Ten Afghan women recently elected to the Afghan Parliament will be participating in a one-week program organized with support from US Department of State, the US and Afghan embassies in France, the Afghan and French Parliament, the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the ESSEC Graduate School of Management.
The objective of this program is to enhance and promote the political participation of Afghan women. The program is also designed to create social cohesion and cooperation amongst women leaders and to assist them in developing a collaborative network. Additional background info here.
The women will be sharing their vision and the challenges that they face during several private events:
- 3-day negotiation, teambuilding and leadership seminar delivered in Persian
- Meeting with their counterparts at the French Parliament
- Media interviews and a press conference
The public will be able to hear from the women, His Excellency Mr. Omar Samad, Ambassador of Afghanistan in France, and Mr. Mark Taplin, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy in France on Tues March 29 at the conference AFGHANISTAN, TEN YEARS LATER. The event is open to the public - on the ESSEC Campus in France from 8-10pm France time/2pm EST/11am PST. It will be webcast live in English.
A report will be available a few weeks after the end of this program.
Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Search for the Afghan Girl. A film.
I saw this film in July 2003 at the Kodak Gallery in Rochester, NY, while exploring a temporary exhibit of photographs taken by my favorite photographer, Steve McCurry. I've thought about the film often, since then.
The film is about Steve's search for a woman whose photograph he had taken 17 years prior, when she was approximately 12 years old. Steve's photograph of the young girl, one of the most famous photographs ever taken, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985.
The Afghan Girl, approximately age 12:
The film, Search for the Afghan Girl:
Watch more free documentaries
The Afghan Girl, as she was when Steve finally found her again, 17 years later:
The film is about Steve's search for a woman whose photograph he had taken 17 years prior, when she was approximately 12 years old. Steve's photograph of the young girl, one of the most famous photographs ever taken, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985.
The Afghan Girl, approximately age 12:
The film, Search for the Afghan Girl:
Watch more free documentaries
The Afghan Girl, as she was when Steve finally found her again, 17 years later:
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Promising Afghan Teens in the US Education System
photo: Meetra
While looking for info about another org I stumbled upon this one. WOW! I love it.
The Afghan Scholar Initiative (ASI) creates partnerships between promising Afghan students and college prep boarding schools in the United States. The nonprofit's goal is to ensure that these students receive scholarships for 6 years of education in the United States, starting with two years of high school and continuing through college.
For an overview of how it works, check this out.
Definitely check out this short documentary film about ASI. (Unfortunately I couldn't embed the video in this post.) The documentary was filmed in Kabul, summer 2008, and features two of ASI's pilot scholars Meetra and Sikandar. Meetra and Sikandar went on to attend Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine.
Following up on the documentary, check out the summary of their first year in the USA here.
For more info about the nonprofit and their students check out their blog.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Poll: Young People Back Obama, Disapprove of His Major Policies
An excerpt from a post written by Ari Mebler and published on The Nation's blog today:
A new Harvard poll finds that President Obama is holding on to his strongest supporters, voters under 30, though they overwhelmingly oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan.
About 58 percent of young voters approve of Obama's job performance, while his approval among all voters recently dipped below 50 percent for the first time. About 66 percent of young voters oppose a build-up in Afghanistan, though this survey was in the field before the President's West Point speech.
In fact, the most striking part of the new poll is how young voters disapprove of Obama on issues across the board, yet still support his overall job performance. A briefing from Harvard's Institute of Politics (IOP) crunches the numbers:
The IOP's fall poll indicates 18-29 year-olds are now in line with the general population: a majority of young adults approve of [Obama] generally but disapprove of his handling of major issues asked about in the poll... A majority of 18-29 year-olds also disapprove of his handling of every major issue asked about:
Afghanistan (55% disapprove, 41% approve)
health care (52% disapprove, 44% approve)
the economy (52% disapprove, 44% approve)
Iran (53% disapprove, 42% approve)
and the federal budget deficit (58% disapprove, 38% approve)
A detailed report on the poll’s findings is available on Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP) (located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government) homepage at www.iop.harvard.edu.
A new Harvard poll finds that President Obama is holding on to his strongest supporters, voters under 30, though they overwhelmingly oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan.
