace” sponsored by the Pakistan Academy of Letters. The experience described in this letter occurred toward the end of our stay. The Mosque The dawn […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Awakening, Interfaith, Pakistan, Peace
Posted in: Letters from the Road
January 25th, 2010
Most of my liberal friends are discouraged about Afghanistan. They are convinced the Afghans don’t want us there, that the military is not capable of doing anything right, and that we have to admit the Taliban are the default leaders of so backward and misogynist a country. When this discouragement is coupled with news media […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Peace, Social Action
Posted in: Letters from the Road
January 20th, 2010
Recently I traveled to Kabul with a small peace delegation because I wanted to experience for myself what is happening there and what the people say they want and need from my country. I have spent 40 years protesting war and working for peace in conflict areas and I assumed I would return from […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Non-violence, Peace
Posted in: Letters from the Road
November 1st, 2009
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN So ring the bells that still can ring forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. – Leonard Cohen I recently returned from the Middle East and Afghanistan, and am surrounded by my journals, magazine articles, blog snippets, position statements from peace groups, everything written […]
Topics: Afghanistan, Bearing Witness, Social Action
Posted in: Letters from the Road
