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Mustafa Rasuli | Photography |
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| Back Home in America | 4/2/2002 | |
| I did not write in my diaries for a couple of days. I have just been living in Afghanistan and not thinking much about trying to document everything I see and hear. I have already left Afghanistan and have had some time to think about my trip to Afghanistan and my role in it’s future. I had doubts about the country and going back, I felt like it still had a lot of growing up to do before I’d go back. Then I met this journalist at the Indian airport while I was waiting for my bag. I was sitting down on a plastic chair and he walked up and introduced himself. We started talking and I started telling him about my views on Afghanistan. At the end of the conversation he paused and said, “The future of Afghanistan lies on the shoulders of people like you who will go back and rebuild right?” I looked at him thought for a moment and knew that without Afghans returning from the west it was impossible for Afghanistan to rebuild. Afghanistan is a country in need right now. It is calling for it’s people to return and help. This is the moment in history that will define the future of Afghanistan. Now I consider myself lucky and proud to be a citizen of America. I was born, raised, and live in the greatest country on earth. Why is it the greatest country, because a person like me, a foreigner has lived in America for 23 years and never felt like a foreigner. I was treated as an American, and was welcomed. After the September 11th attacks, for a space of a couple of weeks I did see the change in society. My features and face, caused people to look twice, or look away. I understood though, I understood the reasons for this distrust. I don’t blame Americans for this, I blame the muslim world for allowing fanatics to represent our religion and culture. I say all this because like I said it is a fantastic moment in Afghanistans history. I see it as my duty as an Afghan to go to my country in it’s time of need. My country needs me today more than ever. Now is the time when an Afghan shows his blood. Sacrafice for a nation that has sacrificed so much. There are those that cannot and do not want to go back. This again is not wrong. You have the choice to return and you have the choice to stay. When you have lived your life and look back, I’d like to sit in a coffee shop in the New Kabul, and know that I took part in the rehabilition of Afghanistan. Again I consider myself lucky to be Afghan-American. We raised in the west have so much to give back. We were raised in a tolerant and free society, the likes of which our country has never seen. We have been educated in the best schools of the world. We have worked in the most efficient companies. All this can be used to create a better Afghanistan. More than ever I feel that Afghanistan is calling on its citizens to return and rebuild. Not 5 years from now, not 10 years from now, but in it’s time of need. Afghanistan is a country in need right now. It is calling for its people to return and help. This is the moment in history that will define the future of Afghanistan. We have the opportunity, as a community as a nation, to show the world that Afghans will return. That Afghans from all walks of life, from all over the world, are returning, joining hands and building a nation. That Afghans are sacrificing all the comforts of their lives and living a hard life in a rugged and rough country, to rebuild. |
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