Feb 19, 2010

Warlord Carries out Brutal Public Flogging in Ghor Province

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Do you remember last year in April 2009, the Guardian published a video of a 17-year-old girl's flogging by the Taliban in Swat Valley? Another incident just happened a few days ago in Dolina district in Ghor province, central Afghanistan. Ghor is one of the poorest provinces in central Afghanistan, and Dolina district has been a safe haven for illegal armed groups, which have committed these kinds of brutal acts before. The video, released on February 18, shows a man with a white turban flogging a woman who is submissively standing against 40 lashes. Continue reading...

Feb 16, 2010

Can a military draft work in Afghanistan?

During his visit to Germany, Hamid Karzai has stated that his government will consider instituting mandatory national military service. Afghanistan lacks a strong national apparatus for nation building where people from different ethnic background can share and learn from each other. Such an institution has been one of Afghanistan’s most fundamental needs over the last few years. Despite this, compulsory military service would be impossible to implement. Continue reading...

Feb 13, 2010

The Last Nail In The Coffin For Taliban

Today, there is a huge operation going on in Marjah in Helmand. There is some good news from Helmand that NATO and ANA have been successful in their mission. Until now more than 20 members of Taliban have been killed and two NATO soldiers also have been killed.

One thing makes me concern that civilians have been prevented by Taliban to evacuate the city. Marjah is the last and the most important stronghold of the Taliban in southern Afghansitan. Most of the insurgency activities were directed from Marjah. Unlike the previous operation this will be affective. NATO and ANA forces will stay there to secure the area after the Taliban whipped out. The Operation Moshtrak (together) is a good answer to those Taliban who rejected to negotiate with government. However, there is nothing has been left to be done by the US and Afghan government. Hopefully this operation will be the last nail in coffin for Taliban.

Also, today is a Valentine Day, a decent day in which people exchange flowers, cards and loving sentiment to a beloved one. I assume there are many others like me a dateless man. However, being a dateless on this day can evoke loneliness feeling for many but unlike others for me as a newcomer in this country, it is different. But I hope the oasis for lonely will be end soon for everyone.

Feb 9, 2010

Is God a Perpetrator?

Disaster always goes after the most vulnerable population in our planet. A recent earthquake in Haiti that killed 150,000 and still Haiti’s government says that the figure could double. Afghanistan has always been exposed to various natural disasters. Yesterday, after a heavy snow fall, there have been a series of avalanches on highways between Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif. According to local news at the scene, 60 bodies are discovered and yet the number of death is increasing. 

According to New York Times, NATO and Afghan National Army helicopters joined in the rescue effort. Some 2,500 people were recovered from their stranded cars and 1.5 miles of roadway were cleared on Tuesday, leaving another mile still buried in snow. Now, who to blame? Who is the perpetrator? If God is the perpetrator, can we bring him to justice because of his cruel act? Why are always prone to associate "good" with God? I don't think there's a such thing exist but delusion, and let's blame this delusional being for evil and unjust, and all our wrong doings.

Feb 8, 2010

It is time to listen to the Afghan people

A few hours before the start of the Afghanistan summit in London on January 28th five former senior members of the Taliban who occupied key positions in the Taliban government between 1996 and 2001, were removed from the UN blacklist. This move spurred widespread criticism inside Afghanistan that was barely acknowledged in the western media. Prior to the London conference, several Afghan civil society organizations and intellectuals protested against the action. They warned that by removing the names from the list, they were effectively forgiving them for their crimes. Continue reading...

Jan 31, 2010

JS-Kit Misuses Haloscan Reputation

Michael left a few comments on my previous post about Haloscan. I understand him and his position that why he is anxious. He has abhorrence of feeling in his words rather than convincing unfortunately. I didn’t determine to undermine the accuracy or lest attacking personal level at JS-Kit, I was simply raised this question that why JS-Kit is manipulating the reputation of Haloscan in order to make money? I didn’t say it is a dirty job.

Whatever Michael expressed is close to what I believe. Somehow we are in the same track but we have different looks over the horizon. I respect what the JS-Kit is doing and it is not my business to challenge Michael and JS-Kit’s willingness. However, i simply meant, Haloscan is quite well-known now, it is very obvious that JS-Kit can make business out of it but there are some moral issues that lie there. Morality is something that we are all obsessed with it. I have no idea that how Haloscan survived for the last years and finally why in 2010 they failed to continue.

