Schooled by the Taliban
A mother's quest teaches us about Afghanistan's deterioration and the Taliban's resurgence.
The title of the story on the cover of The Boston Globe’s Sunday Magazine was “Educating Sally.” It was a feel-good story that ran on Mother’s Day in 2007. But we didn’t know then just how hard the lesson would be for Sally.
Last week, Sally found out that U.S. and NATO forces came in the middle of the night and raided the home of Haji Malik and Katal Khan and the gas station owned by these men. The military had intelligence reports that the two men were actively involved with the Taliban insurgency and possibly with Al Qaeda. They were alleged to have planted roadside bombs and to have killed U.S. troops. They were taken to the military detention facility at Bagram air base.
When the news came to Sally and her husband, Don, at their home in southern Vermont, they both refused to believe it.
There were too many inconsistencies. How was it possible that the two men could put their daughters in the school by day and support the Taliban at night? How could they have been so warm to an American woman who sought to help them and at the same time view the American military forces in their country as an enemy target?
Sally and Don flew to Kabul last week to see for themselves and to help win the release of Haji Malik and Katal Khan. They met with high-level officials in the U.S. Embassy and in the military. They were presented with a devastating body of evidence including photographs of roadside bombs, detonators, machine guns and landmines, all of which were seized from Katal Khan’s home. Haji Malik has been released and Sally and Don met with him. They say he seemed to offer little plausible explanation for why the weapons were in his brother’s home.
Sally and Don met with Brigadier General Michael Ryan in his office, a trailer in the ISAF headquarters in Kabul. Sally said to him exactly what she said to me last year: “These men have given me back my life.”
Without flinching and without pause, Ryan replied, “… and they have taken the lives of my soldiers.”
Rather than go in as Sally apparently did without networking with people already on the ground and working to build schools (the article doesn't really explain much about how this all developed), it would have been better to have gone in with an established organization. The Central Asia Institute, headed by Greg Mortenson, comes to mind. This is the private group whose origins and history are described in the book "Three Cups of Tea." Greg already suffered setbacks and cleared the way through hardship, hard work and strong relationships to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. https://www.ikat.org/
There's a lot of good to be done in the world, and I tend to think we'll get more done if we work together and avoid re-inventing the wheel.
We agree that the work done by the Central Asia Institute and Greg Mortensen is vital, as is the work done by other reputable international organizations like Care and the many countries that are responsible for building schools in Afghanistan, especially in the Pashtun provinces.
In September 2005 we were fortunate to have as friend and advisor, David B. Edwards, PhD., Professor of Anthropology and Afghan Scholar at Williams College, Williamstown, MA. Dr. Edwards linked us with then Deputy Minister of the Interior, Shahmahmood Miakhel. Both continue to guide the work of the Foundation.
The history of the construction of the school is in part detailed on our website: www.goodrichfoundation.org. In the fall of 2005, Dr. Edwards was concerned about the lack of coordination by aid agencies and other well meaning donors with the government of Afghanistan. Shahmahmood Miakhel addressed those issues. I traveled to Afghanistan three times during its construction in 2005 to observe the process and meet those engaged in the work: the local elders, the Logar provincial minister of education and the Afghanistan Minister of Education.
The following details are not on the website:
The school foundation was laid by the governor of Logar and the land was allocated through consultation with the community and department of education of Logar. The ministry of education provided a standard design which was being used throughout Afghanistan. There were three conditions that had to be met: The school would be a registered government school and it is. The community would donate the land and they did. Finally the school should be built according to standard design of the ministry of education and the Foundation complied.
From the beginning, the school and its construction were and continue to be supervised and monitored by the Department of Education of Logar. The school was inaugurated by Deputy Minister of Education. The village leader and his brother were part of the community and helped during its construction. Their role was important for the security of the school. The actual protection was provided by a police unit that is close to the school. This was critical. Otherwise this school might be destroyed as many have been in the south and in other Pashtun villages.
The construction process took nine months. As soon as the school was completed in January 2006, it was conveyed to the government of Afghanistan. My husband, Don, and I attended its formal dedication in April 2006 and I continued to visit it annually until November 2009 when it was deemed too dangerous. During the April 2006 trip, Shahmahmood Miakhel introduced us to a registered indigenous non governmental organization, WADAN, www.wadan.org, that has provided oversight and accountability for any subsequent small projects at the school.
The Foundation is one of a number of non-profit organizations in Vermont and New Hampshire working in Afghanistan that are subject of a research study by Jennifer Fleuri, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. She is addressing the nature of sustained relationships with villages and individuals in Afghanistan overtime by these organizations.
It has been my great privilege to travel to Afghanistan seven times during the last four years. I have met many talented and dedicated Afghans and Americans working to rebuild the Afghans. This is a task that grows more difficult by the day. As well, we have in our lives and our home Afghan children studying here. These relationships, taken together, have given our lives meaning. We draw on their courage and hope for the future of Afghanistan.
Sally Goodrich
The Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation
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