An Optimistic 'Afghan Warrior'

Yes, the U.S. government is spending more money in Iraq than they’re spending here in Afghanistan, and yes there are more troops in Iraq than here. Many people were starting to think that the U.S. government had forgotten Afghanistan, but the recent visit of Condoleezza Rice and defense minister Donald Rumsfeld proved that America will continue its commitment to Afghanistan.

Waheed Srwary, in an email to Open Source, September 7, 2006.

Last night’s show painted a pretty dire picture of the U.S. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. But after emailing Afghan bloggers yesterday, we heard back from one who remains optimistic.

If Waheed Srwary’s line sounds similar to official progress reports from Washington, it could be because he’s on the payroll. Waheed started interpreting for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2002. It could be that he’s young and idealistic. Waheed was 18 when he joined up, now he’s 22. Or it could be that he’s seen a lot of good work done in his four years of service, on more than 700 security patrols with troops. He boasts of great changes since the U.S. ousted the Taliban: 600 schools and clinics built, roads paved, girls in school, and an elected parliament. Best, there are seven beautiful channels on television. “Pakistan only has five channels,” he says.

Waheed’s blog, Afghan Warrior, is peppered with CENTCOM statistics alongside the eyewitness and Afghan news reports; it make an interesting contrast to the Afghan bloggers on last night’s reading list.

At Waheed’s request, we edited these quotes lightly for grammar.

One of my best patrols was to a refugee camp between two hills, full of refugees who had just retuned from Pakistan. There were more than 50 families and it was the begining of the winter. We went to talk to them about their problems and we found they didn’t have any good tents, blankets, food, or health care, so our patrol leader wrote down their problems and took the list to the base commander. He was a kind commander and he said we could help. After one week we returned to the camp with a medical team, food, blankets, tents and toys for the kids and they were really happy. I cannot forget that moment.

Waheed Srwary, in an email to Open Source, September 7, 2006.

The enemies are very weak. They are not able to fight our national army or coalition forces so therefore they carry out guerrilla attacks and then escape. They are also conducting suicide attacks and mostly they kill civilians. According to a U.S. Army report 84% of the Afghans killed in suicide attacks in 2005 were civilians. Also, during this year, Taliban fighters have been trying to creep back but our Army improves day by day so the enemies will not be able to create a big problem. We only have problems in the the south and southeastern provinces; other parts of the country are peaceful.

Waheed Srwary, in an email to Open Source, September 7, 2006.

Over 90% of Afghan people think that the presence of the U.S. Army is very important for peace and stability here, so they hope the U.S. Army will stay for a few more years until our army will be capable to fight the enemies. We hope the United States will continue its aid to Afghanistan and both contries will continue their long term friendship.

Waheed Srwary, in an email to Open Source, September 7, 2006.