The JS-Kit is simply limiting this window, the window that i personally endowed my time to right to outsiders that what is going on in my country, in what problems the inhabitants grappling with. The JS-Kit is doing good job - earning money - but I wonder if Michael and his colleagues can put themselves in a blogger’s position and feel differently for a while. I am sure they can understand that what means limiting the diffusion of free thoughts. Now you can evaluate this notion with a brutal and dictatorial regime that limits its citizens to criticize and to talk freely. I don’t find the JS-Kit in this position but I hail everyone to look in their action from different angles.

It is time for JS-Kit to think with dept about it. I applaud their efforts but unfortunately they are manipulating the virtue and reputation of a platform which used to be a supportive tool for free thoughts. This action is not acceptable morally. It is misusing and it is undermining the value and virtue of a software tool that has been used for free over the past years.

The JS-Kit should remember this that they can’t sell words and one's thought. It is time for JS-Kit to announce and give opportunity for free thoughts in order to spread them towards enlightenment in this small planet. They can earn the same through ads. We bloggers can help with click. Later JS-Kit can talk about it proudly. We are all human and we need to share our feeling otherwise we are all will remain aliens to each others and can not be understood.

Jan 29, 2010

Goodbye Haloscan

Since 2004, I am using Haloscan platform in my blog which is quite easy tool that enable the readers to leave comments under the posts. Recently i learned that Haloscan has been purchased by JS-Kit. It is time to appreciate Haloscan that gave us free service and supported free speech. It is time to appreciate those who invented this platform and made it public with no commercial purpose - at least for blogger like me. But alas that JS-Kit is determined to make money out of it. The JS-Kit has made it a paid system. I don't know how a blogger who is receiving not a penny how he/she can pay $12 per year?

For the last years, I kept blogging and my readers were giving me their feedback which was joyful for me to read their thoughts. For the last years, no one paid me for blogging, so this raised a question in my mind that if i never paid for blogging why i should pay? I think it is unfair that JS-Kit has decided to use Hasloscan platform for commercial purpose which was used for supporting free speech. It turned out to be a holey platform through sharing inspirational thoughts and words. But why JS-Kit is misusing its decentness and popularity?

Now, I am pleading for your (those who are technical) assistance to move my comments from Haloscan into Blogger. I just looked around the web to find a useful tool to import the comments but i was not successful. It is rather complicated and I am not good in technical matters.

Please let me know if any of you can help me to migrate Haloscan comments into blogger otherwise I am losing more than 1500 comments which are recorded since 2004.

Jan 28, 2010

A Nightmare Scenario for The London Conference

The London Conference will be held today -- Thursday, January 28, 2010. At this conference, the international community is coming together to fully align military and civilian resources behind an Afghan-led political strategy. It is a crucial moment for the Afghan government, which still has not fielded a full cabinet, after many of President Karzai’s second set of cabinet picks were rejected by the Afghan parliament just two weeks ago. This is not the only conundrum that Karzai is grappling with – he is also facing intense criticism from civil society NGOs inside Afghanistan who are advocating for women’s rights. Continue reading...

Jan 20, 2010

Naive BBC Persian Over Afghanistan and Tajikistan

I wrote this post on my Farsi blog a few days before. It had wide reaction from Farsi readers in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. A new blogger friend of mine Jad Iqbal has already translated this post on his blog for his readers. I just did little changes and added to it and thought it would be good to share it with my English readers here too. I wrote a number of posts about BBC Persian, specifically about BBC Afghan service. As a permanent visitor for BBC websites, I would like to share my understandings and critics on BBC works in Afghanistan, especially after September 11 that BBC Radio had a dramatic decrease in the number of listeners. As a member of Afghan media family, it has always been important to observe how the media reflect the events in my country. As media was my favorite field for the past years, i would like to write more about Afghan media and its current condition.

BBC Persian TV, on its first anniversary has asked viewers for their feedback on the service over the past year. There were many who praised and spook highly of BBC Persian TV, but for me this is surprising when BBC Persian has said:

With 8 hours of varied programs a day, including news, analysis, documentaries and general entertainment from the very start, BBC Persian has attracted many viewers in Persian speaking countries.
BBC Persian is referring to Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. But here are some initial circumstances that BBC Persian has provocatively and naively spoken about it.

First, the people of Afghanistan are mostly living under the poverty line and they don’t have the ability to buy a TV set, let alone to buy a satellite so that they can watch BBC Persian TV. It’s possible that offices in major cities such as Herat and Kabul, and maybe Mazar-e Sharif watch their channel, and there may even be a small number of people who incidentally flick onto the channel. But this does not at all mean that BBC Persian has won over the country to its TV service.