About 58 percent of young voters approve of Obama's job performance, while his approval among all voters recently dipped below 50 percent for the first time. About 66 percent of young voters oppose a build-up in Afghanistan, though this survey was in the field before the President's West Point speech.
In fact, the most striking part of the new poll is how young voters disapprove of Obama on issues across the board, yet still support his overall job performance. A briefing from Harvard's Institute of Politics (IOP) crunches the numbers:
The IOP's fall poll indicates 18-29 year-olds are now in line with the general population: a majority of young adults approve of [Obama] generally but disapprove of his handling of major issues asked about in the poll... A majority of 18-29 year-olds also disapprove of his handling of every major issue asked about:
Afghanistan (55% disapprove, 41% approve)
health care (52% disapprove, 44% approve)
the economy (52% disapprove, 44% approve)
Iran (53% disapprove, 42% approve)
and the federal budget deficit (58% disapprove, 38% approve)
A detailed report on the poll’s findings is available on Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP) (located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government) homepage at www.iop.harvard.edu.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Don't Buy This War
Having trouble embedding the video from the Daily Show on December 2nd - watch it here. Then proceed with the blog post below ...
I just received this email action alert from CREDO action:
Last night President Obama announced that he's escalating the war in Afghanistan, bringing the number of U.S. troops in that country to 100,000 or more.
It's the wrong decision, but it's not too late to change things. That is why CREDO is joining with TrueMajority/USAction and Brave New Foundation on a campaign to do just that.
To complete the escalation, Congress needs to sign-off on the plans and the funding for extra troops and equipment — a staggering $1 trillion or more.
Last night, Congress heard from the President. Today, they need to hear from you.
Can you sign this petition opposing the escalation in Afghanistan? It says:
"President Obama has decided to send more than 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, at a cost of more than $100 billion/year. But America cannot afford more war that does not make us safer, and Congress has the power to stop the escalation. Please vote NO on any spending bill that would send more troops to Afghanistan."
Some pundits are saying there's no need to worry because Obama also promised to begin bringing troops home in 2011. But even if that is true, it would only be the beginning of the end of the war, with no guarantee when everyone will come home or when the war will end.
All this while the President's own National Security Advisor has reported that there are fewer than 100 Al Qaeda operatives in all of Afghanistan with no ability to launch attacks on either the United States or our allies.
Now Congress must decide if spending $100 billion a year to have 100,000 troops chasing 100 terrorists in the most remote mountains of our planet is worth it.
You know the answer already. Tell Congress that it's time to stop sending troops to Afghanistan and develop a plan to bring everyone home.
Thank you for working to build a better world.
Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
I just received this email action alert from CREDO action:
Last night President Obama announced that he's escalating the war in Afghanistan, bringing the number of U.S. troops in that country to 100,000 or more.
It's the wrong decision, but it's not too late to change things. That is why CREDO is joining with TrueMajority/USAction and Brave New Foundation on a campaign to do just that.
To complete the escalation, Congress needs to sign-off on the plans and the funding for extra troops and equipment — a staggering $1 trillion or more.
Last night, Congress heard from the President. Today, they need to hear from you.
Can you sign this petition opposing the escalation in Afghanistan? It says:
"President Obama has decided to send more than 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, at a cost of more than $100 billion/year. But America cannot afford more war that does not make us safer, and Congress has the power to stop the escalation. Please vote NO on any spending bill that would send more troops to Afghanistan."
Some pundits are saying there's no need to worry because Obama also promised to begin bringing troops home in 2011. But even if that is true, it would only be the beginning of the end of the war, with no guarantee when everyone will come home or when the war will end.
All this while the President's own National Security Advisor has reported that there are fewer than 100 Al Qaeda operatives in all of Afghanistan with no ability to launch attacks on either the United States or our allies.
Now Congress must decide if spending $100 billion a year to have 100,000 troops chasing 100 terrorists in the most remote mountains of our planet is worth it.
You know the answer already. Tell Congress that it's time to stop sending troops to Afghanistan and develop a plan to bring everyone home.
Thank you for working to build a better world.
Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
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