I, like Dan Smock, am rather appalled by this series of tweets from a journalist named Steve Clemons (really, just go to his twitter feed and read all of them), who just happened to be in Kabul during the attack on the British Council early Friday morning. Dan does a good job of explaining what's wrong with most of Mr. Clemons' tweets, but he nicely overlooked the one that gets me the most, allowing me to take the ball and run with it.
At 11:49am Friday morning Kabul time, before the fighting at the British Council had even finished, we get this lovely tweet from Mr. Clemons: "Despite bombs & bullets, hope Afghans have great holiday today on National Independence Day. Despite drama had excellent trip to #Kabul." Good lord. Let me start by saying that any time you can make the U.S. Embassy look like it has its finger on the pulse of the city, you are doing something spectacularly oblivious.
But really, this doozy of a tweet from Mr. Clemons embodies much of what is most harmful about the way that the West views Afghanistan and its people. Only someone who comes in on what Dan so aptly terms a "whirlwind parachute tour" could write the above sentences. It all comes down to how you view attacks like Friday's and, more relevantly, Afghans' responses to them. Mr. Clemons tweeted this morning about how impressed he was with the resolve, courage, strength, and determination of the Afghans he was with as the attack was unfolding. He wrote about how they stayed cool under fire, while he was cowering in fear (I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea). All of these things are true. Afghans who still live in-country have to be all of those things, because these attacks do happen, and you have to figure out how to cope with them.
But Mr. Clemons, like so many Westerners before him, is content to simply dust himself off and move on afterwards. And this is the appalling part. You have just witnessed a terrible event, Mr. Clemons. You have been shot at for doing nothing wrong--stupid, yes, but not wrong--and in so doing, you have gotten a surprisingly good glimpse into the life of far too many Afghans. Innocent Afghans are being targeted and killed by the Taliban with increasing frequency, and most of them weren't even stupid enough to stand on rooftops with bullets flying around them. The fact that the overwhelming majority of Afghans manage to remain friendly and hospitable in spite of this madness might seem amazing...until you consider that, well, it's their homeland, and where else would they go?
But back to Mr. Clemons. Having experienced first-hand how horrifically random the Taliban can be, what is his reaction? A desire to come back and do what he can to make things better? Articulate musings on the terror faced by everyday Afghans? Humility and a promise to reconsider his previous opinions about the war? No, no, and no. Instead, he basically says "have a nice time dodging the bombs, guys, and enjoy your holiday!" While jumping on his plane out of the country. With cool pictures of bullets to prove his bad-ass nature to the folks back home. Sigh.
I don't know what Mr. Clemons' intentions were, and I do not want to make it sound like I expect every first-time visitor to Afghanistan to be able to get their bearings immediately. I've also never been shot at, thankfully, and inshallah I won't ever be in Mr. Clemons' position, so take that for what it is worth, too. But even so, with his series of tweets and pictures, Mr. Clemons has reinforced the perception that Afghanistan is less a real country than some kind of twisted, dystopian safari. You hire your guides, go travel around, maybe get scared by a brush with some big, scary animal, and then find a cool souvenir or take some sweet pictures to show everyone back in the States. You speak glowingly about your guides and the natives while you're over there, particularly their ability to persevere under such awful conditions, and then tell them how much you hope they have good lives on your way up the jetway into your modern plane home.
Well, guess what? Afghanistan is real. The war is real. And it's hell for Kabulis, for Kandaharis, for every Afghan. And they can't escape it. Not like we can.
So no, Mr. Clemons, the Afghans won't just "have a great holiday today." Stay a bit longer next time, and you might even figure out why.
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