February 5, 2002

Fall 2001, the world’s attention suddenly became riveted on Afghanistan, that land-locked, unhappy nation dominated by religious warriors who overran the capital September 27, 1996. Their take-over was a late chapter in a brutal civil war, which followed the Soviet occupation. Since then, the United States has invested billions in bombs, and has now committed its foreign policy to a new government whose path is as fraught with danger as the mine-strewn fields that stretch across the barren landscape.

Behind the political drama live the Afghan people--virtually unknown to Americans making decisions that have enormous impact over their lives. In 1998, hosted by the UN High Commission on Refugees, I spent six intense days in Kabul and the surrounding countryside and in an Afghan refugee camp just across the border in Peshawar, Pakistan. These are edited excerpts from my journal: