Double vision:
An Afghan-American View
Ten years ago,
international operations
to free Afghanistan
of Taliban rule began.
Afghanistan had been identified
as the source
of the 9/11 attacks in America.
But how did Afghan-Americans feel?
Did they support
the international moves at the time?
And what are the biggest changes
over the last ten years
in Afghanistan?
I spoke to an Afghan-American,
Waleed Rashid,
who has lived and worked
in both countries, to find out.
This is the tenth anniversary
of the initial bombing
of Afghanistan after 9/11.
Can you tell me what was
your reaction to the events of 9/11?
I guess the gut instinctive reaction
was anger, you know, frustration...
Or questioning really:
are we really that bad?
Do we deserve a bombing?
And if so, what did we do to cause it?
I mean, I was 21 years old.
I was still in college,
walking onto campus
for an early class,
so most folks didn't even have
any clue of what was going on yet.
And nobody knows what's going on
and I'd just witnessed
two planes fly into Ground Zero,
into the Twin Towers.
And so, I walk back out of class
and I'm still shocked,
processing what just happened
in New York.
And I come out, and then,
in the main plaza of campus
the students are gathering
and demonstrations are beginning
and there's talk
of bombing Afghanistan.
And once it happens... You know,
sort of the initial anger: But why?
And as an Afghan-American,
how did that impact
on your own sense of identity?
Growing up, there was
an actual tendency to just be Afghan.
And so you associated with them,
with your culture,
and with your family and your friends.
But it was almost
sort of an unsaid, unspoken,
natural state of existence.
You didn't need to discuss
what it meant to be Afghan,
you just were.
After 9/11 it became something
much more tangible almost.
And people realized that, well,
being Afghan means
X, Y, and Z from this perspective.
But from my perspective
it means X, Y, Z
and every other letter.
- And then in 2007,
you went to Afghanistan. How did
that change your sense of identity?
It wasn't until I got to Kabul
and worked in Afghanistan
for the duration of my time there,
that I realized how American I am.
When I went
to Afghanistan, coincidentally,
my nickname there
was chorigi, the foreigner.
Kind of interesting,
a kind of rude awakening,
to realize that in this land
that I, you know,
up until that point of my live
have associated myself with,
this, that's home, I'm a chorigi.
And how much
do you feel you'll be able
to maintain a connection
in helping Afghanistan?
That was one of my big decisions
for coming back to the States.
When I went to Afghanistan,
I went to Afghanistan back in '07,
I realized that, you know, what
I could do at the young age of 26, 27,
is probably leaps and bounds below
what I could potentially accomplish,
you know, once I have been able
to sort of ground myself in a way,
and I guess develop myself in a way
that can be of more use to the nation.
Because you can support it just
as well from couch in Los Angeles
as you can by sitting
in a parliamentarian's chair in Kabul.
If you had to give
some advice to the forces
drawing down in Afghanistan,
about one thing to leave behind
in the country, what would that be?
If the US forces were
to leave Afghanistan,
the basic things that they should
be able to provide for the people,
is infrastructure.
As simple as electricity,
water, power and roads.
If those can be left behind
and within...
and then the Afghani
government itself is able
to enforce some level
of security and safety
over those four specific areas,
I think what we will see, is
that people themselves will realize,
you know what, I will support
the local Afghani police
because if I don't support
the local Afghani police,
the Taliban will come right in
and cut off power lines,
cut off our water supply,
ruin the roads...
If I see the Taliban
planning on ruining the road
in and out of town
with a roadside bomb,
I'm going to go ahead
and, you know, raise a red flag.
As Afghanistan attempts
to become a new country,
one of the aspects
that's mentioned a lot, is corruption.
Now that Western countries
are starting to draw down,
how can we ensure that the gains,
aren't lost to corruption?
And how much of that did you see
and what can be done to address it?
I think... what I agree...
it's a very serious issue, I think.
When the US decides
to formally leave Afghanistan...
Taking care of corruption
within the government is going to be
one of their biggest challenges
and at the same time
one of the biggest opportunities
for them to foster faith within the...
...remaining Afghani people that
this country can sustain on its own.
If the US or the NATO forces
do nothing else,
then it can instil
some confidence in the people:
We've given you the tools
and the infrastructure to do so.