2001-09-15 | 1:48 p.m.

These are facts about Afghanistan that I don't think most of us all know. But this is just to remind us of who we might be dealing with:

1. There is no television. The Taliban banned it years ago.

2. The only radio station is run by the Taliban. Most Afghanis don't have electricity, so even listening to the government-filtered radio is limited to those who have a little more money. From all the news I've been reading so far, most Afghanis have no idea that anything happened. Those who do know don't know exactly what happened, although I'm reading that some people in the capital are getting out of town. (Who wouldn't?!)

3. The Taliban arose from the Pashtun people, who are an ethnic majority in the country, although the Taliban are a fanatic religious minority. The rest of Afghanistan is made up of well over a dozen other ethnic groups, many living in isolated locations. Any news they get is by word-of-mouth.

4. Afghanistan has already been at war for over 20 years. They're STILL at war, with revolutionary factions attempting to overthrow the Taliban. Ergo, there is a shortage of adult men. Women are not allowed to have jobs, so widows have no source of income. They are then whipped for begging in public.

5. Afghanistan is in the middle of a drought and a resulting famine. In many sections of the country, they have had no rain for 3 years. When the US placed embargoes on them, the Talban raised taxes on farmers from 10% to 60%. 50% of all Afghani children are malnourished, because there is so little food. Infant mortality rates are the 2nd highest in the world, 1700 per 100,000. Life expectancy is 42 for women, 40 for men.

And there's a lot more to share, but I hope that these facts enlighten some of us who want to retaliate so quickly.

Just by reading these ones I had an idea of what a thoroughly horrifying place Afghanistan is now without an attack from us. They all seem to be fatalists, waiting to die because they don't really seem to have a lot to live for. And I have no desire to bomb these people right now. Yes some of them have created trauma in my life along with others here. But not all of them.

I want to liberate them. The only problem is, the US doesn't want to seem to do just that. Maybe I can hope that we've learned something by now, because of this tragedy.

I think we have to realize is that our enemies aren't the Afghani people. Our enemy is Bin Laden and his disgusting fucked up network, and the Taliban by association. I really hope that we can temporarily occupy Afghanistan, clear out the Taliban and then assist the other people to peacefully organize and begin to govern themselves. We could do a lot for them, and hopefully show the world that we really ARE a benevolent nation.

But then I suck at keeping my peace so who am I to ask this from our nation? I just want the guilty parties to pay. I don't know if they should be annihilated or not. I just want this over though. I want to find some peace back within me and NYC. I can't keep being this scared and this vulnerable. I still feel like I'm a sitting duck and I don't want to feel that anymore. So I am going to try and keep my head held high and just hope. Hope that life will be pulled out from the debris today. Hope that we can all come together once again and breathe new life to this city. Make her wheels churn again. Make everyone know that we can be shaken, but you're never going to bring this city down. NEVER



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