What can we do for Afghanistan/Pashtunkhwa?

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

We spend allot of time discussing out ideological differences here. Personally, I have no problem with talking about abstract matters. However, one thing we all have in common is that we believe that the current situation is unacceptable. We differ with one another on solutions and the way forward due to our ideological principles.

What I am interested in knowing is what we can actually do at this moment? Which practical steps can we take to improve lives of people and bring about positive change in our home country.

Instead of talking about who is wrong and who is right, let's focus on actually doing something.

My personal impression of most Afghans is that the most opinionated ones are usually the ones who are doing the least for the people they claim to care about.

I would like to be proven wrong. That's why I opened this thread to see what I can learn from you.

So please tell us! What exactly do you do or, what do you think is a practical step you can take now by yourself to contribute to your people's wellbeing?

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

I will start off by telling about myself.

I use to be involved in charities and I use to send money to refugees and the homeless. I wasn't satisfied with what I was doing because I felt like we aren't really solving a problem. I still contribute to some charities I trust. I have also sent educational material and state of the art academic literature to Afghanistan to help students in universities.

I have also sent digital files containing training material for students to improve their English, dictionaries and loads of other types of material for students of journalism, social sciences.

I have done this in my own because I don't know many Afghans who are interested in helping students. Most people just want to send money to the poor and provide short term relief for some.

Personally I believe we should invest in education and give students the same opportunities we have here in Western countries.

Currently I am involved in creating an educational facility in health sector. The project is still in its initial phase and I am struggling with moving forward because I am busy with loads of stuff in my daily life. My work and responsibilities here prevent me from investing enough time to make my health care project work.

I must say I am very cautious in collaborating with other Afghan organizations and individuals. I distrust Afghans because they tend to be pretentious and don't always say what they mean. I may be prejudiced but I wasn't like this before. In my interactions with fellow Afghans I have grown to distrust them because when it comes to charity, they are not entirely sincere and honest. They use charity usually to become famous, gain status within the community or fill their own pockets.

That's why I work with an extremely limited group of people. I can't get involved with people I don't know. This is partially due to what I have experienced when I was involved in Islamic charities. There were dishonest people from all ethnicities in those charities but the Afghans were the worst.

Despite this limitation I still try to stay involved. I may make allot less progress but whatever I am doing, I feel right and confidant about it. And that is what matters the most to me. I don't want to be involved in anything dodgy.

[Shapur]

In my experience the best way to help people back home is to help those closest to you directly rather than going through charities. We all had neighbours, relatives etc from back home, you can find out if anyone of them needs help and help them as much as you can either directly when you visit or through a trusted person who still lives there.

Fortunately I have a lot of relatives here in the UK who regularly collect warm clothes, money etc on a regular basis to send to Afghanistan and do it directly themselves so I know it goes to those in need.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

We spend allot of time discussing out ideological differences here. Personally, I have no problem with talking about abstract matters. However, one thing we all have in common is that we believe that the current situation is unacceptable. We differ with one another on solutions and the way forward due to our ideological principles.

What I am interested in knowing is what we can actually do at this moment? Which practical steps can we take to improve lives of people and bring about positive change in our home country.

Instead of talking about who is wrong and who is right, let's focus on actually doing something.

My personal impression of most Afghans is that the most opinionated ones are usually the ones who are doing the least for the people they claim to care about.

I would like to be proven wrong. That's why I opened this thread to see what I can learn from you.

So please tell us! What exactly do you do or, what do you think is a practical step you can take now by yourself to contribute to your people's wellbeing?

Two different populations to consider and how one deals with these populations requires a pragmatic real politik outlook.

So in each of the cities I trained in I find the refugee clinic because all of these places have large Afghan immigrant populations. I get my family involved so they can meet the less fortunate and help pro bono with translation with American providers while I see my own batch of Afghan and Iraqi refugees and do my own history and physical with the former and use a translator for the latter.

My usual next step is to adopt the Medina approach the Prophet took where he paired natives with emigres. So I try to get at least 10 wealthy colleagues to work with and adopt a refugee family (i.e. get involved in the schooling process with the kids, provide hand me downs, serve as model citizens for etc).

The greater problem is back home because of the moral implications. Twice in 2001 and subsequent I used connections to the Afghan education ministry to attempt and emulate the Purdue - Kabul U relationship for Kandahar and Jalalabad. Baha Zarjon and others on the American side were keen to help but the Afghan governmental contacts were not at all responsive to multiple overtures. Said Universities would have provided even more funding and are more renowned linkage (though Purdue is an amazing engineering school).

