A lack of progress after the military’s campaign against the Taliban has raised fears of renewed militancy. [More]
-- The Kettle
Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts
Monday, November 15, 2010
NY Times: Rebuilding Lags in Pakistan Area After Offensive
A lack of progress after the military’s campaign against the Taliban has raised fears of renewed militancy. [More]
-- The Kettle
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
NY Times: Pakistan (Intelligence Service) Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert
Military documents reflect deep suspicions among U.S. officials that Pakistan’s spy service has for years guided the Afghan insurgency with a hidden hand.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/asia/26isi.html
-- The Kettle Rumbles
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Thoughts on Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
I just finished reading "Stones into Schools," the follow up book to "Three Cups of Tea," and I highly recommend it to anyone who has read "The Cups of Tea" by David Orlin and Greg Mortenson. Relative to "Three Cups of Tea," "Stones into Schools" takes on a more personal and gripping tone, as Greg Mortenson himself picks up the pen and continues the story from where "Three Cups of Tea" ended. In "Stones into Schools," the reader gets a glimpse of the many, at times ridiculous, challenges faced by the CAI and Greg Mortenson in growing their operations in Afghanistan while fundraising in the United States (and elsewhere) and continuing their mission in Pakistan. The stories recounted in the book really show how the Central Asia Institute is not your run of the mill NGO. Rather, the CAI shines in providing a vital service to the people at "the end of the road," where not even the local federal governments venture, let alone foreign NGO's.
That said, the book is only partly about the CAI and Greg Mortenson. Always inclined to focus the attention on others, rather than himself, Greg Mortenson spends much of the book detailing stories of admirable determination and sacrifice demonstrated by his motley staff of local Pakistanis and Afghans. There were several moments when reading this book that I found myself truly touched and inspired by the valor and nobility of these men, who Greg Mortenson affectionately refers to as the "Dirty Dozen." At the very least, anyone who reads the book, should gain some perspective and inspiration for dealing with the challenges in his or her life.
A big criticism of the CAI, which was explicitly highlighted in "Three Cups of Tea," was that without Greg Mortenson, everything the CAI has done would unravel. However, after reading "Stones into School," one is left with the distinct impression that it is now the local Afghan and Pakistani administrators and directors of CAI who are making the greatest contributions to the mission of female literacy. Despite Mr. Mortenson having to spend the majority of his time these days raising money and awareness in the United States for CAI's mission, the CAI has managed to push forward. The CAI has built and currently support over 130 schools in the region. They achieved this success despite unforgiving climates and terrain, limited resources and infrastructure, a complicated political landscape, natural disasters, federal corruption and bureaucracy, Taliban reprisals, pervasive drug trafficking, and widely publicized civilian deaths from U.S./NATO military attacks.
Perhaps the greatest personal appeal of Greg Mortenson, and why I think "Three Cups of Tea" has been so successful, is his fundamentally human imperfection. Far from trying to justify everything he is doing, Mr. Mortenson candidly expresses his doubts, guilt, and physical inabilities. He spends some time questioning whether he has lost some level of commitment to the communities he has helped by now spending most of his time in the West. Then again, who is perfect? Who doesn't have doubts? This is reality. This magnetic appeal extends to many characters in the book. The title of the book, "Stones into Schools," is coined from a speech made by a former mujahideen commander who has spent the majority of his life in vicious combat, and who has probably had to be complicit in opium trafficking in order to provide and protect his community. The story of the CAI and the people of the region is not a fictional novel or fairy tale about uncompromising superhumans moving mountains with sheer force of will. Rather, it is about ordinary, flawed people who have to pick up each stone one by one in order to build a better future. It is fitting that Mr. Mortenson describes the "Dirty Dozen" as "underqualified overachievers," because to me, that description would fit him as well. It only seems natural that he would find some kindred spirits during his noble campaign in Central Asia.
Finally, as someone in America who will probably never have the courage and stamina to do the good work that the CAI does in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I feel that the least I can do is give some financial support for a mission that ultimately benefits us all. Despite all the problems in this world, I become hopeful and thankful when I see people like Greg Mortenson and his staff and organizations like the CAI. In summary, I highly recommend this book. It is essentially a story of regular people doing what they can, which in combination amounts to a great sea of change in the middle of what had been a barren dessert.
-- The Kettle Rumbles
PS. You can buy the book here: http://www.stonesintoschools.com/ and a portion of the proceeds will go directly to supporting the CAI's work.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
NYTimes: More Schools, Not Troops
A compelling argument against more troops in Afghanistan rests on this trade-off: For the cost of an additional soldier stationed in Afghanistan for a year, nearly 20 schools could be built. [More]
Excerpt:
Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea,” has now built 39 schools in Afghanistan and 92 in Pakistan — and not one has been burned down or closed. The aid organization CARE has 295 schools educating 50,000 girls in Afghanistan, and not a single one has been closed or burned by the Taliban. The Afghan Institute of Learning, another aid group, has 32 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with none closed by the Taliban (although local communities have temporarily suspended three for security reasons).
