“I want my Afghan friends to know you’re not forgotten and you never were.”

Episode 050 is a conversation Jason and Emily had with Jaala Shaw about Afghanistan, recorded on Friday August 20th (important context given recent events). Jaala lived outside the green zone as a State Department Fellow and Specialist teaching at Kabul Education University and working with teachers and students in the public school system in Kabul from 2010-2012. Her role was to develop relationships with an understanding of history and culture and she has maintained strong ties to the region.

Just one part of a long and storied resume from all over the world, Jaala shares her experiences living in Kabul and engaging in “public diplomacy” and cultural immersion. The stories she tells contrast starkly with the current chaotic situation as she relates from friends still there. She shares stories of engaging in typical Afghan life at the time, as well as of meeting her now-husband Larry just outside Camp Eggers where she went surreptitiously to “wear booty shorts and do CrossFit” for breaks -- although she says the journeys through the green zone made her feel the most unsafe while in Afghanistan. With a resident’s insight as well as a westerner’s perspective, she shares some Afghan and Taliban history and the sometimes dramatic shifts in culture and day-to-day reality of locals -- particularly women -- in the last few decades. Most importantly Jaala shares reasons for hope and vetted resources for information and to help (see links below).

Some updates: her friend with family she mentioned waiting at the airport finally, thankfully made it out of country safely. Two of her husband's former Afghan colleagues escaped with their families to the US. Unfortunately many of their other friends and their families are still in hiding or fleeing -- Taliban have visited many of their relatives trying to find them.

As of publish date, “none of the women have left their homes or returned to their jobs since the Taliban took over.”

Links:

Jaala’s Original Post, Articles in NYT “At War” Blog, Personal Blog, and "Changes in Kabul Classrooms" piece she mentioned
Women for Afghan Women
Modesto Junior College Afghan Advocacy
Contacting your Representative (for American Citizens who'd like to advocate)
Task Force Pineapple
Learn more about GORUCK and Jaala’s post “Hope Remains”
Glorious Professionals podcast website

'My house became a bit like rehab’