Charge d’Affaires of Afghanistan Haron Amin
The Voice of a New Afghanistan
by Larry Luxner
Haron Amin is a hot item these days. Only 32 years old, Amin is the voice of the new Afghanistan, an articulate, passionate former resistance fighter who speaks fluent American English and knows the value of a sound bite.
“I’ve been talking a lot lately, and people listen,” says Amin, Kabul’s top-ranking diplomat in the United States. “I seem to resonate with people, especially within the Afghan-American community.”
Not even a month into his job as Afghanistan’s charge d’affaires here, Amin—who has a hoarse voice from talking so much—is no stranger to the ways of Washington, D.C....more...

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham
Senator Works for Global Eradication of Terrorist Groups and Networks
by John Shaw
Bob Graham is a low-key, soft-spoken senator who is starting to show up everywhere. Graham, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has become a fixture on American television news shows explaining the United States’s war on terrorism.
And he has traveled to Central Asia to visit the front lines of America’s battle with al Qaeda and assess the nation’s preparation for future battles with other terrorist groups....more...

‘Permanent’ Protesters at Embassies Air Alleged Injustices to World
by Shaazka Beyerle
Like any capital city in a healthy democracy, Washington, D.C., is the site of many demonstrations. It is also the host of something more unusual—ongoing vigils and protests that have become regular fixtures and sources of irritation for the embassies toward which they are directed.
What cause or grievance would motivate a person to protest outside an embassy for days, months, even years on end? Persecution, human rights, personal trauma, combined with guaranteed freedom of speech....more...