Nobody Is Safe

Looking at current events in Afghanistan, for the people in Afghanistan whether they're Afghan children, women, or men, or a NATO soldier their life can be taken away at anytime, any day. Life on the ground across the country right now is unstable and out of control. The War in Afghanistan is one thing, but there is a lot of random violence happening that is occurring for unexplainable reasons. And even if a reason is given in some shape or form, it doesn't make sense and seems to be pointless violence taking innocent lives or causing serious harm.

Violence has ranged from school children being poisoned, to a woman being executed on video, to a suicide bomber killing 17 people at wedding, to Afghan military personnel and police doing sneak attacks on NATO soldiers. All of these acts are heinous and cowardly. Though, the violence is so random because it can be committed by a single person acting alone, the Taliban, or another terrorist group hanging out in the country.

As a top U.S. Military Commander announced recently that withdrawal of American troops is halfway done, that news still seems to be happening too slow for some people. NATO continues to train the Afghans to handle their own security for the upcoming complete withdrawal of NATO ground forces in 2014. However, five NATO troops were killed, with three of them being American when a person wearing Afghan security force clothing unexpectedly fired upon them. It somewhat seems like NATO is providing training and then being killed with the tactics they taught.

Afghanistan is a hard place to be right now for everyone, especially NATO soldiers. Because they consistently hear that the Afghan people need and want their help, but with certain occurrences it's hard to fully trust them. For now, everyone there has to be cautious while not letting extremists and other terror groups dictate their daily lives. 

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Money Spent Wisely

Most people across the world will all agree that knowledge is power. Although, in a country like Afghanistan many of the citizens will think guns and explosives mean power. To change the mindset of the Afghan people, education in Afghanistan continues to be at the forefront of agendas for this country downtrodden by extremists. Each month schools are being improved with new lesson plans, physical revitalization, and new materials that provide access to the internet.

In Herat, Afghanistan Hatifi High School is an all female school that is benefiting from having by having the internet supplied to the school. Women in Afghanistan already have a difficult time gaining full rights and respect throughout the country, so getting a good education while having access the world wide web will put them in position to made strides in the long term.

Currently, info on Afghanistan states the country already receives significant financial assistance from NATO and the U.S.; the totals are over $4 billion annually to enhance health and education in the country, which has suffered over the years because of the Taliban's rule. In recent news an announcement was made that there is a $16 billion offer in development funds for aid in Afghanistan. These new funds are to be used with direction, and will be closely monitored to make sure they are spent as intended. 

With NATO's help and company's like Film Annex lending a hand, Afghanistan is on a path to moving forward in the global society. Education must remain the primary focus of the citizens, with safety of course to bring the women and country as a whole out of second-rate status.


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On Deadly Ground

As if the War in Afghanistan, constant suicide bombings, and militant attacks wasn't enough for Afghan people to worry about, now they are dealing with the aftermath of recent earthquakes. Last week two earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.4 and 5.7 occurred in northern Afghanistan. These quakes have taken the lives of an estimated 70 to 100 people. Although, no official death toll has been provided just yet while search efforts continue.

In other current events in Afghanistan citizens and NATO soldiers are still being killed like clockwork intentionally and unintentionally.  Just a couple of weeks ago several civilian women and children were killed by a NATO air strike, which has left many Afghan people upset. Within the same week or so a U.S. military helicopter was shot down by a rocket killing two crew members.

The troubled country continues to be a work in progress in many aspects; education is still up and down across all the provinces, and women live day to day as inferior people compared to their male counterparts. And it seems like if people are not being killed or blown up in Afghanistan, they are threatened, kidnapped, or seriously injured by militants and the Taliban.

What makes Afghanistan's situation so sad is a lot of the Afghan people want a better life and country for themselves and their children. There are just pockets of bad seeds (extremists) spread throughout the country along with Taliban rule that make the whole country struggle to overcome the corruption and mediocrity. The people in Afghanistan who do want a better home must continue to work with the Afghanistan government system and military, NATO, and Film Annex for the long term to keep making progress.

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