On September 11th I took off on the road to Dushanbe spending 8 hours along the border of Afghanistan. Like most Americans I couldn't help but to think back 10 years to the events that led to our involvement in Afghanistan as a country.
I remember that I had just graduated high school and getting ready to go off to college. I watched the news with everyone else in shock and horror. I never thought that I would end up in Afghanistan helping the same kind of people that had done this to our country. Back then I didn't know the difference between Shia and Sunni, and certainly was in the dark about Pashtus and Tajiks. It's been a growing decade for me and I hope to have many more of my oversimplifications and biases replaced with compassion and real knowledge.
Before leaving there was a whirlwind of things to get done. Unfortunately, the teacher that had helped me pass out the letters to the students told me to come back Saturday. That was unfortunate because their school was closed Saturday and my many phone calls to the director weren't answered for unknown reasons.
Having had the opportunity to meet and now work with Abdul Nazar, our business adviser, I must say that I am very impressed with his desire to help his people and to make a genuine difference in the region. I count us lucky to have a man of such character and love working with us.
