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APJN sponsored a presentation by Dr. Altaf Ullah Khan, a visiting professor in Journalism, entitled “Afghanistan: What Are We Doing There?” He presented background history, explaining that there have been armed men in the mountainous areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan for 20 years since the US began arming them to fight Russians who wanted the territory. They are poor and have had few educational opportunities or benefits from government services. Afghanistan has never really been governed by any central government, thus the problems are long standing.  Also there is the reality of gas/oil pipelines which seem to be the US’s main interest in the region.  A very serious problem right now is that everyone is blaming everyone else while women, children and other civilians are being killed in large numbers. He did not offer any quick fix but urged humanitarian support in the poor regions and elimination of corruption in both governments. He also urged us to look critically at the rationale offered for US involvement “combating terrorism,” probing deeper to see what is really going on.  About 50 campus and community members attended and asked very good questions. Literature was handed out from the Friends Committee on National Legislation giving action suggestions (www.warisnottheanswer.com).  We were very sorry that the event was not covered by the local media.  Written by Jan Griesinger