The issue with back home is
1. It was immensely hard to find out who is benefiting. Are these the kids in the village that busted their hump studying by candle light? Or are they plutocrats like the ones I encountered on the exchange programs?

2. The administrations (including in Khybar) are more than happy to take your resources and funding but wont modify curricula or take advice. A collective of Pashtuns tried to bargain with KMU about a decade ago to update the curricular and were basically told "We are doing just fine, give us what you want, we are happy to accept but we know how best to teach our students."

* That being said, there is something to the notion that diplomacy is very very important. One cannot just upset the balance by coming in and trying to tell someone "I am smarter, richer, better, bolder, and more equipped than all of you so listen to me and bow to me and bend your ego to me." Many of the native born who went abroad take that tact and use a Kiplingesue approach to trying to improve or change things. A better way might be to go to the Dean even if he is outdated and crotchety and make him sell these changes to faculty as if they were his idea and not someone from abroad - or first find a sympathetic insider on faculty with reach and influence.

3. I think somehow educational and financial endeavors have to be tied to true merit. This means outreach to find the best and brightest in the rural country side and get them the funding, books, calculators, resources, living wage that they need to get ahead.

4. The ethical problem that I have looking back on my effort is whether it would have been misused or strengthened the hand of an illegal and imposed governnment.

5. If 4 is an issue, one route is that completely private civilian efforts be pushed as much as possible that are welcoming to all and do not permit one side to take the credit.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

In my experience the best way to help people back home is to help those closest to you directly rather than going through charities. We all had neighbours, relatives etc from back home, you can find out if anyone of them needs help and help them as much as you can either directly when you visit or through a trusted person who still lives there.

Fortunately I have a lot of relatives here in the UK who regularly collect warm clothes, money etc on a regular basis to send to Afghanistan and do it directly themselves so I know it goes to those in need.

This is a great notion. One thing though, I appreciate how Bill Gates investigates his charity giving as a sort of investment.

Look at Pakistan for example. It has one of the largest expat funneling moneys back home set up in the world.

I wonder how much of this is used to pay for weddings vs educating someone. In all can we say that its helped make the region better in an economically significant way? Has it resulted in meritocratic students moving ahead whereas without it they would not have? If the answers are no then I think the approach of wearable commodities (like jackets, clothes for the winter, food stuffs for the poor) all make sense - but infusing cash into the place without managing it and ensuring its giving a yield may just be worsening the situation.

[Khostai]

I proposed to translate the God Delusion in to Pashto, writen by Richard Dawkins, to a guy I know who is good in Pashtu and was educated in England.
He tought it would be a great idea and want to propose it to some other Pashtun friends he knows.

There are also other books on our list that we like to translate and spread around in Afghanistan.
The first three are here, we have many more:
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (Sam Harris)
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever (Christopher Hitchens)

Hopefuly it will inspire some young people. And will choose secularisation above extreme religion, they do no have to become all atheist, a little critical view on religion would be a big step forward.

[DaZahroJaam.]

introducing the God delusion to extremists is not going to fix the extremism problem, it's going to add more fuel to the fire.

we need to focus on things that have nothing to do with religion for a while. teach them about technology or science for a while to balance things out.

[Khostai]

introducing the God delusion to extremists is not going to fix the extremism problem, it's going to add more fuel to the fire.

we need to focus on things that have nothing to do with religion for a while. teach them about technology or science for a while to balance things out.

no.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

I proposed to translate the God Delusion in to Pashto, writen by Richard Dawkins, to a guy I know who is good in Pashtu and was educated in England.
He tought it would be a great idea and want to propose it to some other Pashtun friends he knows.

There are also other books on our list that we like to translate and spread around in Afghanistan.
The first three are here, we have many more:
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (Sam Harris)
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever (Christopher Hitchens)

Hopefuly it will inspire some young people. And will choose secularisation above extreme religion, they do no have to become all atheist, a little critical view on religion would be a big step forward.

Translating books of racists and advocates of child rape is how this guy is trying to help his kin.

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

There are also other books on our list that we like to translate and spread around in Afghanistan.
The first three are here, we have many more:
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (Sam Harris)
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever (Christopher Hitchens)

Hopefuly it will inspire some young people. And will choose secularisation above extreme religion, they do no have to become all atheist, a little critical view on religion would be a big step forward.

