VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, August 28, 2021
East Oregonian
A5
ANDREW
CLARK
A SLICE OF LIFE
Birdwatching
and survivng
a potentially
dicey situation
B
arbara and I are birdwatchers.
Our experience has been that
anywhere in the world you may
go — Barbara has traveled, lived and/
or worked in 56 nations, and I’m a poor
second to her with only 32 — there are
wonderful, interesting and beautiful
birds to be found.
Birding takes you out into nature and
knits together the various places you
go. Additionally, we birders see much
more than just birds. Because we are
focused on small movements, all sorts
of amphibians, small mammals, bugs,
reptiles and invertebrates are seen too.
But sometimes, on rare occasion, things
might get a bit dicey and/or actually
saddening.
Following is part of a letter I wrote
to Barbara from Uganda some years
ago.
“Well, tonight I am absolutely
thrilled and delighted — and very
saddened.
“I’m at the same guesthouse where
on my last trip here I saw the Great
Blue Turacos and their nest with three
horrendously ugly babies, an enormous
treat because this bird is a Holy Grail
species for me.
This evening when birds began to
move toward roosting, I got my binoc-
ulars and point/shoot camera and went
walking. The first place checked was
the big tree where I saw the Turacos last
time, and as I came close a quite large
bird dropped out of the tree and flew
away. Dang!! It might have been a Great
Blue but was just a silhouette. I was
about to begin a full-blown heartbroken
lament when a second one flew and yes!
Great Blues. I hustled in the direction
they went, found them in a big tree and
got photos. A wonderful treat and what
I am thrilled about tonight.
I wandered along several streets and
coming along a nice tree-lined road,
there in a tree at a road corner was
another pair! I was taking more photos
when a passing Ugandan stopped and
said, “Don’t do that — this is the state-
house grounds. They will arrest you!!”
Hmmmmmm. Interesting. I went
along a few meters further to where
the road went along a very large and
well-groomed lawn surrounded by a
substantial fence. A uniformed soldier
of the Uganda People’s Defense Force
equipped with a large machine gun was
whistling and shouting at me. I stopped.
This is a potentially dangerous situa-
tion — these guys can be jumpy.
This, I thought, is a time to be pleas-
ant, polite and compliant.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m looking at those beautiful birds
— aren’t they wonderful?” I responded.
“I’m a birdwatcher and they are really a
special treat for me to see.”
The soldier asked inquired about my
binoculars and demanded I hand them
over. He carefully examined the binoc-
ulars, around and around and back and
forth.
The sun has lowered now and I
glance up and see three Great Blue
Turacos sitting on a branch in a small
open space of a huge tree, facing me
with the evening sunshine high-lighting
them. What a photo-op — a perfectly
lit, fabulous pose of a wondrous
subject. I’m thrilled to see these glori-
ous birds and horrified that I’m going
to have to walk away without getting
a photo of them. He looks through the
binoculars from the wrong end.
I do not correct him, and then he
says, “This is just a binoculars — not a
camera?”
“Yes, just binoculars,” I replied.
He hands them back to me and sends
me on my way. Another soldier has
come and joins the conversation, and he
agrees that it is OK for me to go.
Their job is protecting the presi-
dent. They are doing it well and that is
to be respected. We chat a bit more in
friendly fashion, then part company
in good humor and I go my way right
along the edge of the statehouse lawn
where the president of Uganda lives.
And my little point/shoot camera with
the other photos is still in my shirt
pocket.
I had to walk away from one of the
most perfect bird photo opportunities
I’ve ever had. A beautiful evening-sun-
lit line of three Great Blue Turacos,
shoulder-to-shoulder on an open branch
in a lovely huge tree, looking down at
me. And that is why I am so saddened
tonight.
———
Dr. Andrew Clark is a livestock veter-
inarian with both domestic and inter-
national work experience who lives in
Pendleton.
Time to load up on school supplies
I
t’s back-to-school time. After this last
year, our children experienced many
futuristic forms of back to school. Very
few were what we would consider normal
with the pandemic happening around us.
The question is: What will school look like
this coming fall? For the most part, some-
thing more traditional. Some good and
not-so-good strategies happened over the
past school year. Now we’ll see which ones
remain and which ones do not.
One thing that won’t change for sure and
is so important to kids is school supplies.
The excitement of what is to come, the
organizing of new pencils, rulers, crayons
and scissors marks the beginning of school.
The anticipation for that first day of school
and the days ahead makes this an exciting
time of the year for children.
The beginning of the school year is also
an excellent learning opportunity for kids
with the planning and anticipation, evaluat-
ing and adjusting they are, full of questions
as they anticipate the coming school year. It
can be frustrating for parents, however.
Use this time to expand your children’s
minds. Students after first grade should be
able to create their own supply lists. Ask
them to calculate what the cost would be
for you. You can also provide them with an
amount to spend (budget) and create their
shopping list. Don’t limit it to just school
supplies. Clothing is an important part as
well. That simple activity provides your
SCOTT
SMITH
EDUCATION CORNER
child with the opportunity to use multiple
life skills that will provide a strong founda-
tion for not only
the school year ahead but lifelong under-
standing of shopping and the opportunity to
guide them. It reinforces their writing skills
as they create their lists. It forces them to
use evaluative skills as they decide which
items would be best. Having to stay within
their budget amount or even just letting you
know how much it will cost forces the use
of math skills.
