KABUL (TOLO News): Afghan youth, restricted by war, long to travel to remote and beautiful areas of their own country. In the meantime, they tweet their post-war plans.
While more than a year of US talks with the Taliban have yet to yield results, young people in Afghanistan still hope for a ceasefire.
TOLOnews reporter Nabila Ashrafi interviewed young people who long for peace and a less restricted life, and who take to Twitter to express themselves.
Ramin Mazhar, a poet, tweeted: ”My heart wants a ceasefire, so I can go to Nuristan, touch its green and tree-lined hills and its crazy sea and deep sky.”
When asked about his tweet, Mazhar smiled and replied that his tweet is just a dream. Traveling in his own country–for him and millions of other Afghans–is a fantasy, but travel is a basic right for other people in other lands, he said.
“I think the definition of lasting peace is that it respects differences, equal opportunities, opportunities for women, dialogue, diverse ideas, and different attitudes and practices to create a different kind of life. If all of these things were provided, why not! I’m going to Nuristan, I’m going to Helmand. I wish to see my country,” said Mazhar.
The decades-long war has failed to take away the Afghan people’s hope for a better future for Afghanistan.
Freshta Karim, a young woman who for several years has run a remote library for children in Kabul, tweeted that she would bring the library for children all over Afghanistan if there was a ceasefire.
Parwiz Kawa, a journalist, tweeted: “I would buy a bicycle and ride to Helmand and Herat.”
“Having aspirations and having hopes for the future are the main drivers of a society trying to change the current harsh conditions,” said Rouhullah Rezwani, a psychotherapist.
Aisha Khurram, a youth representative who recently delivered a message of peace at the United Nations Security Council, believes the chances of ending the war in Afghanistan are greater now than at any other time this year.
“The peace process we are now witnessing is progressing with a very narrow agenda. Both parties to the dialogue seek to achieve their goals and advance their own specific agendas,” said Khurram, an Afghan youth representative to the UN.
