Decades ago, life threw me a curve ball, and I wound up, with a broken heart, and the Bar exam behind me, on a plane to Paris.  The starting point of an overland trip from Turkey to Japan.  My companion and I arrived in Afghanistan after a harrowing experience in Iran.  But that story is for another day.  The Afghan men impressed me as proud, strong, and fiercely independent.  I remember thinking “This is what the early colonialists in America might have been like.” There was a welcome lack of interest in western material things. Unlike my experience in Turkey, no one was interested in buying anything off of me (my watch, my camera, etc.) nor was I pressured to buy anything.  Women were all wearing the veil.

We had arrived shortly after the Soviets had brought tanks into Kabul and fired on the Presidential Palace.  It was Fall 1979.  Walking around Kabul, midst camels and bushels of ware to sell, I noticed an attractive building. We approached.  A tall, handsome Afghani man greeted us, and speaking in French, asked if we would like to join him for lunch in the cafeteria. As I speak French, I quickly replied “Oui!”  The unassuming cafeteria could have been anywhere.  Long tables, simple fare.  But this was about the company.  He began asking me many questions about America, its people, its politics.  Our country is a complicated place, but it was clear he had been fed loads of propaganda.  It wasn’t that he believed it, it was apparent that he wanted to know if the propaganda had merit.  He began to open with me, and share concerns over the new take-over.  I realized that the Soviets were there with tacit approval of many, who saw potential gain.  But this man was troubled. Just that week, the Soviets had informed the judiciary that they would be re-writing the constitution of Afghanistan without the input of the supreme court judges. The gentleman before me was one of the supreme court judges.  A young law school graduate, we had an engaging and extended conversation about these issues.

You never know who you’ll meet on the roads less traveled. And I wonder, to this day, what part this man, and our conversation, played in the revolt that ensued.  Read your history books. No country has ever conquered Afghanistan.

-Pennie

‘Pennie for your thoughts…
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