‘Values became a bedrock’: Ann Scott Tyson on the Afghan Scouts who stayed to serve
As Afghanistan fell back into Taliban control earlier this year, our writer stayed in touch with sources she’d developed there over the years. She learned that not everything had fallen into chaos. Young Afghan Scouts were delivering help, and hope.
“Hope” is a word that few associated with Afghanistan this year. As U.S. troops withdrew in August, ending America’s longest war, Taliban jihadis seized control of the entire country.
It was immediately clear how unprepared the United States and its allies were. Afghans, too, were stunned. Tens of thousands converged on Kabul’s airport, desperate to leave.
The Monitor’s Ann Scott Tyson has years of experience reporting on Afghanistan, and during that chaotic exodus she tapped her sources to understand events.
On the ground, the scene appeared dominated by fear and hopelessness. And yet Ann found an extraordinary and unexpected ray of light. A group of Afghan Boy Scouts – and their unlikely leaders – were living up to the universal Scout motto: “Be prepared.”
These young Afghans delivered help and hope, providing 60 tents and patrolling protected areas for 45 families, giving food and first aid, and lending their scouting skills to displaced people.
“There was no fighting, no stealing – the camp was supervised by the Scouts,” Afghan leader Mohammad Tamim Hamkar told Ann.
Amid upheaval in Afghanistan, here was evidence of hope, sown by the removal of at least some reasons to fear.
Episode transcript
Ashley Lisenby: Welcome to “Rethinking the News” by The Christian Science Monitor. I’m Ashley Lisenby, one of its producers. Each holiday season, editors and writers discuss some of the most meaningful stories of the year. This year, staff will discuss stories that exemplify five main themes: faith, gratitude, love, hope, and joy. Today’s theme is hope.
Listen as Senior Middle East correspondent Scott Peterson talks with staff writer Ann Tyson about how she found a beacon of hope in Afghanistan during a time of turmoil.
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Scott Peterson: Ann, you wrote about a scout troop in Afghanistan that was serving their country at a particularly difficult time. The U.S. was evacuating after 20 years, and the Taliban took power in August. And yet you somehow managed to find the light in this dark situation – PARSA’s Afghan National Scouts. How did you find this story?
Ann Tyson: Well, I had been acquainted with the NGO director of PARSA [originally known as Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Support for Afghanistan] a few years ago, and it occurred to me, in this mad rush of everyone leaving the country, trying to desperately get out with the Taliban forces taking over: what was going on with her? I mean, what was her life like? I knew she lived outside of Kabul. I knew she had deep roots in Afghanistan. So I reached out to her and it became apparent that this story was important to tell because amid this flood of leaving, she – she was thinking about how to stay and help. And that was sort of the impetus for wanting to write the article about PARSA and her effort there.
Peterson: You know, the organization’s leaders, Marnie Gustavson, who you just mentioned, and also Mohammad Tamim Hamkar, are an unlikely duo. Marnie is an American who was raised in Afghanistan who later immigrated back to the country to work for non-profits. And Tamim is an Afghan native. Despite some differences, their love for service really seems to have connected them.
Tyson: Yes, I agree. I think that both of them believe very deeply in the mission of this organization, and they are an odd couple in a way, but they are connected by their dedication to this mission, part of which is starting the scouting movement in Afghanistan and all that that can bring to serving communities. So Marnie is really focused on serving Afghan communities and Tamim came out of a background where he learned about scouting and was just captivated [by] it and believed that the values of scouting could really bring something needed to Afghanistan. So they sort of promised to one another that they would try to carry this out, and over the years, they were able to accomplish that.
Just a little bit about them: Marnie had lived in Afghanistan as a pre-teen and teen when her father taught in Kabul, and so had a wonderful childhood experience of exploring villages and ancient ruins in Afghanistan and really getting enmeshed in the culture. And Tamim.... was coming out of a very... so [Marnie] had sort of this idyllic experience of Afghanistan, and later after marrying and raising her own children, decided to return there. And he [Tamim] had grown up amid a lot of turmoil during the Soviet invasion and then the first Taliban government and a lot of upheaval and in college discovered scouting and those values that became sort of a bedrock for him. And then that was ultimately what brought them together.