Second, BBC Persian TV doesn’t have any entertainment programs made for Afghans, and nor is anyone interested in watching the programs that BBC Persian TV produces and airs for its Iranian audience. There are more than 20 private channels all over Afghanistan that are broadcasting which have both interesting and entertaining programs, and also they have a direct relationship with their local audience. They have live programs on which they get feedback on from their viewers, who are also sometimes participate in debates and other activities lively. For a one-sided channel whose direct audience is only Iran, it is naive and not wise for the BBC to pat themselves on the back and say that they have attracted for lots of viewers in Afghanistan. As far as I’m concerned, such a simplistic belief on the BBC’s part is just laughable.

Also about Tajikistan, for the last year, there has been only one reporter who contributed once a month. With this belief that they targeted big audience in Tajikistan they must joked. The people of Tajikistan have enough to access to different channels in old Soviet States. They have better access because they speak Russian. However, they speak Farsi but they use for their writing the Cyrillic alphabets. In addition to this, people don’t have enough to spend their money buying a satellite dish in order to watch BBC Persian TV which its programs don’t relate to the country, its people, its culture and its history.

Thus, BBC Persian TV exaggerates and naively deludes not only its viewers but also itself. Since 2002, with the birth of more than hundreds local radio stations, BBC Afghan service has lost its listeners. Not only this reason but BBC Persian service didn’t improve its programs for Afghan listeners. As a matter of fact, BBC Persian Afghan service remained as a traditional radio that lagging behind.

Please vote for my pictures in the contest "Why Afghanistan is matter?." You don't need registration, just click on stars.
1- Child Street Worker (Egg Seller)
2- Colored Beard
3- Shoe Polisher in Kabul
4- Band-e Amir Lake
5- Feeding these birds brings good fortune (Mazar-e-Sharif)
6- Afghan National Army

Jan 17, 2010

Haiti and Afghanistan With Cataclysmic Events

In Farsi there is a phrase “har ja sang ast ba payee lang ast,” literally it means helpless is always left in the storm. For years and years people of Haiti were grappling with difficulties. This time the biggest earthquake, since 200 years, brought a human disaster for this country that awakened the world. For the last days, I was watching the news, I felt sick to my stomach. Last year, in the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York City, I met a journalist from Haiti. He told me that he was going to run for presidential election in 2011. He was telling me that if he becomes a president of Haiti I should be proud that I have met him. Since earthquake happened, I immediately sent him an e-mail but unfortunately I have no news of my Haitian friend “George.”

At the Clinton conference we talked about politics. He liked Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai who has written a book about fixing failed states and he was saying me, Afghanistan shouldn’t have problem with having such considerable expertise.

Haitians were suffering from unrest, turmoil and political tragedy just like Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, the issue of tribalism and racism sparked a long political tragedy and in Haiti there are community problems. The populations of both countries live below poverty line. Both were forgotten by world for a while.

According to the United Nations’ estimation, the earthquake may affect some 3 million people in the country. Haiti’s problems never have solved but I hope that this unforgettable disaster that now attracted the world’s attention may end to years of human suffering. It is regrettable that the world was not aware of grinding constant poverty, it is regrettable that no one pays attention that people in Afghanistan and Haiti suffer from lack of education, food and suffer unless there is a cataclysmic event. A question pops up in my mind that why should we always wait until something happen like earthquake in Haiti and Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan?

In 1990s, Afghanistan has the same situation. Millions of people were facing death because of poverty and tens of thousands led to deaths by Taliban. In a span of 30 days, around 6,000 Hazaras have been killed by Taliban in ethnic cleansing drive in Mazar-e Sharif but the world never heard of it until the September 11 happened and millions of people survived of a potential genocide. It was the first time that people around the world heard of Afghanistan and were looking to find it on the map.

Anyway, it is not late if you want to donate, please go to Larry King’s page and select different NGO. May the souls those departed rest in peace.

Jan 14, 2010

Vote for "Why Afghanistan Matters"

I am kindly asking you to vote for my pictures which I submitted to a photographic competition entitled: "Why Afghanistan Matters". This conctest is hosted by NATO's Joint Forces Command HQ Brunssum. There are a total of six pictures entered into three categories:

1- People of Afghanistan
2- Beautiful Afghanistan
3- ANSF in action

All pictures are trying to articulate the beauty of the Afghanistan, its people, its culture, its love and humanity and its sacrifice for national security and for a prosperous future for Afghanistan. Your vote will be so valuable and will allow me to enhance my work in photography and empower me with a better vision. I am competing to be the winner in this contest and I promise to take nice pictures if I win the nice camera. That’s why I plead for your vote dear readers.

