Just discovered through Facebook a magnificent blog called Public Diplomacy in Afghanistan. It's run by Mahtab Farid, a US State Department public diplomacy officer in Kabul.
Mahtab is a hugely capable diplomat and communicator, and it's really gratifying to see how the State Department public diplomacy shop is allowing its officers to make more use of unofficial online media.
"Public Diplomacy in Afghanistan" contains compelling, upbeat human interest stories about individual Afghans as well as about US and Coalition troops and their relations with Afghans.
The blogger shows a particular interest in Afghan children, both in their own development as people and in their interactions with the Coalition.
I find the blog refreshing because it contains the personal observations of a US diplomat, free of the sterile processing of traditional State Department messages. It's also pleasant to read something different from the hard-hitting, often miserable stuff that I normally cover on PoliticalWarfare.org. I've bookmarked this blog and put it on my Google homepage. It's a great reminder of the many positive aspects of the Good Fight in Afghanistan.
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