Peterson: I also was a Boy Scout, actually an Eagle Scout, and I remember campouts and hikes, merit badges, and building igloos. What kind of things are Afghan scouts learning?
Tyson: Well, they do have the actual badge program. I think when Afghan scouts, which had existed for about 90 years with many thousands of scouts, but the program was halted in 1979 after the Soviet Union invaded. And then when Marnie’s organization, together with the Afghan government, restarted it, I think the first badge that they were earning was the woodworking merit badge. But they’ve also been involved in programs like the Scouting Messengers of Peace Program and the World Scout Environment Program. And they’ve again been very responsive to just the needs of their local communities – service, planting trees, digging wells, building libraries. And doing things that are needed in Afghanistan, particularly, in the rural communities where many of the scouts live.
Peterson: You know, Marnie was able to evacuate Afghanistan, but Tamim and the scouts remain in the country. With so much uncertainty, especially under Taliban rule, what will happen next with these, you know, with this group of scouts? How are they coping? How are they maintaining their hope?
Tyson: It's been an incredibly challenging and sometimes scary time. But I think Tamim and the PARSA staff have handled it with really amazing courage, and frankly just smart negotiating skills. I remember right after the Taliban swept into Kabul, fighters took over PARSA’s compound. They stole a few trucks and kidnapped a security manager. And later they accused PARSA of spreading Christianity, which is a really serious charge by an Islamic fundamentalist group. But Tamim and others were able to stand their ground and convince the Taliban not only to release their hostage, but to back down altogether. A few days later, the Taliban gave Tamim an official letter allowing PARSA to keep operating. So that was a pretty big victory. And little by little, since then, PARSA has been allowed to revive its activities. The Boy Scout troops have started conducting community service again, and even sometimes the Taliban has participated in that locally, which is sort of amazing. PARSA is also leveraging the scouting network that covers all 34 provinces to distribute humanitarian aid. And it’s doing that by focusing on the nearly 600 volunteer scout masters and 11,000 scouts that they have around the country. And many of them come from really poor backgrounds, and so they’re at risk of not having enough to eat as Afghanistan’s economy collapses. So it’s using that network to focus where it sends humanitarian aid. Another thing they’ve done is that the leaders of PARSA have quietly but also firmly advocated for Afghan women. One example is by insisting that the organization’s female staff continue going to work, and they’ve also very slowly and carefully restarted the scouting program for teenage girls, even while the Taliban has kept those girls out of school. One example of that is that PARSA’s been innovating by arranging for overseas volunteers to provide English classes and counseling for about 60 girls in Kabul. And that has really helped them to stay hopeful about their future. Also, despite the heightened dangers, Marnie actually returned to Afghanistan about three weeks ago. It was a move that didn’t really surprised me because I know how devoted she is to the Afghan people. So she wrote me an email the day before Thanksgiving, and I want to read just a little bit from it. She said, “I wake up to a new song from the mosque near me that is one of the most beautiful melodies I have ever heard. I’m getting used to Pashto. My staff are purposeful, grateful, and blossoming as we turn our attention to humanitarian aid.” PARSA, she said, is “moving forward on all fronts to be a part of influencing this next chapter in the long history of Afghanistan.” So I really can’t imagine a more powerful expression of hope than that.
Peterson: Ann, I thought that your story was as insightful as it was unexpected on Afghanistan and the changes there. Thank you so much for your reporting.
Tyson: My pleasure. It’s great talking with you, Scott.
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Lisenby: Thanks for listening. If you liked this episode, share it with your friends. Or even better, give them the gift of Monitor journalism. Visit CSMonitor.com/Holiday for our discounted holiday offer.
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