ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP AND SOLIDARITY BETWEEN AFGHANISTAN AND THE NETHERLANDS

New beginnings

This year we celebrate 100 years of Afghan independence. It is a moment to reflect on the past, but also to look ahead – to the conclusion of the presidential elections, and hopefully soon to a formal peace process that can end more than four decades of conflict. A century ago, the Treaty of Rawalpindi ended what Afghans call the ‘War of Independence’. It was signed on the 8th of August 1919 between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan. This was the end of a war, and the start of something new – a story that became familiar.

Since then, the tragic cycle of conflict, hope and new beginnings has repeated many times. Today, everywhere you go in Afghanistan, there is hope. That is remarkable. It shows Afghans are truly among the most positive and resilient people in the world. Despite all the challenges, there is a widespread belief that this time, new beginnings can endure.

Hope prevails

Though the dark cloud of conflict still casts a shadow, hope is in the hearts of a new generation of young Afghans. There are adults now who were not even born on September 11, 2001. They want no part in conflict. They see that they can have a better future – and they deserve it.

Hope is in the hearts of the women who are standing up for their rights – women such as Farahnaz Forotan, who started the recent campaign #MyRedLine, which encouraged Afghan women to speak out about the freedoms they are not willing to give up.

Hope can be found in the Afghan national cricket team, who recently set a world record – a 12th consecutive win in the Twenty20 International (T20I) format. It is just ten years since the very first time the Afghan cricket team won an international first-class match – that happened to be against my home country, the Netherlands. Afghanistan beat the Dutch team again in 2012, and 2015, and 2016 – twice. On their last visit to the Netherlands, the match was in Voorburg, close to The Hague. It was supposed to last for four days. The Afghan team only needed two to win. This is the type of contest and rivalry that we like to see, although it would be nice if the Afghan team would let us win from time to time.

Many in the Netherlands have no clue about cricket. But we know about cycling. The Afghan Women’s Cycling Team is inspiring the world. In July this year, Ambassador Ernst Noorman went cycling with them in Bamyan province. You can hear about it in an Embassy video blog, or vlog, he recorded live from the bike and posted on Twitter and Facebook. This also shows, by the way, how public diplomacy channels are evolving.

Then there’s football. In 2013 the Afghan men’s team won the South Asian Football Federation Championship. I live in Spain, and my Afghan friends know more about La Liga than I do. These sporting examples are very far from trivial. Sport can be part of the gradual process of social change, especially when linked with education. Look at the Skateistan skateboarding school, supported over the years by the Dutch Embassy. It was tragically attacked in 2012, and four young Afghans died. At moments like those, resilience is needed for hope to prevail. The school is still open, and skateboarding is soon to become an Olympic sport.

Beyond sports and culture, there is hope in the parliamentary and presidential elections of the last two years. There have been challenges. But they show that Afghanistan is slowly but surely continuing its journey on the road of democracy and sustainable development.

Read here on the website of Oxfam Novib the full article.