-- The Kettle Rumbles
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
NY Times: Racing Time and Taliban to Rebuild in Pakistan
Reconstruction of battered villages has yet to begin in the upper Swat Valley, making the area ripe for another Taliban takeover. [MORE]
-- The Kettle Rumbles
Monday, October 19, 2009
BBC: Fleeing from South Waziristan dangers
Fleeing from South Waziristan dangers
Up to 100,000 civilians have left their homes in South Waziristan, where the Pakistani army is fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda. [More]
-- The Kettle Rumbles
BBC: Profile: Hakimullah Mehsud
Hakimullah Mehsud, who the Taliban say is their new leader in Pakistan, came to prominence in 2007 after a number of spectacular raids against the army. [More]
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How futile it is to drop bombs from 20,000 feet in the air to kill the leadership of an organization whose ranks are quickly replenished by young men like Hakimullah Mehsud. Hakimullah had no education but from a madrasa. How different would his life had been and the conflict in Pakistan would be if we, who have so many opportunities ourselves, had cared whether he had any...
-- The Kettle Rumbles
Monday, September 28, 2009
CAI: A quote from a CAI teacher
I was catching up to reading a CAI newsletter and came upon the following quote, which I think summarizes much of the good the CAI's work does for the communities they serve and the world at large:
These words, coming from someone who was a militia and Taliban member, but now is a teacher for the CAI school, is so poignant. I am amazed at the wisdom, courage, and open mindedness of the CAI staff.
-- The Kettle Rumbles
"If you can't read, then you must believe what the imam tells you," said Shaukat Ali, a former Kashmiri freedom fighter and Taliban member who now teaches at the Gundi Piran school. "If you are only a listener, not a reader, if you cannot read the language, you can get the wrong idea. And that is a misfortune. But slowly, slowly, we can encourage modern education, encourage people to send boys and girls to school. If we invest, it will come back to us. We have to deal with problems of tradition and culture. But we can stop extremism. If people are educated, we can fight against poverty, cruelty, and injustice."
These words, coming from someone who was a militia and Taliban member, but now is a teacher for the CAI school, is so poignant. I am amazed at the wisdom, courage, and open mindedness of the CAI staff.
-- The Kettle Rumbles
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Gulf Times: Suspected Taliban rebels bomb school
Suspected Taliban rebels bomb school
Suspected Taliban militants bombed a primary school on the outskirts of Peshawar yesterday, underscoring the Islamist threat in northwest Pakistan despite a series of military offensives. [More]
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Asim and Tamreez is fundraising for Friends Of The Citizens Foundation - JustGiving
Asim and Tamreez is fundraising for Friends Of The Citizens Foundation - JustGiving
Posted using ShareThis
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A friend's friend is climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro to raise money for the Citizen's Foundation, which builds schools in urban slums in Pakistan. I commend their efforts and hope they achieve their goals!
- The Kettle Rumbles
Thursday, July 30, 2009
NYTimes: Nicholas D. Kristof: An Update on Assiya
After my Sunday column on Assiya Rafiq, the teenage girl who is trying to prosecute the police in Pakistan who raped her, an update. First, many, many of you donated money through Mercy Corps to the Mukhtar Mai fund (a total of $75,000 so far), and some of that was stipulated for Assiya. [MORE]
-- The Kettle Rumbles
-- The Kettle Rumbles
Saturday, July 25, 2009
NYTIMES: Not a Victim, but a Hero
A Pakistani girl musters the courage to publicly fight her rapists, despite threats to her family. [MORE]
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Knowing how hard other people's lives are makes it hard to complain about the little frustrations I have to deal with. I am grateful for the resources and freedom I have, and hope that these things will allow me to make a real difference in this world. I would change the title of that article to "A Victim, but Also a Hero," but I am no Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times! I have done nothing in my life that comes close to how bravely Assiya Rafiq has perservered after her ordeal.
I've been trying to figure out the mercycorps.org website mentioned in the article. There doesn't seem to be a fund to help Assiya's family. Maybe if I twitter the author, he would actually respond and tell me how to get money to her!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
NYTimes: Saving a Kashmiri Village After Remaking His Life
An American who arrived as a volunteer rescue worker after the 2005 earthquake that killed 80,000 Pakistanis started a hospital that treats 100,000 annually. [MORE]
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From broken home, drug addiction, music, rescue worker, to hospital administrator. God bless individuals like Todd Shea.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Lubbock Online: Banned group helping out Pakistan refugees
Banned group helping out Pakistan refugees
Associated Press Writer
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A banned charity with alleged links to the Mumbai attacks is helping refugees fleeing the fighting between the Pakistani military and the Taliban, a group member said Thursday, raising questions about the government's pledge to crack down on the outfit.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
www.apakistannews.com: President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the United States to provide drone technology
"WASHINGTON: President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the United States to provide drone technology and other necessary equipment to help Pakistan fight terrorists more effectively and rejected the notion of American personnel joining the anti-terror fight on the Pakistani soil."
