To all concerned on this issue- Maurice Albertson, one of the original designers of the Peace Corps, has brought together a coaliton of diplomats, NGOs, engineers and Village Earth to form a taskforce to address the issues of aid administration and prioritization for Afghanistan. This group has direct contact with the president and administration of Afghanistan. One item on the agenda is Peace Corps re-entering Afghanistan. It is my duty to relate the workings of this group to my fellow PC community. I will post news here. If you would like to write me about this group, I am Laurence Budd, N. Colorado PC assoc, lbbudd@yahoo.com

By Jamal on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 11:24 am: Edit Post

Hey listen, I was born there (and I was also a Peace Corps Volunteer myself recently.)

There are a lot of guns over there and easy attitudes about using them (on humans).

I don't think Afghanistan will be safe for Peace Corps any time soon. Not safe enough to meet the Peace Corps safety standards anyway. I don't think President Bush was very well advised on the safety standards of Peace Corps when he supposedly said Peace Corps should return there soon. Or, maybe he was saying that rhetorically or by "soon" he meant as soon as it is safe enough.

By Joe Doherty on Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 8:36 pm: Edit Post

Any country that requires large numbers of armed peace keepers is not ready for Peace Corps Volunteers. A significant degree of peace and stability is needed to allow volunteers in remote areas (or any public areas for that matter) to function with a reasonable expectation of safety.

I oppose any deployment of PC volunteers until several months of calm and law & order have transpired.