As you know, CIVIC has a long history working in Afghanistan to get help to war victims. However, because of the rising cost of security it’s been hard to maintain an ‘on the ground’ presence there.This past fall, Harvard offered to CIVIC a fully-funded advocate to live in Afghanistan. Due to unforeseen complications on Harvard’s end, the fellowship will…
By: Nick Returning to Sri Lanka is much like returning home after a long time at college. Ther are of course my immediate loved ones here—people who open their homes and kitchens to us. Then there are the many friends and acquaintances, and all the news to catch up on. Obviously the major issue in…
The Iraqis I met a few weeks ago are still fleeing car bombs and sniper fire, but they’re not running for their lives. Instead, they are running for a living, earning money by playing distraught civilians in a fake Iraqi province called Ghanzi. Created by the U.S. military in California’s Mojave Desert, Ghanzi is part…
Spend some time in Brussels and Kabul with the soldiers and civilians of NATO and you’ll hear the same thing: If there ever was a place and a time when winning support of the local population would help win a war, the place is Afghanistan — and the time is now. Afghanistan is beginning to…
In Kabul a few weeks ago, I met Sahib Dad, an Afghan father. During the 2001 U.S. invasion, two of his girls were killed when a U.S. bomb missed its target and exploded in their playground. He says he never saw an American face, never received an apology. At the time, the United States had…
A year ago tomorrow, in Baghdad, a young woman from California was killed by a suicide bomb. Marla Ruzicka was working to get aid to Iraqi civilians harmed by U.S. military operations when her car and that of her colleague Faiz Ali Salim was destroyed on the now-infamous airport road. Marla’s legacy lives on in…