I felt good when I saw President Barack Obama on TV. Everyone here was so happy to see him win. Everyone admired his speech and said he would be better than the previous president. They said he would be smart about Afghanistan and end the war and the killing. I saw faces full of happiness and hope. The reason I want to meet President Obama is to share with him all the tears of my people. I know I can’t write about all our problems in one or two pages, and I know my letter can’t clean the tears from my people’s eyes. But I write it anyway.
Dear President Barack Obama,
We want to live without fear.
I will never forget this war, what we have lost and how our lives have been destroyed as a result of an American policy that doesn’t concern itself with innocent people. After you were elected, we hoped that everything would be all right. But it is worse than before.
One thing is clear: our people are tired of war. We have tried to explain our problems again and again, and yet the situation gets worse with every passing day. Why doesn’t an Afghan life have value? What did we do that we are the victims of first the Taliban, and now the US?
It is destroying us—especially women. Too many people die, or lose their homes. Too many children are homeless in our country. It may be the poorest country in the world, but who is responsible for this? Everyone thinks about politics, but no one thinks about human life.
Do you think that your army is useful here? Or that it will bring peace? You are wrong if you do. I witnessed a mother and son who lost their lives crossing the road. The American army thought they were terrorists, but they were trying to find money to support their family. This is how we lose members of our families. How many people will die? We don’t know.
Day by day, our country is destroyed. People can’t walk freely on the road or drive. The Kabul road is too difficult for passengers now. Everyone hates it when cars get stopped and people are prevented from going to work. We don’t feel comfortable in our own country. It is like we are strangers in our own home.
Don’t you want Afghanistan to become independent?
We need our own army; our own police. Even the youngest child wishes that one day he will be able protect his country from others. But everywhere we see the American army, or soldiers from other countries. So we don’t feel free.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a strong enough government to control the situation without wasting money. No one knows where this money goes and still we are in need. This our weakest point. We don’t have a president who thinks about the future of Afghanistan or about the generation that holds the future of Afghanistan in their hands.
We need to build our own country. We want to stand on our own feet. We want to be independent.
The presence of the American army, or any army from another country, does not bring peace. Never does it save our people’s lives from war or from suicide. It will continue. It will get worse. When an army comes from another country, our army gets lazy. They have no incentive to do their job. They think the government doesn’t believe in them.
What we really want is to make our people educated. Give them the chance to get a higher education and come back to serve their people. That is what would help the Afghan people: instead of sending an army to kill, send teachers. Show my people how to work together.
My wish, President Obama, is to make Afghanistan independent and the people hard-working and able to walk on the road without fear. To be able to delete the word of “poorest” when describing my country. So send your people, if you must. But send them to inspire, and to teach in peace.
By Shogofa
You’ve given me a lot to think about. I hope this will be read by many so they can have some understanding of how the people in your country feel. Your last paragraph is particularly powerful and well written. I hope our president has a chance to read it soon.
I, too, hope that President Obama reads your letter and that it stirs his heart the way it stirred mine.
Dear Shogofa,
My heart goes with you and your people. I totally agree with you on the things that people of Afgan really need, not more soldiers; however, if there is no security in the streets of Afrgan, your people will still be terrorised by the Taliban and thier allies. I am very confident that Obama will find way to put an end to this, it may take a bit of time, but this a step forward towards a priceless solution.
Please continue writing and edfying us. Words will continue to go around.
Dear Shogofa,
I’m very sorry for the suffering people in your country have experienced and are experiencing. I hope that you and others will continue writing, and that my country’s leaders will get the message.
Beth
Oh how I wish that Obama would follow your words. Thanks you for speaking your mind so precisely and clearly!
I am so sorry Shogofa, despite Obama being a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, when he says “peace”, in Orwellian terms, it means war. War is Peace. He is a weak and paid-for president no better than the one you have. Sorry.
