The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

92 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 R EFLECTIONS Imams on the Edge: Dispatch from the Uzbek-Afghan Border B Y J ESSICA P. H AYDEN I had been in Uzbekistan for two days. After a harrowing flight in an ancient Soviet Tupelo to Karshi, my mode of transportation went from frightening to death-defying. Riding in an Uzbek-built Nexia, sans seat belts, I was heading south through the windy, mountainous roads to the Afghan border. My dri- ver, catching on to my distress, winked at me and tried to be reas- suring. Promising a safe ride, he told me to get some sleep. He then swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid a man-sized pothole. No, there was no chance that I’d get any sleep on this trip. Not that I would have wanted to. I was on my way to Termiz, which sat on the southern border of the for- mer Soviet Union and was the point from which the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s. While I wasn’t here to search caves for al- Qaida, I was in search of young men and women susceptible to Islamic fundamentalism. My job with USAID was to introduce U.S. assis- tance programs to conservative vil- lage leaders, many of them mullahs and imams. In many rural areas, the village imam is often the most educated and well-respected figure, often serving as counselor, teacher and doctor all at the same time. By training imams in modern health care or agricultur- al issues, USAID can have a greater impact. But working with religious leaders serves another, unstated goal. In this region, where young men and women are constantly exposed to the Islamic-extremist view of the world, it is USAID’s hope that the more religious leaders understand about U.S. involvement in local communities, the less they will see America in negative terms. Just outside of Termiz, we met with a health support group headed by Imam Batir, an enthusiastic, mid- dle-aged man with expressive eyes and an easy smile. He was glad to be sharing his activities with us. My col- league David, an American Muslim who speaks fluent Uzbek, was of par- ticular interest to the group. The dis- cussion quickly steered from health issues to inquiries about religion. The group wanted to know what it was like to be a Muslim in America. For the next five minutes, David delivered a passionate address about his conver- sion to Islam at the age of 15 and how he is proud to be a Muslim and proud to be an American. “In America, it is wonderful to be a Muslim because we have the free- dom to practice and worship without imposition from the government.” It is a concept with which we in the U.S. are familiar. From our ear- liest social studies classes, Americans are taught that the church should be separated from the state and that all faiths should have the right to prac- tice what they believe. But for these villagers in Uzbekistan, who have lived through the mandatory atheist rule of the Soviets followed by the autocratic and suspicious rule of mod- ern-day Uzbekistan, these words held special significance. When David finished, the room erupted in applause. It is just this kind of reaction that USAID hopes will bridge the infor- mation gap that currently exists in many Muslim communities. While no one expects that sending a few well-intentioned Americans into these communities will solve America’s “image problem,” these outreach efforts may cause some to think twice about who and what America really is. These imams live on the edge of an infamous border and on the mar- gins of society. It is USAID’s hope that by engaging these communities, the pull of extremists will appear less promising; and calls to fight against an “evil America” will ring shallow and untrue. It remains to be seen how effective these outreach pro- grams will be. Americans often lack the cultural, linguistic and religious linkages to make inroads with these communities. But that is beginning to change, as evinced by my col- league who, I believe, truly won the hearts of those villagers on the Afghan-Uzbek border. Still, on the edge, you can fall either way. n Jessica P. Hayden is a free-lance writer who worked for USAID in Central Asia from 2003 to 2005. The stamp is courtesy of the AAFSW Bookfair “Stamp Corner.”