Many Faces of Afghanistan

As you know from the last post, I am now in Afghanistan for several weeks to train lawyers belonging to the Foreign Ministry (and a few others) in International Law. This is my first time to Afghanistan. It is a fascinating place. It boggles the mind to reflect on what the Afghans have gone through--thirty years of unremitting war, extreme poverty, Taliban rule, and now the ongoing conflict in the south. Despite ll this, the Afghans seem to be a wonderful people, full of life and generosity. I love looking at the faces. There seems to be every possible type of face on the street, except for possibly Africans. This is truly the crossroads of Asia, and the faces bear this out: there are Persian faces, Indian faces, Arab faces, Caucasian faces and east Asian faces. Every conqueror since Alexander the Great has made a contribution to the gene pool, and it shows. Perhaps the diversity of faces shows that the recent 30 years of conflict is part of a much larger history of conflict and accommodation here. The crossroads of Asia is a rough place.