oday marks 20 years since the 9/11 attacks and at Diplomatic Courier, we have struggled with how best to commemorate this somber milestone whilst working with our partners and correspondents to provide meaningful coverage on what’s happening in Afghanistan now. Each member of our editorial team—much as, we suspect, most of our readers—have very personal and powerful memories of September 11, 2001, and it felt especially important to get this right, considering the state of things in Afghanistan today.
For this reason, we’re particularly grateful to our friends at the Truman National Security Project. One mainstay goal we’ve always had at Diplomatic Courier has been to identify and present to our readers lenses for understanding critical global issues which may be overlooked in most mainstream coverage. Truman, meanwhile, was founded post-9/11 specifically as an alternative to dominant counter-terrorism narratives driving natural security policymaking. When the team at Truman shared their plans to publish a set of stories from members of the Truman network with particularly poignant and diverse connections to Afghanistan in the years following September 11, we immediately understood that nothing could be more fitting.
The Truman National Security Project has a wide network of members across a range of professions: uniformed service members, frontline civilians, journalists, and more. Many of them served in Afghanistan—sometimes several times or for long periods—over the past 20 years. Six of these members wrote short stories reflecting the complexity and pain of this war.
Shenée Simon, a military spouse, worked to provide welfare and support services to the families of deployed soldiers in 2015 even as her husband was deployed to Afghanistan. She tells us about gender justice activism in Afghanistan that pushed forward even as U.S. forces laid the groundwork for a withdrawal that would ultimately put that work at risk.
Stephen Ryan, a frontline civilian, deployed three times to Afghanistan with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. He speaks poignantly on the peace of Afghanistan and how this peace was regularly shattered by the sounds of war.
Leslie Weinstein was in Bagram with the 101st Airborne Division from 2010 - 2011, where one of her jobs was to write hundreds of condolence letters to the families of 101st troopers who died while deployed. She shares hard-hitting personal anecdotes of some of the most impactful memories she has of this time.
Alex Cornell du Houx deployed to the Middle East multiple times over his military career. He shares a story of how in 2018 he was inspired by Afghan women who braved harsh environmental conditions and more immediate physical danger at the Resolute Support base to train for triathlons and competitive races. He concludes that the dangers these women faced simply by running was far greater than what he faced with his Marines during that deployment.
Clay M. West was in Afghanistan during 2008 as part of the U.S. military’s Rule of Law mission. He shares a story which he says haunts him even today, speaking of a 17-year-old girl who was imprisoned in Bamiyan. She was the only girl in the prison, and had been imprisoned for “seducing” the man who raped her—but it turns out she was safer in jail than she would have been with her family.
Matt Zeller was deployed as a U.S. Army embedded combat advisor in 2008. Zeller reflects on the complicated feelings he experienced on his departure, the desire to return, and the sense of a job unfinished that he says remains all but overpowering to this day.
We hope—as do our partners at Truman—that these stories help to humanize the conflict that has dominated our news streams for the past 20 years and give our readers more perspective at a time when we all feel a bit overwhelmed by, well, everything. You can find these stories here. They are a powerful set of perspectives that we could all use today and in the future.
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Reflections on 20 Years in the Field in Afghanistan
Band-e Amir, Afghanistan. Photo by Nasim Dadfar via Unsplash.
September 11, 2021
T
oday marks 20 years since the 9/11 attacks and at Diplomatic Courier, we have struggled with how best to commemorate this somber milestone whilst working with our partners and correspondents to provide meaningful coverage on what’s happening in Afghanistan now. Each member of our editorial team—much as, we suspect, most of our readers—have very personal and powerful memories of September 11, 2001, and it felt especially important to get this right, considering the state of things in Afghanistan today.
For this reason, we’re particularly grateful to our friends at the Truman National Security Project. One mainstay goal we’ve always had at Diplomatic Courier has been to identify and present to our readers lenses for understanding critical global issues which may be overlooked in most mainstream coverage. Truman, meanwhile, was founded post-9/11 specifically as an alternative to dominant counter-terrorism narratives driving natural security policymaking. When the team at Truman shared their plans to publish a set of stories from members of the Truman network with particularly poignant and diverse connections to Afghanistan in the years following September 11, we immediately understood that nothing could be more fitting.
The Truman National Security Project has a wide network of members across a range of professions: uniformed service members, frontline civilians, journalists, and more. Many of them served in Afghanistan—sometimes several times or for long periods—over the past 20 years. Six of these members wrote short stories reflecting the complexity and pain of this war.
Shenée Simon, a military spouse, worked to provide welfare and support services to the families of deployed soldiers in 2015 even as her husband was deployed to Afghanistan. She tells us about gender justice activism in Afghanistan that pushed forward even as U.S. forces laid the groundwork for a withdrawal that would ultimately put that work at risk.
Stephen Ryan, a frontline civilian, deployed three times to Afghanistan with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. He speaks poignantly on the peace of Afghanistan and how this peace was regularly shattered by the sounds of war.
Leslie Weinstein was in Bagram with the 101st Airborne Division from 2010 - 2011, where one of her jobs was to write hundreds of condolence letters to the families of 101st troopers who died while deployed. She shares hard-hitting personal anecdotes of some of the most impactful memories she has of this time.
Alex Cornell du Houx deployed to the Middle East multiple times over his military career. He shares a story of how in 2018 he was inspired by Afghan women who braved harsh environmental conditions and more immediate physical danger at the Resolute Support base to train for triathlons and competitive races. He concludes that the dangers these women faced simply by running was far greater than what he faced with his Marines during that deployment.
Clay M. West was in Afghanistan during 2008 as part of the U.S. military’s Rule of Law mission. He shares a story which he says haunts him even today, speaking of a 17-year-old girl who was imprisoned in Bamiyan. She was the only girl in the prison, and had been imprisoned for “seducing” the man who raped her—but it turns out she was safer in jail than she would have been with her family.
Matt Zeller was deployed as a U.S. Army embedded combat advisor in 2008. Zeller reflects on the complicated feelings he experienced on his departure, the desire to return, and the sense of a job unfinished that he says remains all but overpowering to this day.
We hope—as do our partners at Truman—that these stories help to humanize the conflict that has dominated our news streams for the past 20 years and give our readers more perspective at a time when we all feel a bit overwhelmed by, well, everything. You can find these stories here. They are a powerful set of perspectives that we could all use today and in the future.
