Saturday, September 27, 2008

International Peace Day in Afghanistan


Photo: Afghans march to mark the International Day of Peace in the city of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. NATO's top general in Afghanistan has ordered all international troops in the country to halt offensive operations Sunday in honor of a U.N.-backed day of peace. Even the Taliban is pledging to lay down their weapons for a day. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Guns fell silent, sporting events were held, polo vaccinations delivered, marches held, poetry read, kites flown, and a street renamed. In Kunduz, a street that had seen three suicide bombers attack was renamed “Peace Street”. Hundreds of blue flags were strung up in the capital of Kabul. It was a wonderful day in Afghanistan, and I believe this is the third year they are honoring this day – the UN declared International Day of Peace. (Here in Asheville, we held a march through downtown on Saturday to mark this event. About 50 people participated.)

In this report, a US spokesperson in the military said this: "It's a great day to show Afghans exactly what peace is like and how their everyday life would be if they just booted out the bad guys." Of course, he is referring to the Taliban, not the Americans who first funded and armed the insurgents (who later became the Taliban) who fought the Russians, and not the Americans that turned the whole country upside down and routinely bombs civilians. It seems to me that the Americans are equally (if not more so) “the bad guys” in this country. We certainly are not improving the situation or helping the Afghan people. Like they say – there are no so blind as those who will not see.

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