A loose-loose situation

At Sacred Heart Univ. I took a couple Arab History classes and my professor actually spent quite a long time over in Afghanistan and Iraq when she was younger. Her parents opened a hospital and school in Afghanistan and my professor had her mother come in and talk to our class one day. The first question she asked the class was, “How many of you had honestly heard of Afghanistan and Iraq before 9/11?” and most of the class did not raise their hands. I found this interesting because prior to 9/11 most people did not know much about the Middle East. She brought in many different things that she collected while she lived over there and shared many stories with us.

It was interesting to hear about the different culture that is over there and how suppressed the people are. She told us that the Afghanistan people were actually relieved to have the American soldiers there because now they are not being suppressed by the Shiites, since they were driven out of the cities. It was interesting to hear the other side of the story, since we only hear about America's side.

She did however; say that America is in a very tough situation because if we leave, there is great fear that something bad like 9/11 will happen again. There is also the threat that the oppressive groups will move back into the cities and take over again. It is evident that we are in a tough position because either way we are hindering Afghanistan and Iraq’s ability to grow. By staying there we are not allowing the Countries to have their own individuality and instead we are oppressing them even more with our democratic ways. Something needs to change, but it is tough to find a solution that will benefit everyone.