It’s been about 500 days since my last trip in country. To quote a military source of mine…Afghanistan is going to hell in a hand basket. After two weeks there, sad to say, this is not an understatement. Dispatches to follow shortly.
Brianne

As a freelance print journalist in 1985, I reported from Soviet Occupied, Afghanistan. I returned in 2001, as a correspondent for CNN. Over the past 4 years I have watched from a distance as Afghanistan once again falls prey to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and greedy, rogue warlords. I watch as opium production consumes the country like a metastasized cancer…increasing almost by 50% since last year. (NYTimes 09/03/2006)

Though far away, I cannot forget the Afghan people I met… strangers who became my friends. Their faces, gentle smiles and tears are etched in my memory. I have watched Afghanistan’s heartbreaking decline with the safety of thousands of miles and perhaps a century or two between us. But, I can still taste the way-too-sweet tea a young boy served me in 1985, as mortars detonated from a near-by Soviet Garrison. I can still hear the soft voice of Gul Zaman, who (in 2001) became my CNN Fixer, answering every request I had with…Of course, why not?*

I can still see the tears streaming down Nasser’s face, as he watched an uncensored video of the World Trade Towers collapsing. On our tiny TV, in the makeshift CNN Bureau in the ramshackle Spin Ghar Hotel, Nasser could see people jumping to their deaths. We didn’t know, he said through sobs, we didn’t know.

Finally, in the winter of 2001, just before the infamous battle of Tora Bora and the futile hunt for Bin Ladin, I recall the young boy who spoke to me in what was left of his bombed out schoolyard in Nanghahar Province, location of the first strikes in the War Against Terror in the fall of 2001.

“Why you didn’t come in the Taliban?” he asked in broken English, without a trace of bitterness.

Embarrassed, I struggled for an answer. There was no good answer. I told him what I believed to be the truth.

“We made a mistake. But we are here now.”

He looked at me for a long, intense beat and then,

“But will you stay?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he smiled an unsettling smile and walked away without looking back.

We still have a presence in Afghanistan. But sadly, I believe, the Afghan people have been set-up to fail again. While opium production has increased by tons (92% of world supply). NYTimes – 09/03/06 there has been a drop in US aid to Afghanistan. Much needed troops are trapped in the morass that is Iraq.

The British commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Richards, has urged the Afghan government and Western donors to step in quickly …warning if residents do not see benefits in the next six months the people would turn to support the Taliban. (NYTimes 10/10/06)

My reason for starting Saving Afghanistan is an attempt to shed some light on what is happening inside Afghanistan as it is happening. I’ve asked Afghan leaders, human rights workers, civilians, students as well as Western journalists, and US Government workers, living in country to contribute to this blog.

Journalists such as Anderson Cooper/CNN have recently used their clout and popularity to put Afghanistan back in the headlines. Carlotta Gall/NYTimes has been courageously reporting from inside Afghanistan, since the war began. PBS/Frontline did an excellent documentary recently about the Taliban resurgence. There are more of course, but not enough. I will do my best to keep up to date with all – but would appreciate your input as well.
That said, I’m hoping this site can be a helpful supplement to mainstream media. Saving Afghanistan will be (initially) weekly dispatches. Giving a voice to those living the nightmare as they desperately try not to give up the dream.

I have a firm belief in the compassion and intelligence of the American People. Information is power. Power can create change. Change is hope. Hope can bring about peace.

Inshallah,
Brianne Leary

*Gul Zaman risked his life getting CNN video of a village wiped-out by the inexplicably named, Daisy Cutter bombs dropped from American B-52’s. Approximately, 80 men, women and children were killed in their sleep. The bombing was so intense that the walls shook at our hotel, miles away in Jalalabad. The Pentagon would later admit to being given faulty intelligence. There we’re no Al Qaeda members and/or sympathizers. The bombings were a regrettable mistake…collateral damage. Gul Zaman is still a hunted man, accused by village survivors of aiding the Americans.

Gul Zaman’s children.