How are the Afghan refugees accepted by the Pakistani population?
There’s a mixed reaction. The Pashtun, most of the people coming from southern Afghanistan, are of the same ethnic group as the people in the Peshawar region of Pakistan-they have the same language, clothing and religious beliefs. However, many of the newer refugees came in from the north of Afghanistan, and are of different ethnic groups, with a different language, and are not as welcome as the Pashtun groups. The local population is going through what many populations go through when they face a large influx of people who are not from their own group, whether in southern France or Texas: they blame the newcomers for everything from crime to economic decline. You were in Pakistan on September 11. How was that for you as an American? It was very quiet and very calm inside Pakistan at that time. The police put up blockades just as a precaution, because in 1998 when the Americans retaliated there was a backlash against foreigners. We evacuated the next day to the capital and then moved o
