I am an international student of Canadian citizenship. However, I am also the daughter of an Afghani Muslim mother and an Eastern Orthodox father. When I was three years old, I moved to Toronto, and I have been there ever since. I never thought my ethnicity was of real importance because I was fortunate enough to be raised amongst many different types of people.
My world was disrupted on Sept. 11, 2001. Since that day, where I come from has become an important matter. This is not just my issue, but something being faced by all individuals of a similar complexion. We have been questioned about our loyalty to the United States, directly or indirectly. Furthermore, we are often treated as though we do not share the grief of ordinary Americans.
I can assure you that this is not the case. My brother lives in the East Village in New York City, approximately a 30-minute walk from the World Trade Center. He is a graduate student at Columbia and is attending NYU. My uncle and cousins are American citizens and have been living in the States for 20 years.
So how do you think I felt? I was scared, saddened, and shocked. Why would anyone want inflict pain and suffering on innocent people? You do not have to be an American to suffer with Americans.
Nevertheless, I am also angry because some individuals are having difficulty understanding that it is possible to be Middle Eastern and love the Western world. It is possible to be Middle Eastern and feel pain when watching people fall from buildings.
I, like many Middle Eastern students at our institution, feel somewhat torn about what should happen in retaliation. On the one hand, I feel something must be done to show that terrorism will not be tolerated. On the other hand, I ask, is it just to inflict pain on innocent people because they share a common ethnicity or religion with the perpetrators of this crime?
It seems that at times we react to situations irrationally - allowing our gut feelings to cloud our judgement. It is my hope that if I provide you with some information about my family and where we come from, you will be able to answer these questions in an educated manner for yourself.
My mother lived the first 17 years of her life in Kabul, Afghanistan. She was the eldest of five children. All of the children in the family attended a coeducational institution. They all wore western-style clothing and studied English in school.
However, times were very difficult, and my grandfather, who held a political position, sent all of his children to universities in foreign countries, where they were able to earn scholarships. My mother went to Yugoslavia, one of my uncles to the American University in Beirut.
The United States was not viewed negatively amongst the majority of Afghan people. Many Afghans dreamed of a life in the Western world, where there were far more opportunities - free education, abundant amounts of food, and peace. As much pride as Afghans had for their country, their ambitions were to leave the poor nation and the violence wrought by the Soviet Armies and tribal fighting.
Afghanistan was once a beautiful nation with a rich countryside and lush mountains populated by citizens who valued education, religion, and family. All this changed with the Soviet invasion in 1979. The US financed the purchasing of military equipment by a political party known as the Taliban. The Taliban along with other Afghani groups, with the help of the United States, eventually forced the Soviets out of Afghanistan in 1989.
Unfortunately, Afghanistan was left a shattered country plagued with poverty, political turmoil, and an uncertain future. The US along with others failed to acknowledge that the Afghani people needed help to rebuild their nation. It seemed as though the Americans thought once the Soviets were no longer in Afghanistan all would be well. This was not the case.
For the last 12 years, Afghanistan has been having a civil war. The Taliban, made up of Muslim extremists, has been battling with the Northern Alliance. In 1996 the Taliban gained power over Afghanistan. Since then, the Afghani people have endured endless suffering as the rest of the world watches. Afghani women have been stripped of basic human rights. Woman are unable to wear clothes revealing anything more than their eyes and are not allowed to attend school. Anyone who opposes the Taliban is brutally murdered.
Virtually every member of my extended Afghan family had left Afghanistan for the West before the Taliban came into power. And for those who stayed, it was not by choice but rather due to financial reasons.
All these events have lead up to the current situation in Afghanistan. As we all know, United States has started air strikes, which will most likely last a week or more. As stated by The New York Times on Oct. 8, 2001, the air strikes are targeting, "Al Qaeda training camps and Taliban airfields, air defenses, and communication and command centers across the country."
The goal of the air strikes is to weaken the Taliban, enabling the Northern Alliance to overthrow the party that has declared a holy war against the US alongside bin Laden.
To offset the inevitable damage they are to inflict on the innocent people of the country, America has promised $320 million in food and medical supplies to the Afghani people. I am not sure if this will help. Will these people be able to receive aid from the US? Just how many civilians will die in the air strikes? And will anyone care?
I am grateful that the Taliban is finally being challenged and that perhaps one day the Afghan people may find the peace, equality, and opportunities they have been deprived of for so many years. The US says it will not abandon Afghanistan after the air strikes have ended and hopefully that holds true. There have also been promises to help rebuild the nation.
If these things are accomplished, the United States will receive the gratitude of the vast majority of the Afghan people. Of course, if any nation had shown more concern in Afghanistan before now, perhaps much of this horror could have been prevented.
As I watch my 80-year-old grandmother on the sofa, her small brown eyes locked on the television watching the images of her homeland in flames, I ask myself what she must be thinking? Is she remembering climbing the lemon trees in her backyard? Or praying at the local mosque crouched alongside her mother? And it hurts me to think that some people believe that Middle Easterners are happy about what has happened.
My grandmother and all the Afghani people I have encountered in my life have been people of principle - people who do not believe in violence, people who pray five times a day for peace on earth and happiness for all.
The reason I agreed to write this article against my family's wishes is so the Tuft's student body can understand, and perhaps empathize with their Middle Eastern peers. I also feel that it is important to recognize that the issue of terrorism is as simple as it appears to be.
In order to prevent future acts we must all come together and ask ourselves why other nations feel threatened by the United States? And how can the US alleviate these nations' fears? Most of all, we shouldn't forget that there are people just like us in Afghanistan, who do not deserve our scorn, but rather our prayers for while our nightmare is ending, theirs continues.
Sara Markovic is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major.