And you say Atheism has nothing to do with White Imperialism.

[Forreigner]

I proposed to translate the God Delusion in to Pashto, writen by Richard Dawkins, to a guy I know who is good in Pashtu and was educated in England.
He tought it would be a great idea and want to propose it to some other Pashtun friends he knows.

There are also other books on our list that we like to translate and spread around in Afghanistan.
The first three are here, we have many more:
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (Sam Harris)
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever (Christopher Hitchens)

Hopefuly it will inspire some young people. And will choose secularisation above extreme religion, they do no have to become all atheist, a little critical view on religion would be a big step forward.

This is Western propaganda. Afghanistan becoming atheist nation is not going to magically turn it into a first world country. Problems of Afghanistan and most other third world countries are deeper than religion. Most third world world poverty countries are not Muslim.

Some like to think by magically removing religion from the world, the world is gonna get better, progres and get wealthy. what a sad Delusion.

Reality is this:

Most of the world's wealth is located in USA + Europe/West, and it is not gonna change hands any time soon. these people have 500 years head start (basically discovery of Americas, Australia, etc. made Europeans the richest), Japan, China, South Korea recently catched up by setting up western factories in their countries and becoming mass producers for the West.

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

This is Western propaganda. It won't help much. Afghanistan becoming atheist nation is not gonna magically it a first world country. Problems of Afghanistan and most other third world countries are deeper than religion.

Some like to think by magically removing religion from the world, the world is gonna get better, progres and get wealthy. what a sad Delusion.

Reality is this:

Most of the world's wealth is located in USA + Europe/West, and it is not gonna change hands any time soon. these people have 500 years head start (basically discovery of Americas, Australia, etc. made Europeans the richest).

For a troll, this is an incredibly insightful post.

Imperialism is the problem, but they want to throw out smokescreens and diversions to prevent us from focusing on that.

[Porus]

I proposed to translate the God Delusion in to Pashto, writen by Richard Dawkins, to a guy I know who is good in Pashtu and was educated in England.
He tought it would be a great idea and want to propose it to some other Pashtun friends he knows.

There are also other books on our list that we like to translate and spread around in Afghanistan.
The first three are here, we have many more:
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (Sam Harris)
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever (Christopher Hitchens)

Hopefuly it will inspire some young people. And will choose secularisation above extreme religion, they do no have to become all atheist, a little critical view on religion would be a big step forward.

If within your convenience, try having a go at 'The Selfish Gene'. I think it's important for Muslim countries to get comfortable with the theory of evolution as well as other scientific theories.

I'm not gonna lie, seeing 'the God delusion' available in Pashto would be awesome :P

[Firdousi]

This is Western propaganda. Afghanistan becoming atheist nation is not going to magically turn it into a first world country. Problems of Afghanistan and most other third world countries are deeper than religion. Most third world world poverty countries are not Muslim.

Some like to think by magically removing religion from the world, the world is gonna get better, progres and get wealthy. what a sad Delusion.

Reality is this:

Most of the world's wealth is located in USA + Europe/West, and it is not gonna change hands any time soon. these people have 500 years head start (basically discovery of Americas, Australia, etc. made Europeans the richest), Japan, China, South Korea recently catched up by setting up western factories in their countries and becoming mass producers for the West.

Thats already changing. Europe is immersed in a huge economical crisis. The future of economy and modern technology lie in the Far East not in the West: HK, China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Macao, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam,.. and so on.

Since Western aggressive expansionism in the Islamic World is coming to a disgraceful end, NATO and EU are crumbling, there are raising political forces that they even dare to challenge Western influence in the world (China, Iran,Russia, India,.. they are even losing old friends such as KSA, Turkey and so on).. you should expect a weaker West in the future.

[Firdousi]

Europe got a huge problem: their geopolitical location. They are cornered, weak and surrounded by hostile neighbors. Since their economies are based mainly on exportations and the vast majority of the people, markets and raising economies are in Asia, they need to reach some sort of understanding with the Islamic World. Their perpetual losing wars are coming to an end.

Regarding our country, the only thing we can do is help them to change and use their brains. We need to be the change that we want to see in the world. We have a problem in the islamic World: we lack of a proper political system. We don't know what we want or where we want to go.