Please go to the following links, when the page is fully opened, look below the picture and move your mouse on the stars and click, your vote will be saved in one second. You can vote 6 times for 6 pictures. Pictures are in categories:

People of Afghanistan:
1- Child Street Worker (Egg Seller)
2- Colored Beard
3- Shoe Polisher in Kabul

Beautiful Afghanistan
4- Band-e Amir Lake
5- Feeding these birds brings good fortune (Mazar-e-Sharif)

ANSF in action
6- Afghan National Army

Jan 6, 2010

The profiling issue from an Afghan traveling to the U.S.

Note: Already published on CNN

After the unsuccessful terror attack on an American jetliner by suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, a 23 year-old Nigerian, security at international airports is getting tighter. In the days after the incident, President Obama vowed to “disrupt and dismantle” every possible threat against the U.S. and ordered enhanced screening and security procedures for all flights, domestic and international. These measures are smart, but they increase the concerns for those travelers who might be suspected by their nationality or religion.

Last week, a viewer called into CNN, to say that anyone who has a Muslim name should not be allowed to fly into the U.S. I have been profiled just because I am coming from Afghanistan, have a Muslim name and identify myself as an Afghan. I personally believe that judging travelers on their ethnicity and religion is not fair. Psychologically, it is disturbing and annoying to be interrogated just because of your nationality. Instead, the security should be reformed and new technology should be developed and used to determine who is actually dangerous.

After the recent incident, there is much discussion in the media about profiling, security screening and issuing special security checks for people coming from mostly Muslim countries. The new order for an extra security check for bag and pat down includes 14 countries. Afghanistan is one of them.

I personally feel comfortable with any kind of security measures that take place at the airports, and I do not find it offensive even to be strip-searched as long as security is the reason. I am from Afghanistan, and I have always experienced tight security at international airports and it doesn’t bother me. But the only thing that concerns me is profiling. As an Afghan, I have faced lots of difficulties at international airports. The security personnel at the airports asked me questions I have never heard, and inquired repeatedly about my destination.

For example, this past August when I got my visa from the U.S. embassy in Kabul to come to the U.S. to attend college, I was stopped at the Dubai airport and questioned more than ever before even though I have traveled to the U.S. before. The security at Dubai international airport was not honestly to check my bags but instead the security worker interrogated me about what I have been doing all my life, questioning me as if I were a member of al Qaeda or the Taliban. Even though I had already passed through security, my bags had been checked and the security personal had stuck a special security sticker on my passport - the security personnel didn’t let me on board while I was in line. He kept me until all passengers were boarded. While he was holding my passport in his hand, he moved around and finally found a camera and a scanner to take my picture and scan my passport. I got on the plane only five minutes before the boarding gate closed. It made me upset and annoyed just because I was profiled based on my nationality. The effect didn’t leave me until I reached my destination.

It is true that most of terrorist attacks have targeted Westerners, and that most terrorists are Muslim. But it is bigoted to judge people according to their religion or nationality. Such extreme measures would be profiling people based on their race, not evaluating them as individuals.

Since September 11, 2001, the security at airports has been effective enough to prevent terrorists from entering the United States, but the case of AbdulMutallab proved that the U.S. intelligence was not capable or failed to conduct a pre-emptive action.

Thus, as the U.S. admitted that its security failed to prevent the Christmas Day attack, al Qaeda has proven itself to not be confined to Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that it is also in Gulf countries like Yemen. The security was not smart enough to track down a 23-year-old man wandering around and boarding at an Amsterdam airport.

It is good to have to be checked to ensure security but it is devastating to be treated and interrogated the same manner as a suspected person, just because I am sharing the same type nationality. In August 2007, a 7-year-old Muslim boy was stopped in the U.S. three times on suspicion of being a terrorist. Also, in August 2009, the Bollywood star, Shahrukh Khan, was stopped for questioning at Newark Liberty International Airport which enraged his fans in India.

Finally, it would be good to investigate and recognize the suspected person before issuing him/her a visa and before traveling to the United States. Profiling is wholly inappropriate and will enrage people who are innocent. Looking for Muslim names and names similar to al Qaeda members that are blacklisted is not smart. Profiling based on nationality breeds anger only. Instead there should be effective and aggressive plans to track down the threats from those who are truly dangerous.

