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| Afghanistan |
| The Afghan Age Divide |
| 2009-08-16 |
| Muhammad Shafiq Popal is one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's more formidable opponents — yet he isn't a chieftain, a warlord or even a candidate in the Aug. 20 Afghanistan presidential election. Just 30 years old, Popal is a rare individual in the country: a community organizer who heads the Afghanistan Youth National and Social Organization (AYNSO), an NGO that, in a nation marked by division, transcends religion, ethnicity and tribe. AYNSO's broad objective is to promote democracy and human rights. But Popal's current objective is much more specific: mobilizing AYNSO's 32,000 members to unseat Karzai, who he believes has done little to address the needs of Afghanistan's youth. "The present government doesn't understand our value," says Popal. "That has to change." Nearby, at Kabul University, Qudsia Zohab, a freshman studying literature, says her classmates spend more time on the coming election than on their coming exam. "Most of the university students will vote," she says — but not for Karzai. "There is a feeling that he doesn't work for young people." ... |
| Posted by:ed |
| #4 I agree it's a positive sign. However, I imagine on closer examination these will turn out almost exclusively to be young city Afghans, not kids from a village so isolated it connects to the outside world only by goat trail. Kabul was long more modern than the rest of the country -- as I recall, the girls there were wearing miniskirts in the days before the Russian invasion. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-08-16 13:28 |
| #3 I dunno--I think this is positive. The young Afghan immigrants I have met LOVE democracy and have taken to America well. I had the privilege of observing a Pashtun wedding reception recently and the girls spent a lot of time in the bathroom touching up makeup and hairdos, while the young men sported trendy eyeware and shoes. And the couples were not segregated, danced together, and visited the bar for a drink and a smoke! Reaching the young generation is key. Karzai has been in power for nearly a decade and no one else seems to be in the wings. This is democracy in action--they don't need any more warlords or chieftains. If it gets stabilized, many of these refugees can return home with the skills they have learned in the States. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2009-08-16 11:39 |
| #2 Nothing could go wrong---not in Afghanistan (bullets not ballots). |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-08-16 03:06 |
| #1 oh my... a youthful, charismatic community organizer. what could could possibly go wrong? |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2009-08-16 01:06 |