Dear Shogafa: Can you read English? The American people have much hope for President Obama, too. What I learned from the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, is that it can take some time to see the changes. My understanding is that President Obama, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are working on a solution to withdraw the U.S. soldiers. I have read some books about Afghanistan, and I know some of the history. The Afghan people need to take responsibility as well. Americans were involved and have done some very bad things, I agree. But the Taliban is not American or Russian. The Taliban has done bad things as well. Afghanistan has been a battleground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan
In February 1979, the Islamic Revolution ousted the US-backed Shah from Afghanistan’s neighbor Iran and the United States ambassador to Afghanistan was kidnapped and killed by Islamic militants, despite attempts by the Afghan security forces and Soviet advisers to free him.
The United States then deployed twenty ships to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea including two aircraft carriers, and there was a constant stream of threats of warfare between the US and Iran.[7]
The Afghan government, having secured a treaty in December 1978 that allowed them to call on Soviet forces, repeatedly requested the introduction of troops in Afghanistan in the spring and summer of 1979.
In the mid-1980s, the Afghan resistance movement, assisted by the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the People’s Republic of China and others, contributed to Moscow’s high military costs and strained international relations. The US viewed the conflict in Afghanistan as an integral Cold War struggle, and the CIA provided assistance to anti-Soviet forces through the Pakistani intelligence services, in a program called Operation Cyclone.
The mujahideen favoured sabotage operations. The more common types of sabotage included damaging power lines, knocking out pipelines and radio stations, blowing up government office buildings, air terminals, hotels, cinemas, and so on. From 1985 through 1987, an average of over 600 “terrorist acts” a year were recorded. In the border region with Pakistan, the mujahideen would often launch 800 rockets per day. Between April 1985 and January 1987, they carried out over 23,500 shelling attacks on government targets. The mujahideen surveyed firing positions that they normally located near villages within the range of Soviet artillery posts, putting the villagers in danger of death from Soviet retaliation. The mujahideen used land mines heavily. Often, they would enlist the services of the local inhabitants, even children.
US “Paramilitary Officers” from the CIA’s Special Activities Division were instrumental in training, equipping and sometimes leading Mujihadeen forces against the Soviet Army. Although the CIA in general and Charlie Wilson, a Texas Congressman, have received most of the attention, the key architect of this strategy was Michael G. Vickers, a young Paramilitary Officer.[55] Michael Pillsbury, a senior Pentagon official overcame bureaucratic resisistance in 1985-1986 and persuaded President Reagan to provide hundreds of Stinger missiles.
The US tended to favor the Afghan resistance forces led by Ahmed Shah Massoud, and US support for Massoud’s forces increased considerably during the Reagan administration in what US military and intelligence forces called “Operation Cyclone.” Primary advocates for supporting Massoud included two Heritage Foundation foreign policy analysts, Michael Johns and James A. Phillips, both of whom championed Massoud as the Afghan resistance leader most worthy of US support under the Reagan Doctrine.
Among other things the Geneva accords identified the US and Soviet non-intervention in the internal affairs of Pakistan and Afghanistan and a timetable for full Soviet withdrawal. The agreement on withdrawal held, and on February 15, 1989, the last Soviet troops departed on schedule from Afghanistan.
Estimates of the Afghan deaths vary from 100,000 to 1 million. 5 million Afghans fled to Pakistan and Iran, 1/3 of the prewar population of the country. Another 2 million Afghans were displaced within the country. In the 1980s, half of all refugees in the world were Afghan.
Along with fatalities were 1.2 million Afghans disabled (mujahideen, government soldiers and noncombatants) and 3 million maimed or wounded (primarily noncombatants).
The Geneva Accords of 1988, which ultimately led to the withdrawal of the Soviet forces in early 1989, left the Afghan government in ruins. The accords had failed to address adequately the issue of the post-occupation period and the future governance of Afghanistan. The assumption among most Western diplomats was that the Soviet-backed government in Kabul would soon collapse; however, this was not to happen for another three years. During this time the Interim Islamic Government of Afghanistan (IIGA) was established in exile. The exclusion of key groups such as refugees and Shias, combined with major disagreements between the different mujaheddin factions, meant that the IIGA never succeeded in acting as a functional government.
