Day 220: Shura

Shura is the Arabic word for "consultation". Many Muslims believe that Islam requires that decisions made by and for Muslim society be made by shura of the Muslim community. They believe that that is the basis for implementing a representative democracy. With that being said, the elders of Khost province felt it necessary to hold a shura between community leaders and the Afghan National Army in Khost in an attempt to discuss the security issues in our area, more specifically the increased enemy activity occurring along the KG Pass. Over 800 local leaders, Afghan Army leaders, and US Army leaders attended the shura (what we would probably call a "conference") in hopes of finding solutions to the growing security problems in our area. High profile events such as shuras, that bring together local leadership, often make prime targets for bombs, so I hung around the shura grounds praying that the meetings would be conducted without any uninvited interruptions.

Shura Attendees

Thankfully, the shura was conducted without incident and everyone left safely. As high-profile as it was, it seemed that the local leaders were more interested in eating and dancing more than listening to the speeches on security. You should have seen the excitement when the Afghan marching band came out, a sea of Afghan soldiers dancing the Afghan national dance...reminded me of line dance routines from a wedding reception, only without women!

The National Dance of Afghanistan

It was a site to see indeed, not just the dancing, but to see Afghan soldiers, in the middle of a war, taking the time to simply have fun.

"There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every event under heaven.. a time to mourn and a time to dance." Ecclesiastes 3:1,4