Jose Antonio Vargas: A Writer Meets His Subject — Richard Stengel’s Mandela’s Way

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 March 2010 05:15 Written by Daisy Harley Tuesday, 30 March 2010 05:15

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Is there a more fruitful relationship between writer and subject than Richard Stengel and Nelson Mandela?

The two men collaborated on the best-selling, critically-acclaimed Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela’s 630-page autobiography, which took Stengel two and a half years to write in the early 1990s. Stengel recorded the interviews and kept a diary while working on the book. Last year, Stengel donated the 75 hours worth of interviews to the Nelson Mandela Foundation. And the 120,000-word diary gave birth to Mandela’s Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love and Courage, which hits stores today. Mandela, whom Stengel considers a “father figure,” wrote the book’s preface.

Theirs is a personal bond. So personal, in fact, that Mandela is a godfather to Gabriel, now 11, the older of Stengel’s two sons. And it was while working on Mandela’s autobiography when Stengel met his wife, Mary Pfaff, then a photographer for Agence France-Presse. Pfaff photographed Mandela on the day of his release after 27 years in prison.

On the eve of his book’s release, Stengel, Time magazine’s managing editor, chatted with HuffPost about the man he calls “Madiba” — Mandela’s clan name, a title that Stengel, as it happens, helped popularize. It’s formal and informal at the same time, much like the 91-year-old man who, according to Stengel, is full of contradictions.

HuffPost: When was the idea for this book born?

Stengel: It’s really been in the making ever since I first met Mandela — that was back in December 1992. He’s certainly one of the greatest men of the century, and I realized that this was a unique, historical opportunity. We were talking about his life, and he was telling me, in the most intimate ways he could, everything that’s ever happened to him, while working on the autobiography. That’s why I kept a diary. And the diary is the basis of this book.

HuffPost: Mandela has been described as a some kind of a saint — a secular saint. . .

Stengel: One of the things I find frustrating as someone who knows a lot about him is the Santa Claus-ification of Mandela. That he’s a goody-too-shoes. That’s he’s kind of a Mother Theresa who fought against apartheid. Fact is, he’s a very tough guy who was the founder of the guerrilla warfare movement of the ANC [African National Congress] and led ANC to embrace violence as a strategy. And let’s remember too that in the 1950s and 1960s, Mandela was considered a a terrorist by people in the West — by America, by the U.K. He was considered a Communist. Part of my mission in this book is that people don’t see him as this grandfatherly fellow. Like all men, he had all kinds of flaws and weaknesses, but he triumphed over them. He is, ultimately, a pragmatist, a very hard pragmatist.

HuffPost: Like the pragmatist that viewers see in Invictus? With Morgan Freeman playing Mandela? What did you think of that movie?

Stengel: It’s funny — when people in reality are larger than life it’s very hard, even for a great actor, to capture that. I thought that what Freeman got that people don’t realize was Mandela’s gift for silence. Mandela does not say a lot. He keeps his own counsel, often. He is kind of an iconic presence, what someone once said a mixture of African royalty and European aristocracy. Freeman got that.

HuffPost: In all the years you’ve known him personally — 18 years in all — what’s been his biggest impact on you?

Stengel: Because of the autobiography, I had to think like Nelson Mandela, and that was a life-changing experience. It makes you more controlled. It makes you more self-disciplined. It makes you more measured. I think it makes you take the long view of things. It makes you less doctrinaire. With him, it’s always and/both, not either/or. Many times I asked him, how is the man who emerged in prison in 1990 different from the man who went into prison in 1964? He kind of hated that question. But finally, out of frustration, he said to me, “I came out mature.” In a way, that is such a key line. Prison was his great teacher. Prison was kind of a crucible for him. It taught him the long view. The young man who went into prison, in his mid-40s, was a passionate, tempestuous “rabble-rouser,” as he called himself. He was much more of a firebrand. Prison changed him. In some ways, what Mandela’s Way is about is learning those things that he learned in prison at a fraction of the cost that he had to pay.

HuffPost: What is the message of Mandela’s Way for Gabriel’s generation, for kids who are growing up in the Age of Obama, when an African American is serving as president?

Stengel: One of the things that’s interesting about President Obama is, he has so many of the qualities, many of the lessons, that I write about in Mandela’s Way, but he has sort of achieved them at a younger age without the same kind of sacrifice that Mandela had to make. Mandela, when he was Obama’s age, was much more outspoken — he didn’t have self-control, he wasn’t measured. And here’s Obama, at that same age, who has so many of Mandela’s qualities — of being mature, of having self-control, to listening to folks with different views. I have to say that it’s been very interesting to observe that. In some ways, Obama is just in the beginning of his journey.