Once the Soviets withdrew, US interest in Afghanistan ceased. The US decided not to help with reconstruction of the country and instead they handed over the interests of the country to US allies, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Pakistan quickly took advantage of this opportunity and forged relations with warlords and later the Taliban, to secure trade interests and routes. From wiping out the country’s trees through logging practices, which has destroyed all but 2% of forest cover country-wide, to substantial uprooting of wild pistachio trees for the exportation of their roots for therapeutic uses, to opium agriculture, the past ten years have caused much ecological and agrarian destruction.
The logging has been done mainly by Afghani warlords and Pakistan. Afghanis were also responsible for laying many of the landmines that maimed children.
President Obama is not the President of Afghanistan. I know we are responsible for some part of the continuing occupation in Afghanistan, but the Afghan people have played parts as well.
If I was a woman living in Afghanistan, I would learn how to plant trees – apple, pistachio, and walnut. I would plant these trees; and care for them. When they grow, I would sell the apples, pistachios and walnuts. When the trees became large, I would cut them down and sell the wood. Then I would plant more trees.
The U.S. is supplying much aid to Afghanistan. Perhaps you can apply for a loan; and find some land and plant these trees.
Peace and Love,
Traci
Shogofa, I doubt you will ever see this comment, but this is a beautiful, heartfelt letter. It is so moving; you have a gift with words. I am a better person for having read this. Thank you.
I am amazed that you witness such atrocity and yet it has not caused your heart to harden with hate. I marvel at this; I only hope that were I in the same situation I would show the same strength and grace. I would understand if you hated all Americans because of what we have done to your country and your people, but instead you do not. You simply ask for the respect you deserve, and for independence—yet you have the wisdom to know that America will STILL interfere, and so you ask that we send teachers instead of an army.
Each and every day I pray for the people that my country terrorizes—the nameless, faceless victims, because the American media does not show the truth. But today I do have a name: Shogofa. I will pray for you, and I will pray that what you ask will be done. I truly wish I could do more than pray, but even though I am an American who wants our army to cease its campaign of terror in your country, I feel powerless to stop it because my own government is not interested in peace. Those of us in America who ask for peace—or even a more rational approach to the war in Afghanistan—are called “anti-American” and are reviled.
Please know that to at least this American woman, your people’s lives are worth no less than anyone else’s. You are a stronger woman than I.
Beautiful letter. I forwarded it to the White House.
Shogofa, I just read the wonderful news that the Pax Populi Student Exchange Program hopes to bring you to America to attend high school! I am overjoyed for you! God has smiled upon you, but you have brought this gift to yourself with the power of your own words!
You see how powerful words can be? You raised your voice in a country that would silence you, but you did it with love, and peace. And so you have embodied the spirit of peace and love with your words, and through those words you have given yourself a new opportunity: the opportunity to come to America and speak to Americans in person of the struggles of your people.
Here are your words, Shogofa: “My wish, President Obama, is to make Afghanistan independent and the people hard-working and able to walk on the road without fear. To be able to delete the word of ‘poorest’ when describing my country. So send your people, if you must. But send them to inspire, and to teach in peace.”
What greater joy is there than in fulfilling this wish YOURSELF? And you WILL fulfill your own wish, Shogofa: you will BE the very teacher that inspires, and teaches with peace, that you asked President Obama to provide!
You are in my thoughts and prayers, Shogofa, congratulations again!
Esta mensagem,faz-nos sentir a imensa dor pela qual vocês afegãos estão passando.
Sugiro colocar no site de vocês a tradução que fiz para o português,possibilitando a que mais pessoas possam conchecê-la.
Fico muito triste com tudo isto .Estou orando ao Deus,Criador de todas as coisas que tenha Misericórdia der seu povo sofredor.
Continue com o seu ideal!Não desanime.
Cordiais saudações.
José Carlos Azeredo
Foz do Iguaçu Paraná Brasil
This message makes us feel the immense pain that you are going Afghans.
I suggest you put on the site of the translation I made for the Portuguese, allowing more people to know it.
I am very sad about all this. I am praying to God, the Creator of all things that you give your mercy to the suffering people.
Continue with your ideal do not let up.
Sincerely yours.
