Despite her busy schedule as a university student and journalist in Kabul, our friend, Freshta, finds time to write for us from time to time. We are extremely grateful for the rare insights she gives us into Afghanistan.
THE peace talks that became serious several months ago at first filled us with hope when we heard that the U.S wanted to sign a peace agreement. The Afghan people started an internet campaign by the name of “If peace comes….”
Afghanistan’s internet was full of aspirations. Social network users were filled with this theme. Their dream of peace is right. Across the world people can travel freely in their country and everywhere in their country. But for Afghan people this is still a dream. So the internet was filled with our ongoing dream.
One of the social network users said: “If peace comes, life will return. Without any concerns we will go to Shiwa-o-Shighnan, Baghman, Sanglakh, Bamyan, Samangan, Nuristan, Kunar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Panjshir, Ghazni, Ghor and the beautiful Laghman. I tell my wife and children the story of the comradeship of our compatriots and how to be welcoming while being colorful.”
Fatema Khan, a Women’s Rights Activist and Social Analyst. wrote: “Everyone wants to go to Nuristan. Remember the Paktia and Kunar sights? Don’t forget the jovial greens of Herat and Nangarhar. Go to the peaks of the Sabzak Pass and watch the mountains of Hindu Kush touch the sky. The war was a dream and there will be no more orphaned children. We are not lame anymore. We will stand right, speak right and laugh right.”
Atiya Mehraban, a Civil and Women Rights Activist, wrote: “If the war ends, I want to build awareness to the point that no ideology is worth an orphanage. . . . Let’s live together, not to be buried side by side.”
You can see this is just a sample of the things that people can do. For Afghan people it is a great dream. I wrote about these dreams to show how people feel in Afghanistan and how they see their future. Before Khalilzad signed the peace agreement, all Afghan people were happy for the coming of peace. But then, when we heard the conditions, that the Taliban said they wanted from the U.S. to release 5 thousand members of this group, the Afghan people felt that the U.S. and Afghan governments forgot Taliban deeds. We are opposed to the release of prisoners who do not know the way of peace.
The truth is, Afghan people across the world are tired of war. They want to come back and live in their own country but we still do not know when we will have lasting peace. Still, nothing can kill our hope. —Freshta