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As for the drone technology, you can't deny that they inflict considerable damage to the enemy...and is probably the only weapon Taliban and Al Qaeda fear, but these same weapons have killed scores of civilians during the current conflict, and those deaths will continue to feed the violence around the world and breed distrust and ill-feeling between the U.S. and the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Seeing as how the U.S. can't even use these weapons without managing to injure their own cause, I shudder to think what the spread of this technology would mean for the world. The U.S. once almost killed Hamid Karzai with a misdirected bomb...He lived, but 20 of his loyal tribesmen died, as did 3 U.S. Special Forces soldiers. I've also read accounts of how some Northern Alliance commanders had disingenuously directed Americans to use drones to bomb non-Taliban/non Al Qaeda targets when the Afghanistan "invasion" was taking place. War is bad enough...perhaps it's even worse when you can't even really see the person you're about to obliterate. We all look kinda alike from thousands of feet in the air...
-- The Kettle Rumbles
NY Times: Pakistan Strife Fills a Hospital With Refugees
May 7, 2009
Pakistan Strife Fills a Hospital With Refugees
"MARDAN, Pakistan — The dank and shadowed hallways of the Mardan Tuberculosis Hospital, crumbling relic of another age, were transformed here on Wednesday into a clinic of a more modern sort, when the refugees of nearby battles came streaming in the whole long day."
Excerpt: "If you do something wrong, if you miss your prayers or something like that, the Taliban will flog you in the street," he said. "We are Muslims. We don't have much problem with people trying to enforce the religion — it's when they cut the throats of the policemen that people become angry. Yes, they are doing that."
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It's interesting that the refugee the author interviewed expressed the same suspicion of the Pakistani military with regards to their links (and seeming complacency--and according to some, outright support in the past) to the Taliban as I've read in "Descent into Chaos" by Ahmed Rashid and "Punishment of Virtue" by Sarah Chayes. How much of the offensive going on now in Swat and Buner is merely a show to to placate the U.S.? It could very well be that many soldiers do have a genuine mission to eliminate the threat, but is their toil and suffering merely a calculated setback for leadership in Pakistani military intelligence that still sees Islamic militants as a useful tool to covertly support Pakistani military interests in Kashmir and Afghanistan? I hope not--it's bad enough that civilians are caught in the middle. Perhaps the military's position on the issue will change as they have apparently lost control of the same militants they had fostered all these years (as it seems is widely believed)...
-- The Kettle Rumbles
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
WSJ: Thousands Flee Pakistan's Swat Valley
Thousands Flee Pakistan's Swat Valley By ZAHID HUSSAIN
"ISLAMABAD -- Thousands of panicked residents on foot and crammed in buses, vans and trucks fled Swat valley north of Pakistan's capital Tuesday following the breakdown of a fragile truce between government forces and the Taliban."
"ISLAMABAD -- Thousands of panicked residents on foot and crammed in buses, vans and trucks fled Swat valley north of Pakistan's capital Tuesday following the breakdown of a fragile truce between government forces and the Taliban."
Monday, May 4, 2009
NY Times: Porous Border With Pakistan Could Hinder U.S. Troops
"Afghan militants are able to cross the border with ease, according to interviews with a logistics tactician for the Taliban."
NY Times: "Pakistan’s Islamic Schools Fill Void, but Fuel Militancy"
"Pakistan’s poorest families have turned to Islamic schools that feed and house children while pushing a militant brand of Islam."
This article describes the link between some madrasas (Islamic Schools) and the growth of militant Islamic Fundamentalism. Rashid Ahmed writes about the same connection in "Descent in to Chaos," as does Tom Friedman in "Hot, Flat, and Crowded," and Greg Mortenson in "Three Cups of Tea." Basically, it is believed by many that the majority of suicide bombers go through extremist madrasas. I specify extremist madrasas because not all madrasas are teaching a militant brand of Islam. In fact the majority of them, do not. Unfortunately, there are many madrasas that teach little more than memorization of the Koran. While only a minority of madrasas is directly linked to militant movements, the article posits that a singular focus on conservative interpretation of the Koran is a "stepping stone" to more militant ideals. Ultimately, fundamentalist madrasas are only a symptom of a more systematic failure of the government in Pakistan to provide education and basic welfare to the millions of Pakistanis. In fact, it is widely believed that madrasas have long been purposely supported by the Pakistani government (with help from the U.S. government during the cold war) as an unofficial military force to support Pakistani interests in Kashmir and Afghanistan. Nowadays, many madrasas are funded by money from Saudi Arabia. If Pakistan had spent less money on the military and more on education, perhaps its stability wouldn't be threatened today by a resurgent Islamic militant movement. My question is, where did the $650 million in non military U.S. aid go? Where is the accountability?
-- The Kettle Rumbles
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