Thursday, August 20, 2009

Good thoughts for the Afghanis

The Afghan elections are going on today, and from the news reports, it seems like the violence is not as bad as it could have been. This is a great relief to me, not just for the Afghan people, but selfishly, because I have very good friends there. I want them to come home safely.

I'd also love to see an Afghanistan that resembled the one pre-Taliban, pre-Russian invasion. Where the numbers of women in Parliament exceeded that of our own Congress. Where people were passionately democratic and religiously tolerant. I know that Afghanistan is a long way off, but I wish it for them none the less.

An unrelated note: You might have noticed I am writing more instead of just pasting articles with a little comment. The reason is two-fold. First, I missed writing. But perhaps more importantly, I began my new assignment about a month ago. My last assignment was one were I couldn't talk about my work. While I LOVED that work and that bureau, I am now in a position where I can talk about what I do and I am not having to filter what I talk about based on what I have read because everything I read is unclassified. And most of it is either in the press or related to it.

Yay for being a Public Diplomacy Officer!

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