Supporting The Future Of Afghanistan Means Loosening Our Grip On The Past - Mina Sharif

No single person is accountable for Afghanistan and the state of its people. But every one of us is accountable for the perceptions that directly affect how the country moves forward.

I was born in Afghanistan, raised in Canada, and have come back to Afghanistan for the past decade. It doesn't make me an authority on anything, but allows me to be a first hand witness to what Afghans see and what people abroad see - and its safe to say that most everyone sees negative. The media provides very little but the bad news surrounding Afghanistan. Anyone who tries to speak out by acknowledging the other side to the story (myself included) is usually challenged as naive, unrealistic, and essentially wrong.

The problem is not only with international media. They look for horrible news and for the most part ignore progress and perseverance. They always have and it's nothing exclusive to Afghanistan. But how do Afghans handle the perceptions of their country? From Afghans both inside and outside of the country, I rarely hear anything said or written about Afghanistan that doesn't start with words like "decades of consecutive war." And this is true. It has become our defining fact that there has been constant fighting here.

Unfortunately, even our idea of "positive" Afghan news often fails to focus on our possibilities for the future. There is a generation that remembers "the glory days" of the 50s to the early 80s. This generation thrived in Afghanistan and most reference to anything positive about Afghanistan refers to them and their time. The women wore whatever they wanted (yes, even short skirts). They studied what they wanted. Hippie tourists walked the streets. JFK came to visit. Even Vogue magazine did a feature on Afghan style. And the children of those who tell these tales wish they had been able to see it. We live through their nostalgia. We're so in awe that Afghanistan ever had these things and we want to hear about it constantly, sharing it with our peers who may think Afghanistan is the "dustbowl" mass media claims it to be. By all means I encourage us to share this truth as well as remember it fondly. It's important to remember that until very recently, this country was a different world. But at the same time... let's get over it.

There is an entirely new generation of brilliant and capable young people that need us to change the narrative and acknowledge their strength. They need us to believe in them as capable and worthy of taking over the role of rebuilding the country. We are entitled to remember the glory days fondly - but at what cost? Because our attitude, that nothing besides those days could ever be positive, does not foster future leaders. It creates an angry generation that does not live up to its potential. It invites us to feel nostalgic which is good, but also defeated, bitter, and unfocused on the future. - Read More at the Huffingtonpost

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