Afghan Commentary Post

  Summary: The rise and fall of civilizations may hinge not so much on the behavior of their governments as the bad habits of their citizens.       By Wahab Raofi   Did you know that if you change some of your habits, you could change the world, maybe even help bring about peace and stability? You know who you are – the person who bribes a police officer to get out of a traffic ticket, cuts in front of people in a queue, parks in spots reserved for the handicapped. But no! Pardon me! Of course, that’s not you. Your worst sins are little things, maybe just fudging a little on your tax returns, leaving work early, or using your cellphone in a movie theatre. Everybody does that, right? Right. And that’s the problem. I call it the “Smelly Foot Syndrome,” and it is eroding society on almost every continent. A colleague once told me he avoids flying a certain airline and pays higher fares to another carrier just to avoid the odor. The airline’...

  By Wahab Raofi Publised on Huffpost   KABUL, Afghanistan – Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) comprised the largest and most influential generation in history, particularly in the U.S., where I migrated many decades ago. But since I returned to my native Afghanistan to work as an interpreter, I have wondered, “Was my version of the Baby Boomer generation in Afghanistan a force for good or evil?”             The answer: probably a dose of both. Our blind idealism in the 1960’s led to many fatal missteps, but the changes we made and lessons we learned can be helpful to subsequent generations. Thus, I give you the following story. I was born during the reign of King Zahir Shah (1933-1973), whose era was, as Charles Dickens would say, the best of times and the worst of times. The best included a constitutional monarchy modeled after the British Magna Carta, complete with trappings of Western ...

    By Wahab Raofi   What happens when two different faiths, each proclaimed as a religion of peace, co-exist in a confined area? We would like to believe: “An abundance of love, peace and harmony!” But the reality in Myanmar today is quite different. What we see is an abundance of violence, hatred and persecution between Buddhists and Muslims.             It looks like a death spiral for both sides.             Buddhists present an image of tranquility and follow their Noble Eightfold Path that endorses “loving kindness, empathy and compassion” for all beings … “a desire to help, not harm, others … and conduct that is peaceful.”             Yet in just the last few weeks, the Buddhist-majority leaders in Myanmar have killed between 1,000 and 3,000 Rohingya Muslims, massacred entire v...