José Carlos Azeredo
Foz do Iguacu Parana Brazil
Caro presidente Obama:
Senti-me bem quando vi o presidente Barack Obama na TV. Todo mundo aqui estava tão feliz de vê-lo vencer. Todos admiravam seu discurso e disse que ele seria melhor do que o presidente anterior. Eles disseram que ele agiria de maneira inteligente sobre o Afeganistão e acabaria com a guerra e a morte. Vi rostos cheios de felicidade e esperança. A razão que eu quero me encontrar com o presidente Obama é partilhar com ele todas as lágrimas de meu povo. Eu sei que não posso escrever sobre todos os nossos problemas em uma ou duas páginas, e eu sei que minha carta não pode limpar as lágrimas dos meus olhos e das pessoas. Mas eu escrevo assim mesmo.
Caro Presidente Barack Obama, Nós queremos viver sem medo. Eu nunca vou esquecer essa guerra, o que perdemos e como nossas vidas foram destruídas em consequência de uma política americana que não se preocupa com as pessoas inocentes. Depois de eleito, esperávamos que tudo ficasse bem. Mas está pior do que antes. Uma coisa é clara: o nosso povo está cansado da guerra. Nós tentamos explicar os nossos problemas repetidamente, mesmo assim vemos a situação piorar a cada dia que passa. Por que uma vida afegã não tem valor? O que fizemos para que fôssemos vítimas, primeiro do talibã e agora dos Estados Unidos?Ele está nos destruindo, especialmente as mulheres. Muitas pessoas morrem ou perdem suas casas. Muitas crianças estão desabrigadas no nosso país. Pode ser o país mais pobre do mundo, mas quem é responsável por isso? Todo mundo pensa sobre a política, mas ninguém pensa sobre a vida humana. Você acha que o seu exército é útil aqui? Ou que vai trazer a paz? Está errado se achar assim. Eu testemunhei uma mãe e um filho perderem suas vidas atravessando a estrada. O exército americano pensou que eram terroristas, mas eles estavam tentando conseguir dinheiro para sustentar a família. Esta é a forma como perdemos os membros de nossas famílias. Quantas pessoas vão morrer? Nós não sabemos. Dia após dia, o nosso país está sendo destruído. As pessoas não podem andar livremente na rua ou dirigir. A estrada de Cabul é muito difícil para os passageiros agora. Todo mundo odeia quando os carros são parados e as pessoas são impedidas de ir ao trabalho. Nós não nos sentimos confortáveis em nosso próprio país. Sentimo-nos estranhos em nossa própria casa. Você não quer que o Afeganistão se torne independente? Precisamos de um exército próprio, a nossa própria polícia. Até a criança mais jovem tem a vontade de que um dia ele poderá proteger seu país dos outros. Mas em todos os lugares, vemos o exército americano, ou soldados de outros países. Portanto, não nos sentimos livres. Infelizmente, não temos um governo forte o suficiente para controlar a situação sem perder dinheiro. Ninguém sabe para onde vai esse dinheiro e ainda estamos em necessidade. Este é nosso ponto mais fraco. Nós não temos um presidente que pensa sobre o futuro do Afeganistão, ou sobre a geração que tem o futuro do Afeganistão em suas mãos. Precisamos construir nosso próprio país. Queremos caminhar com nossos próprios pés. Queremos ser independentes. A presença do exército americano, ou qualquer exército de outro país, não traz a paz. Nunca faz salvar vidas de nosso povo da guerra ou de suicídio. Ela vai continuar. Vai piorar. Quando um exército vem de outro país, nosso exército fica preguiçoso. Eles não têm incentivos para fazer seu trabalho. Eles acham que o governo não acredita neles. O que realmente queremos é fazer com que nosso povo seja educado. Dê-lhes a chance de obter uma educação superior e voltar a servir o seu povo. Isso é o que poderia ajudar o povo afegão: em vez de enviar um exército para matar, envie professores. Mostrar o meu povo como trabalhar juntos. Meu desejo, Presidente Obama, é fazer com que o Afeganistão se torne independente e o povo trabalhador e capaz de andar na rua sem medo. Para ser capaz de apagar a palavra “pobre” para descrever o meu país. Então envie o seu povo, se for preciso. Mas mande-o para inspirar e ensinar em paz.