The Wars Within the War
I’ve been silent. To speak of my tears over
the wars within the war in Afghanistan: It’s not just a simple war of good
against bad. It’s a war between shades of the self-serving, while the helpless
masses and sacrificial heroes are trampled in the fray.
I say “the wars within the war” because,
beneath the simplified war that most people watch on the news, there’s a war
where the brazen genocide of Hazaras continue unabated. The war that silences
brave and nameless women. The war that robs mothers
of their children and children of their fathers. The war where young men are
lured, brainwashed and trapped into a cycle of killing. The war that orphans a
nation in spirit. The war against people who are telling the truth and
journalists who don’t get their stories out. The war that destroys beauty, art,
music and culture, wearying the hearts of musicians and artists. The war that
divides the nation into ethnicities and fighting factions, pitting them
senselessly against each other. The war that churns money for the warmongers,
and leaves the people inescapably impoverished. The war that represses the
freedom to choose life and peace. The war that ruins a childhood and hope for a
future.
Afghanistan is not the only place
suffering. There is Somalia. And South Sudan. And Congo. And Syria. And
Israel-Palestine. And a myriad other places heaving with the hatred and pain
that war breeds. As I pray over these ugly realities, I come to the question
that gives me a reason to live and hope and work my life’s purpose: How can I
be part of raising and strengthening the peacemakers in these tough places?
With God’s help I (and many others) will
live out the answers to this question until our last breath.
[Cover Photo: Darulaman Palace Ruins, by Rahmatgul.]
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