British Man Encounters Extraordinary Kindness While Traveling Through Taliban Controlled Afghanistan
British traveler Mike Okay (O'Kennedy), who was in Uzbekistan, crossed the border to Afghanistan because he wanted to learn more about the culture, the people, and the political environment of this previously war-torn country. What he found when he got there was that, despite being under the strict control of the Taliban, the people were incredibly warm and extraordinarily kind to him. He did acknowledge that as a foreign man, he was in a privileged position to travel through this country.
Before we head in, I need to make something very clear. Afghanistan is a country run by devout Islamists with the world's strictest laws on women, culture, and freedom of expression. The only reason I can travel the way I can there is because I'm a foreign man. Locals, especially women, live under a very different reality.
Despite these restrictions, O'Kennedy found that wherever he went, there earnest people who wanted to help him in any way possible, whether it was navigating different villages around the country or doing his laundry.
This is humanity. It's not even a question. We have absolutely no issue. He's our brother. Whatever service he needs, I'm at his service. Even if he comes back to Mazar-i-Sharif and for example, his clothes get dirty, I can take them home, wash them, clean them up, and give them back to him. No problem at all.
O'Kennedy also had to work with the Taliban while traveling through the country, noting that it was a very necessary evil.
I need to make something very clear. Just because I sit in a room with these men and show them respect and they showed me respect, lots of respect, it doesn't mean that I that I agree with their way of doing things. However, when you're in their country, doesn't matter where you are, sometimes you need to show that kind of respect. And for those of you that might be thinking by coming to Afghanistan, you're supporting the Taliban. Well, for me, the $150 that I spent on a visa is nothing compared to the stories that I can tell while I'm here.
O'Kennedy made a number of friends along the way, one being Yaser, an English teacher in the mountains. He also saw many different things that broke his heart. Unsafe roads, children working at night, a mine explosion, yet it was a conversation with Yaser's sister that brought him to tears.
I just met Yaser's sister. An d she was so lovely, so so beautiful and spoke such good English. And I said Where did you learn your English?" And she said, I taught myself." And she said, I hope to go to the US or go to the UK one day." And I just said thank you. I hope that you can and if you ever do, please come to visit me with your family because your family have just been so incredibly kind. I've been in this country four days man and the the humanity that I've received from Yaser and his family and Abdul Malik today.
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