CPTnet
January 7, 2002
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN: Two bullets plus two bullets

by Doug Pritchard

"I don't like my school books," an Afghan teenager told the CPT delegation
in Pakistan. "The math books have questions like, 'Two bullets plus two
bullets is how many bullets?' The poetry books have poems made up about the
Soviets, and the war, and the mujahadin instead of our own Afghan poetry."

"Yes," added her sister, "And math questions like: 'There are ten Russians
in a tank. The mujahadin kill five of them. How many Russians are left in
the tank?' I hate these books."

Afghanistan has suffered twenty-three years of war. Four million refugees
like these girls have fled to neighbouring countries. They hope that they
can return soon and contribute to rebuilding their nation.

The manager of an Afghan organization committed to peace-building told the
CPT delegation that these school text books pose a real problem. They were
published in the 1980s by the Center for Afghan Studies at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha for all grades 1 to 12. The project was funded by USAID
and millions of the books were printed in the two main Afghan languages,
Dari and Pashto. The authors hoped to use images "familiar to Afghan
children." One book has violent images or examples on 43 of its 100 pages.

After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989 and the
collapse of the Afghan Communist government in 1992, the US withdrew its
financial support for Afghan education. A revised edition of the Nebraska
textbooks was published but, without the US subsidy, these books are more
expensive. Therefore the original, militarized textbooks are the ones people
can afford and they remain on the market. Nevertheless, they perpetuate a
culture of violence which neither the school children nor their parents
want.

The parents hope that the USA and other wealthy nations who have intervened
in Afghan affairs again this year will not turn away as quickly as they did
in 1992. They hope that these nations will support the Afghan people in a
sustained effort to end physical, social and cultural violence.

The CPT exploratory delegation is visiting Pakistan / Afghanistan to learn
more of what is happening in the region in order to advise people of faith
on how to support the struggle for justice and peace in Afghanistan. The
delegates are Doug Pritchard (Toronto ON) and Gene Stoltzfus (Chicago IL).