Recent news stories from Afghanistan are alarming. First, the British troops are under real pressure/threat and may now withdraw owing to the constant attacks they face in parts of Afghanistan.
The second story relates to General David Richards, the British officer commanding Nato troops in Afghanistan, statement yesterday that 70 per cent of Afghans may start supporting the Taleban if their lives did not improve in the next six months.
Now the question is how do you improve the lives of people in six months? What were the authorities doing all these years…using brute force alone?
The General is sending a clear message. The situation is beyond the control of foreign troops in Afghanistan and (as in the case of Iraq, Iran and now North Korea) there is an immediate need for deft diplomatic moves at the United Nations level to sort out the bloody mess created by…we know who!!!
Now the question is who is going to replace the British soldiers who, incidentally, replaced the US soldiers? It seems the Afghan soldiers would be asked to take over, and they would be paid a bounty to remain loyal. But the Afghan senior officials’ worry is that this would be an invitation to Taleban to take over completely.
For more on this read The Times.
“The British General: Time running out in Afghanistan” is the heading of a story in The Christian Science Monitor.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.