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Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-antonio-vargas/mandelas-way-richard-sten_b_518140.html

Obama Afghanistan Visit: President Makes Surprise Trip, Meets With Hamid Karzai In Kabul

Last Updated on Sunday, 28 March 2010 11:29 Written by Daisy Harley Sunday, 28 March 2010 11:29

KABUL — President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday for a firsthand look at the 8-year-old war he inherited and dramatically escalated.

After an overnight flight from Washington, the president landed in Afghanistan for a stay of just a few hours, all in darkness. He flew by helicopter from Bagram Air Field to the capital, where he was greeted at the presidential palace by Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, given just an hour’s notice of Obama arrival. A military honor guard stood at attention as Obama walked across red carpets.

It was Obama’s second stop in a war zone as commander in chief, coming about a year after a similarly secretive trip to Iraq.

The Afghanistan trip was intended to let Obama tell Karzai that he must crack down on corruption and cut the flow of money from poppy production and drug trafficking that is sustaining the insurgency. The U.S. also wants Karzai to halt cronyism and rewards for warlords in government hiring and to create an effective, credible judicial system.

“This is something that simply has to be done,” said Obama’s national security adviser, Jim Jones. “Both presidents have to be on the same wavelength.”

The White House insisted that Karzai’s Cabinet participate in most of the meetings with Obama, making the point that Karzai must work with his ministers.

This trip, its secrecy forced by security concerns, was an extraordinary capstone to a momentous week in Obama’s presidency. He achieved the most ambitious domestic policy initiative in decades with a historic health care overhaul and scored first major foreign policy achievement with a significant new arms control treaty with Russia.

In December, Obama ordered 30,000 additional forces into the fight against an entrenched Taliban insurgency that seeks to retake the control of Afghanistan that the militant group lost when the U.S. invaded in 2001. Those new U.S. troops are still arriving and most are expected to be in place by summer, for a full force of roughly 100,000 U.S. troops. There were about 34,000 when Obama took office.

The trip came just two days after a threatening new audio message from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding along the ungoverned border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The White House made no advance announcement of the visit, which officials said had been long desired by the president but delayed by weather and other logistical obstacles.

Obama had gone Friday afternoon to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., from which unnoticed departures are easier because of its secluded mountain location. The small contingent of White House aides and media allowed on the trip were sworn to secrecy, and the White House allowed details of Obama’s activities on the ground to be reported only after they were under way.

The president’s plane landed under a clear sky, with only a few wispy clouds and an almost full moon. Obama was greeted by the American ambassador, Karl Eikenberry. No flash photography was allowed while his arrival was kept secret.

It was Obama’s second visit to Afghanistan; the first was in 2008 when, as a presidential candidate and U.S. senator, he joined an official congressional delegation.

In addition to talks with Afghan leaders, Obama planned to meet with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander, and the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry. He also was to speak with American troops.

At least 945 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count. The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban’s momentum.

The war is unpopular with a majority of Americans, especially progressives in the base of Obama’s Democratic Party. This was reflected in Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy. He combined the large buildup – his second to the Afghanistan force in less than a year as president – with a call to start bringing troops home in July 2011, just a year after the full contingent is in place.

Lately, Obama’s approval ratings on his handling of Afghanistan have ticked up, to 57 percent in a March AP-GfK poll, from 49 percent in January. But the challenge ahead is daunting: justify his escalation with clear progress against the Taliban, and in building up and training Afghan army and police forces so they can begin taking over security responsibilities.

Last month, a major offensive was launched to retake the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Helmand province.

The Marjah campaign routed most Taliban fighters from a town they once controlled, without a high casualty toll for U.S. troops and the Afghan security forces fighting alongside them. Military officials have praised the results, but cautiously.

With fighting still raging across Afghanistan, and any successes still fragile and reversible, the war is not yet considered at a turning point. The key part of Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan – turning ordinary Afghans away from the Taliban by bringing in development and installing effective government – has barely begun.

The next big military operation for the U.S. and NATO troops is being planned for Kandahar. The large city is the spiritual home of the Taliban insurgency. While it is not now under the Taliban flag, the insurgents are a constant presence.

This year has brought potentially positive news for the war.

Pakistan recently arrested Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar – second in the Taliban only to Mullah Mohammed Omar – and other key members of the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan’s government has not regularly taken on that group and has allowed it to have virtual safe haven within Pakistan. There also are doubts about whether the arrests represent Pakistan’s desire to better help the U.S. or to further its own interests.

Obama’s talks with Karzai come as Washington’s relationship with the Afghan leader has soured. Particularly since last year’s flawed presidential elections, concerns about corruption and ineffectiveness in Karzai’s central government have mounted. The U.S. and Western allies have demanded, with little success, broad reforms and proof that Karzai would – and could – shake off his ties to warlords and regional powerbrokers.

