UJP Afghanistan/Pakistan

It is widely acknowledged that we are losing the war in Afghanistan. Is the solution more troops or a political one using negotiation, alliances and aid? What has life been like for the Afghan people since the occupation? Can we or they afford 7 more years of fighting? As the Obama administration is seeking its own strategy how can we be effective advocates for peace? These questions and others will be addressed at this timely forum.

Speaker: Gary Moorehead, Field Director, Marigold Fund (right)

AFSC, 2161 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Thursday, May 14, 7:00 p.m.

Amherst-based Gary Moorehead, Field Director of the Marigold Fund, has recently returned from Takhar Province, Afghanistan.  Marigold is a people-to-people effort to help Afghans rebuild their country after decades of war and to establish friendship and understanding between Afghans and Westerners.   In Takhar,  Marigold sponsors a midwife training program, is building a tuberculosis clinic, and is setting up a vocational training project which manufactures school furniture.

Can locally-based reconstruction efforts like Marigold make the difference in Afghanistan?   Although President Obama said he favors reconstruction aid, his policy spends over 90% of the Afghanistan-Pakistan money on military, including 21,000 troops and drone aircraft raids.   The aid money that is provided is channeled through large-scale bureaucracies which waste much of the aid money and do little to build up Afghan civil society.

Boston area students and community members will explore the situation of women in Afghanistan at a series of events February 10 and 11.   The 2006 film View from a Grain of Sand will be screened, followed by talks and Q&A discussions with the director and producer, Meena Nanji.