Editor,
“Pakistan,” by Steven Moss, in the November View, kindled memories of my own experiences in Pakistan and Afghanistan from 1989 to 1997, when I’d go for two to four months a year as an aid worker. Reading “narrowing their eyes in mild hostility” when Moss said he was an American saddened but didn’t surprise me. A difference from my experience in 1989 when people would say “Amreeka ! Good !” That was in Peshawar, capital of what’s now called the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. Then the area was still known by the British era designation “Northwest Frontier Province.”
By the time I left in 1997, American foreign policy had angered both Afghans and Pakistanis. While the reasons are complex, I think the basic one is that the United States failed to acknowledge the contributions of both countries to our Cold War victory. That lack of gratitude translated into a material neglect of impoverished and war-ravaged nations. Though U.S. foreign policy disappointed Afghans and Pakistanis, people always treated me and other Westerners with kindness and respect.
I was encouraged to read that though Afghans and Pakistanis have reason to remain angry at U.S. foreign policy – regardless of which party is in power – the people Moss met put aside political feelings and treated him with the hospitality and respect they showed Westerners in the ‘90s. That also wasn’t surprising. Nice to know that their great customs remain. It’ll be a great advance for peace when our governments finally get around to learning the mutual respect we regular folk practice.
Howard Isaac Williams
20th Avenue