One topic expected to come up was Karzai’s plan for a three-day peace “jirga,” or conference, in late April or early May. Looking a way to end the war, Karzai has invited Taliban participation.

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Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/28/obama-afghanistan-visit-p_n_516264.html

Hizb-I-Islami Peace Offer: Karzai Meets With Afghan Militant Group

Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 March 2010 04:00 Written by Daisy Harley Tuesday, 23 March 2010 04:00

KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai held an unprecedented meeting Monday with representatives of a major Taliban-linked militant group, boosting his outreach to insurgency leaders to end the eight-year war.

Less certain is whether the talks with the weakened Hizb-i-Islami faction represent a game-changer in the conflict, given its demand to rewrite the Afghan constitution and force a quick exit of foreign forces.

It is the first time that high-ranking representatives of the group, led by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have traveled to Kabul to discuss peace. The reconciliation offer from Hekmatyar contrasts with his reputation as a ruthless extremist.

Hekmatyar’s power has waned over the years and he commands far fewer fighters than the Taliban. Nevertheless, Hizb-i-Islami is very active in at least four provinces of eastern Afghanistan and parts of the north. His defection from the insurgency would be a coup for Karzai and could encourage some Taliban commanders to explore their own peace deals.

Talking with the Taliban and other insurgent groups is gaining traction in Afghanistan, even as thousands of U.S. and NATO reinforcements are streaming in to reverse the insurgents’ momentum. The talks have not stemmed the fighting. NATO reported three service members were killed Monday in separate explosions in southern Afghanistan.

Hekmatyar, who is in his 60s, was a major recipient of U.S. military aid during the war against the Soviets in the 1980s but fell out of favor with Washington because of his role in the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal. The U.S. government declared Hekmatyar a “global terrorist” in February 2003, saying he participated in and supported terror acts committed by al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Unless that tag is removed, the designation could complicate any move by the U.S. to sign off on a deal, even though in recent years Hekmatyar has expressed a willingness to negotiate with the Karzai government.

A spokesman for Hekmatyar said the delegation had lunch with Karzai at the presidential palace and planned to meet with him again.

Karzai’s spokesman, Waheed Omar, said the president would study the peace plan. “We’re not in a position to comment on the concepts that they provided,” he said.

However, Maqbul Ahmad, a deputy to a Karzai adviser who met with the delegation, said the two sides had resolved about 60 percent of the issues being negotiated. He predicted an agreement could be reached before the end of the week.

Minister of Economy Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, leader of a political party that split off from Hekmatyar, said contacts that had been under way for months were apparently moving forward, or the delegation would not have made the trip to Kabul.

“I welcome this effort. I hope that this kind of negotiations continues and that we will witness a delegation from the Taliban coming to start negotiations,” Arghandiwal said.

The Hizb-i-Islami delegation is led by Qutbudin Halal, who served in the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani in the 1990s, and includes a Hekmatyar son-in-law. Three members of the group arrived in Kabul from Europe on March 6, according to a member of the group who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. Two others arrived in the past few days.

Besides Karzai, the delegation has met with Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim; top members of parliament; the president’s half brother Ahmed Wali Karzai; presidential advisers; and jihadi leaders. Harun Zarghun, chief spokesman for Hizb-i-Islami, said the delegation also hoped to meet with Taliban leaders somewhere in Afghanistan.

The delegation member said the group was determined not to leave the capital without a deal. He said the group will work to gain the confidence of the Afghan government, then will talk with Afghanistan’s international partners.

But some of the demands might be hard for Karzai and his international partners to accept.

The 15-point plan that a Hizb-i-Islami official e-mailed to The Associated Press was described as an offer of cooperation “to save our homeland from the ongoing painful condition” and permanently end war.

The top demand, repeated throughout the plan, is for foreign forces to begin withdrawing in July – a year ahead of President Barack Obama’s desired deadline to begin a pullout.

After foreign troops leave Afghanistan, the group said presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections should be held in the spring of 2011. The group said the newly elected parliament would have the right to rework the constitution. Karzai has in the past agreed to negotiate with those that embrace the current constitution.

“Any internal and external elements who are opposed to this agreement and insist on fighting, we all will jointly deal with the war mongers to save our homeland from their curse,” the plan states.

While the delegation said it hoped to talk with international officials in Kabul, U.S. military and diplomatic officials said no meetings were planned.

“The U.S. does support the Afghan government’s interest in reaching out to members of insurgent groups that cease support to insurgency, live in accordance with the Afghan constitution, renounce violence and have no ties to al-Qaida or terrorist organizations that share its objectives,” U.S. spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

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Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/23/hizb-i-islami-peace-offer_n_509376.html