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Looking Past War Apropos of our Peace Corps service, is the humanitarian endeavor. Along with the necessary financial bulwark brought forth from the coffers of powerful nations to bolster this effort, perhaps more importantly, are aid workers and NGOs. They will sustain the management of Afghanistan’s rebuilding, ensuring that the country does not lapse into the morass of decades past. The UN’s track record for nation-building and peacekeeping has not been good (cf. Newsweek, December 17, 2001). The primary reason for these failures has been abandonment. There is talk among top officials that a quasi Marshall Plan should be implemented, but before creating infrastructure in Afghanistan the focus should be on the 4 million Afghani refugees and the many hundred thousands who have been internally displaced by the bombing raids. Homelessness, famine and harsh weather conditions are prevailing circumstances that must first be addressed. This societal mess needs to be untangled, then, stability created among the citizens. Thus, optimism is spread through the civilian mood. Without resettling families, procuring basic agricultural resources, encouraging professional emigrants to return, and advancing the education system for everyone, how can we secure an environment that will foster Afghanistan’s trust? Solution: humanitarian organizations will have to work closely with the natives at the village level and build from the bottom up, not top down. Humanitarian relief begins at the grassroots level. The administration has received criticism from humanitarian organizations about earlier humanitarian relief efforts. Preferring the trucked-in method, aid workers criticized ineffective air-drops. The air-dropped packages, warehouse boxes replete with pop-tarts and moist towelettes and beef jerky scarcely relieved hunger for the intended recipients. Many packages landed in minefields or were stolen by local bandits. In fact, the pop-tarts and moist towelettes, both useless oddities for Afghans no doubt, were discovered being sold in bazaars. The mindful World Food Organization (WFO) suggests securing interior corridors that will allow trucks to reach those needful mouths. Of the WFO relief in place inside of Afghanistan, two-thirds of the supplies have reached villagers from the warehouses. EEERGH: the record scratches, you see, transitions are difficult. To make this topic more acute, I might liken it to Peace Corps Armenia. Bearing witness to how humanitarian aid rarely reaches those in need—instead padding the pockets of corrupt government officials—I am skeptical. As for the aid dollars that are now pouring into Afghanistan, it seems likely that warlords and tribal leaders will extort and threaten the lion’s share. It is said that since Armenia’s devastating earthquake in 1988, Gyumri has received enough foreign aid to rebuild the city three times over. Yet it remains in ruins. Dark, abandoned and abject, the decayed buildings are a manifestation of Gyumri’s disposition. The necessary means has been provided to restore this once romantic setting, but the powers that be renovate their homes rather than their historic churches. How do we make certain that the money for refugees and public rebuilding will be used fairly and fully, in the interest of the citizens? We, like them, are the envoys of this humanitarian mission, and for Afghanistan, too. When we complain of the hopelessness of this country, its embittered, stubborn inhabitants, we are wrong to withdraw into our private society of Americans and excuse our lack of effort on helpless circumstances. Like the commitment that must be made in Afghanistan on the humanitarian front, Peace Corps volunteers take an oath of proactive humanitarian service. We should take initiative and action in our communities, in any way we can, to better the circumstances of those in need. The responsibility is each of ours, and we need to possess the dedication to make the world a better place. And if such values are embraced in Afghanistan, there will be hope for that nation’s transition into the global community, too. The end of my rant. |