Please go to CNN crossroad blog page and read the critics at the bottom of this post

Dec 2, 2009

'Finish the job' but not so hastily

Already published on CNN

After a long debate over increasing troops in Afghanistan, finally, President Obama said that he has decided to send around 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan. Now, deploying 30,000 troops to Afghanistan is a good idea but I’m doubtful that this will work as a long-term strategy to “finish the job.” A long-term strategy to mitigate the violence and end the war in Afghanistan is to train and equip the Afghan National Army.

No so long ago in July 2009, around 4,000 U.S. Marines alongside 650 Afghan police and soldiers took a massive operation called Khanjar (dagger) in Helmand in southern Afghanistan. It was supposed to wipe the Taliban out of the area but ultimately nothing remarkably happened. The Taliban mobilized their insurgency against international forces, Afghan Army and police in different areas and especially started moving to the northern Afghanistan. Northern Afghanistan, which has been quite peaceful since 2002, in the spring 2009 became insecure and unstable - hindering the peaceful life of every Afghan. More troops will be unhelpful unless there is an explicit strategy towards the future. If the Obama administration does not plan a clear strategy for the next four or five years, sending triple number of these troops will not be helpful.


One of the reasons for failing in southern Afghanistan is that after the NATO troops cleaned the area of Taliban, they didn’t stay in there and the ANA (Afghan National Army) was not capable to take the security. Ultimately, the Taliban returned to the area. Horribly, the poor villagers who helped NATO forces and the ANA were targeted or killed by the Taliban. Musa Qala is one of the districts in Helmand that the most intensive operation took place. In 2006, it was turned into a terror university for Taliban and deemed to be influenced by Al Qaeda. The British troops fought against the Taliban and cleaned the area but they left the region for elder leaders and villagers that promised keep their own security. But a few months later, the Taliban attacked those whom worked and helped NATO forces and some were beheaded by the Taliban.

Unfortunately, since then, the locals lost trust towards foreign forces. This created a lack of confidence between foreign forces and Afghan locals because the locals are 100 percent sure that foreign forces will leave the area sooner or later but the Taliban will be back. The locals do not have interest in Taliban but they have no choice, they are exposed from both sides and ultimately they prefer the Taliban. It will take time for the Afghan government and its supporters to reshuffle its relationship among locals but still it is possible to regain.

It is imperative to plan a clear strategy alongside of extra troops in Afghanistan. Specifically, if the United States and its allies help and train the Afghan National Army they will be able to handle the task well. For the last eight years this was not taken serious and less money spent on training the army and more money spent on foreign forces. On November 12, the ministry of defense said that if the world communities fulfill their commitment to train and equip the ANA, within four years they will be capable of taking responsibility of security across the country.

Since 2002, especially when the insurgency increased in the southern region, training ANA wasn’t so much in demand. But within the next four years, if the Afghan government with the support of the United States and its allies focus on increasing the capability of ANA, soon we will witness that they will triumph over the enemy. And finally, by increasing the ANA capabilities, the United States and its allies will be able to finish the job, but not so hastily.

Oct 30, 2009

Reflecting on Clinton Global Initiatives

Note: I wrote this piece for my college paper here

“It was a great and exciting meeting because I saw Brad Pitt and Ricky Martin.” After a few interactions with my classmates and friends at Dickinson, I discovered how to describe my trip to New York at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Conference. Apparently no one has interest in hearing that I came from a conference where world leaders came from across the world, no matter what political affiliations they have, no matter what religious beliefs they have and even no matter what languages they were speaking. They came together to commit to bringing changes in human life, like seeking solutions for climate change, eliminating human trafficking, alleviating poverty and making education accessible.

The Fifth Annual Clinton Initiative started on Sept. 22 and continued until Sept. 25. Every year at this time the CGI brings famous non-government organizations (NGOs), world leaders, business leaders and individual human rights activists to discuss some serious issues that exist today.

On the third day, in a special plenary, members talked mainly about access to education, jobs and health care. Due to a statistic that shows that almost 180 million children work instead of attending school, this year the CGI members made several commitments to create jobs and access to education, especially for children. In the plenary, which was moderated by The New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, the panelists talked about universal education, its quality and the role of youth in the modern world. In particular, the Queen of Jordan, Rania Abdulla, stressed the importance of children’s education on the primary level. She compared the $11 billion cost of sending all children to primary school, the same amount of money that Americans spend on pets in three months and that Europeans spend on ice cream in a year. This amount is equivalent to 10 percent of NATO’s military budget.

