Wednesday, September 11, 2002

UNlike the ungrateful people coddled (not that we in America are not) nations, the Afghans understand that actions are betters than endless 'debate'.

In Kabul, where giant banners proclaim Afghans' sympathy for the victims of the attacks, Mayor Anwar Jigdalig sent a condolence message to the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg. ``We share your grief,'' he said. Afghans too have suffered heavy losses, he said. ``We lost 1.5 million martyrs during the invasion of the Soviet Union.''

Humaira Wali Hakmal, who wears a black and maroon striped headscarf but has abandoned the Taliban-mandated burqa, said she grieves for the victims of the attacks in the United States. ``But I know that because of what happened in New York, the United States and the world, which had forgotten us, now pays attention to Afghanistan,'' she said. During the five years the Taliban ruled Kabul, Hakmal stayed at home, dreaming of the day she could return to her job as a professor of law at Kabul University. Today, she lives that dream. ``My life is happy,'' she said in a voice steady and determined. ``I remember when my father told me about what had happened in the United States I began to shake.''

He remembers Sept. 11, 2001, as keenly as most Americans. ``I was in my clinic,'' he said. ``I thought America would attack. Everyone knew what was going on. The foreigners were using our country,'' referring to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network.

Of course you can't please everyone.

``I'm not pro-Taliban but I don't like the presence of Americans in Afghanistan,'' he said. ``America is interfering in Afghanistan. Not only here but also in other Islamic countries,'' he said. ``If America changes its anti-Muslim policies, maybe in the future, the U.S. will be safe from this kind of act.''

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