Double vision - an Afghan-American view

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.