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UNITED NATIONS - An Afghan dentist who cycled halfway around the world to draw attention to the suffering that war has caused his country ended his 11-month ride in frustration Monday, his message of peace to the United Nations drowned out by the drums of war.
Nadir Shah Nangarhari, 36, with tears in his eyes, expressed disappointment that none of the U.N. press corps, or even an official U.N. photographer, captured the moment as he delivered a letter expressing the Afghan people's desire to live in peace and prosperity to the U.N. headquarters in New York.
"When there are a couple of shots fired in any corner of the world, everybody knows about it, but if I talk peace, no one is interested," he said through a translator. He worried that the utter devastation and abject poverty that war has brought to Afghanistan would be forgotten as the world's attention shifted to Iraq.
Nangarhari had never left Afghanistan before biking through Iran, Turkey, Europe and the United States. He speaks no European languages. Local Afghan communities and strangers often took him in, but he sometimes slept outside or in bus shelters or gas stations. A truck hit him in Turkey, causing memory loss and recurring headaches. A supporter in London bought him an airline ticket to Washington, where he resumed his journey to Ground Zero in New York and the United Nations.
After two decades of war, Afghans are lighting their homes with homemade oil lamps while the rest of the world surfs the Internet, Nangarhari told Assistant Secretary-General Gillian Martin Sorensen. People have to leave the country to get adequate health care, most of the population is illiterate, and even raising livestock is impossible because the animals are blown up by land mines, he said.
When asked about the looming war in Iraq, he said, "Our country has been so damaged we cannot concentrate on other countries." He added, "Long live peace. Long live love."
The cyclist said his wife is not angry he left her and his five children to deliver his message of peace, because his brother-in-law was killed by fighting.
Nadir Shah Nangarhari, 36, with tears in his eyes, expressed disappointment that none of the U.N. press corps, or even an official U.N. photographer, captured the moment as he delivered a letter expressing the Afghan people's desire to live in peace and prosperity to the U.N. headquarters in New York.
"When there are a couple of shots fired in any corner of the world, everybody knows about it, but if I talk peace, no one is interested," he said through a translator. He worried that the utter devastation and abject poverty that war has brought to Afghanistan would be forgotten as the world's attention shifted to Iraq.
Nangarhari had never left Afghanistan before biking through Iran, Turkey, Europe and the United States. He speaks no European languages. Local Afghan communities and strangers often took him in, but he sometimes slept outside or in bus shelters or gas stations. A truck hit him in Turkey, causing memory loss and recurring headaches. A supporter in London bought him an airline ticket to Washington, where he resumed his journey to Ground Zero in New York and the United Nations.
After two decades of war, Afghans are lighting their homes with homemade oil lamps while the rest of the world surfs the Internet, Nangarhari told Assistant Secretary-General Gillian Martin Sorensen. People have to leave the country to get adequate health care, most of the population is illiterate, and even raising livestock is impossible because the animals are blown up by land mines, he said.
When asked about the looming war in Iraq, he said, "Our country has been so damaged we cannot concentrate on other countries." He added, "Long live peace. Long live love."
The cyclist said his wife is not angry he left her and his five children to deliver his message of peace, because his brother-in-law was killed by fighting.
Note to mods: this isn't about the Iraq war, so keep control over yourselves.
didn't I read a few days ago that the USA was spending a few tens of billions of dollars on new nuclear weapons technology?
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