AFGHANISTAN— IS WAR OVER YET?

It’s tempting to say “no” when you see the ruins of western Kabul — about as ugly and inhospitable a place imaginable. It was here that the worst fighting took place during the civil war of the early 1990s.

It’s also easy to say “no” when you see the destroyed homes in the Shomali Valley, north of Kabul. This was a frontline in the battle between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, and the area was decimated.

No one doubts the challenges facing Afghanistan, which include continued drought, gross disparities between men and women, and a poor economy. As Marvin Parvez, director of the Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan Program, observes, “The emergency is not over.”

Still, it is possible to see the first outlines of a more peaceful Afghanistan, in part because of the work of CWS.

Peace is taking the form of rebuilt homes, of desks and chairs for students returning to school, in the hope that comes with earning an income, and in helping children and young people respect each other.

A few examples:

— In the community of Ghorband, in the central, mountainous region of Hazarajat, CWS and its local partner, the Ghazni Rural Support Program, are providing some 50,000 students in seven rural communities school desks and chairs. And in western Kabul, CWS is supporting a program by the Cooperation Center for Afghanistan, which is providing some 100 children, ages 8-14, a place to come to before or after school. There, they are provided a snack, time for recreation, and class work that emphasizes tolerance and a sense of pride and well-being.

“We really want them to develop as peace-loving citizens,” says Mohammad
Daud Shojazada, the Center’s coordinator, “and live in an atmosphere of cooperation with others.”

— In the village of Rabat-Qarabaghi, located in the Shomali Valley, CWS and local partners are providing 40 families the materials needed to reconstruct their homes — part of an overall project to provide housing to some 1,500 families in the region. So far, some 1,000 houses have been built, including the home of Rahmuddin Huzruddin.

— CWS has been able to provide temporary work — quilt-making — for some 1,600 women in Kabul, most of them widows. This includes Shkiba, a young widow who must now support her family of six children. The quilts Shkiba and the other women are making are distributed to hospitals and clinics throughout Afghanistan. This work is possible thanks to our local partners, and funding from CWS denominations and supporters and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.