We Aren’t Ending 20 Years Of War
We promised water, education, and hope. These weren’t promises we were capable of keeping. And I’m complicit.
I moved to Afghanistan in January of 2007, the first chance I got, fresh out of grad school. I studied public health and learned that every 28 minutes a woman in Afghanistan dies in childbirth. And doing something about that felt like the most important thing. I had recently left a career in the Air Force because I didn’t believe in war. And I didn’t want to be in the air. I wanted to be on the ground, with the people who needed our help.
I was passionate about purpose — and thought I had found mine. I wanted to stop women from dying in childbirth.
I wanted to do good, and be good.
And I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. I didn’t know yet that I would be complicit in the terror we are witnessing as the Taliban resume control of the country.
In 2008 I wrote Winning the Peace — In service of Afghanistan’s most Vulnerable population. And I really thought I had figured out something meaningful. And in fact, I had. We can’t hold a gun in one hand, and bread in the other — and expect anyone to trust us, or not be confused. We can’t wear the same uniforms, and drive the same vehicles, and expect…