Carlos Slim, a Mexican businessman and philanthropist, was also there. Kristof asked him a question regarding poverty. Kristof pointed to his recent interview with The New York Times in which he said the long term solution for poverty is jobs, and asked if this can be possible in developing country where there are no jobs and children are facing miserable limitations. Kristof gave him an example that he heard from a Kenyan girl who asked if she should continue to sleep with a man who is paying her school fees: should she continue the risk of getting AIDS or should she drop out of the school? This remains a nightmare situation for the girl, an example of thousands.

Slim said that education is important today and that it should happen in early childhood. Once again he emphasized that there is no way out of poverty but education.

The panelists talked more on other important issues, such as youth’s education and increasing the quality of education in developing world.

Human trafficking was one of the serious worldwide issues in this conference. Every year CGI gives awards to a number of people who achieve great success in education and the alleviation of human trafficking and slavery. This year, Ruchira Gupta, a woman from India who is the founder of the Aapne Aap organization, received the CGI annual award. She combat against human trafficking and so far through her organization she has saved 854 children from sexual exploitation and enabled them to access education. Gupta, while receiving the award from actress Demi Moore, said, “I receive this award on behalf of people who want a world in which it is unacceptable to buy or sell another human being and to imagine an economy in which one is not forced to sell oneself.”

According to the United Nations, 161 countries out of 192 are involved with human trafficking. Only in 2007, 27 million people were smuggled around the world for different forms of exploitation like slavery, commercial labor and sexual purposes. Children comprise 50 percent of human trafficking and mostly they are aged of 12 to 14 and most likely they are subjected to sexual exploitation.

In a separate session about strengthening infrastructure, Kofi Anan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, emphasized that we not only need physical infrastructure but also soft infrastructure like education, global economy and exchanging global ideas.

One of the most interesting sessions was on human dignity. Wangari Muta Maathai, founder of The Green Belt Movement in Kenya and Noble Prize winner, stressed that dignity comes from giving women opportunities to work, giving education to children and having a land on which they can build their houses. This year there was a special focus on women as a vulnerable body of the society; they are disproportionately affected by poverty. According to statistics released at the meeting, more than 1.4 billon people live in extreme poverty, on $1.25 a day or less, and the vast majority of them are women.

At the Clinton Global Initiative, many well-known people, including Hollywood actors and actresses and singers, participated. Ricky Martin also took opportunity to raise awareness of human trafficking. Through his organization, the Ricky Martin Foundation, he advocates for children's rights and combats human trafficking.

Shortly after Ricky Martin, Brad Pitt took to the podium to discuss rebuilding New Orleans. Pitt started a foundation in 2007 that focuses on home construction in a section of New Orleans that was heavily damaged when Hurricane Katrina struck in Aug. 2005.

The fourth and final day, the closing plenary featured the progress achieved over the past five years. Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton closed the meeting.

Former President Clinton announced that CGI members at the conference in 2009 have made 284 new commitments, valued at more than $9.4 billion dollars. In total, these commitments are projected to improve more than 200 million lives. Since 2005, members of the Clinton Global Initiative have made nearly 1,700 commitments valued at $57 billion dollars. Eighty million people will generate sustainable income through self-employment or new job opportunities through these commitments. At the end of the day when the conference ended, I walked out from the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, and as I was walking in the crowd of multi-ethnic people, many questions rushed into my mind but of one them stuck: How we can bring changes in our own community as individuals?

Oct 1, 2009

Homage To Mahatma Gandhi

Google opened my clotted mind with its logo that paid tribute to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on the 140th anniversary of his birth today. Google replaced its first ‘G’ with his picture. I have already written on my Farsi blog and ask my Farsi readers to pay homage to this wise man who devoted his time freeing millions of people in his country. I write these words to honor his wisdom, greatness and as an emancipator of humanity. I write these lines to pay special homage to him when he stood against imperialism and smiled at them while saying these words:

"I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions...If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourselves, man, woman, and child, to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them."
Nothing stops Gandhi in his quest for truth ‘Satyagraha’. This is what Gandhi believed so strongly that he prepared to die for it. What a great desire is moved him towards reaching his goal. He didn’t dream this truth but he managed to reach it and ended the injustice and inequality. He believed every human being is born free and should live freely. He took long way from London to South Africa and from South Africa to India, he carried a precious gift and ultimately he gave it to millions of people who were suffering. It was their freedom. Finally this is what Gandhi telling us to do:
I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.