Preschool, kindergarten and first grade
students have not had exposure to school
supply preparation, but they are aware of
it and get excited. Time and conversation
with them are pivotal in the building of
their understanding and for developing life
skills. They are also able to start making
some guided choices. Giving them the
options between which pencils they would
like to buy and telling you why they made
their choice builds their understanding of
language at their level. Ask questions such
as, “What do you think you will be using
these scissors for at school?”
We live in a busy world, and there are
times as adults and parents that our “to-do”
list is so long it seems easier to go get
school supplies bought and ready for kids.
If this happens, there are still ways to build
that experience with your child. Have them
check and see if what you bought matches
the list from the school. You can have the
kids add up what you spent by using the
receipt and locating the price. They can
check to make sure everything you bought
is there (pull something out and leave it in
the car and have them find it). These are
life problem-solving skills your children
will always use, and the activity makes for
significant interaction with them. It may
even keep them busy and give you a chance
to catch up on other items.
Setting a couple of hours aside to take
your children school shopping is one of
the biggest keys to making this activity
a success. Having them create their list
before going will provide discussion points
and boundaries that should make for an
enjoyable experience. As busy parents, we
want the job done, but don’t miss an oppor-
tunity for you and your child that they may
carry on when their children are headed to
school.
———
Scott Smith is a 40-plus year Umatilla
County educator and serves on the Decod-
ing Dyslexia Oregon board as its parent/
teacher liaison.
The tug of forces in Taliban leadership
G
reat are the unknowns about a
returned Taliban leadership in
Afghanistan. Are their leaders
today more worldly, peaceful and prag-
matic or just using diplomatic words to
mask their traditional draconian ideology
and their disparate factions?
Here’s what little we do know. Contin-
ued wariness should be the watchword.
Taliban Leadership Council (“Quetta
shura”): Supreme Leader Mawlawi Halba-
tullah Aktundzada was chosen emir in
2016 to replace deceased Taliban founder
Mullah Omar. Aktundzada’s prestige as an
Islamic legal scholar and judge was thought
of use in keeping
Editor’s Note
Taliban factions
Do you have a
together. He is a
strong proponent of point you’d like to
the oft-used Taliban make or an issue
you feel strongly
tactic of suicide
bombings (his own about? Submit a
letter to the editor
son died as one).
or a guest column.
Yet of late, he has
permitted negotia-
tions with the U.S. and exhorted fighters to
practice good governance. He reportedly
lives near Quetta, Pakistan.
Deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani is
extremely anti-American. He inherited his
father’s military and intelligence network
on the porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border,
continuing close relations with al-Qaeda
figures, as well as with Pakistan’s intelli-
gence services. The Haqqani Network’s
signature brand of urban terrorist attacks
continue today, and it is a U.S.-designated
terrorist organization.
Worrisomely, he and other family
members are now in Kabul, expecting
major roles in a new government and its
security and intelligence apparatus.
Military leader Mullah Muhammad
Yaqoub (in his late 30s) is the son of Mullah
Omar. He is considered important as one
of the architects of the recent military
campaign.
HARRIET
ISOM
OTHER VIEWS
Political deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani
Baradar is the most public face today of
the Taliban because of his highly visible
diplomatic role for the Taliban, including in
Doha, Qatar for the peace negotiations with
the U.S. government during the Trump and
Biden administrations.
I have puzzled over why Baradar is
considered a Taliban moderate. He was a
co-founder along with Mullah Omar of the
ultra-conservative Taliban and long served
as Omar’s principal deputy. Moreover,
Baradar was the key military strategist for
the Taliban’s coming to power in Kabul in
1996. And by the time the U.S. ousted the
Taliban in 2001, he was deputy minister of
defense with a reputation for brutal repres-
sions.
In 2001 he fled to Pakistan, ever the
safe haven for the Taliban, and is credited
with successfully reorganizing the Tali-
ban to fight a guerrilla war against the
U.S. and NATO. Then he was arrested by
the Pakistanis in 2010, undoubtedly with
U.S. government pressure, and jailed for
eight years, which crushed his chances of
succeeding Mullah Omar in 2016.
Somber, bespectacled, with a long
beard, Baradar in negotiations in Doha is
described as quiet, contained and non-con-
frontational in tone. Other descriptions
about him over the years are “cunning” and
“difficult to read.”
How he relates to Emir Aktundzada, to
the other deputies, to today’s younger field
commanders and even to the influential
Pakistan intelligence services is unknown
in current Western press accounts.
Karzai/Baradar: His current image as
a Taliban peace builder lie in his connec-
tions to former Afghan president Hamid
Karzai (2001-14). They are Pashtuns from
the very same area of southern Afghani-
stan and, importantly, the historical record
shows several Baradar efforts to negotiate
his own peace deals with Karzai, starting
in 2001.
Karzai reportedly recommended
Baradar as a Taliban negotiator to U.S.
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who then
persuaded Pakistan to release him in 2018
for the Doha talks. Khalilzad and Bara-
dar subsequently signed the U.S./Taliban
peace agreement in Doha on Feb. 29, 2020
(that the Taliban immediately labeled a US
“surrender document”).
Following the Taliban’s quick takeover
of Kabul on Aug. 15, Baradar has arrived
for talks with Karzai and other Kabul poli-
ticians for establishing an interim govern-
ment. Baradar reportedly aspires to be
president.
How changed? The internationalist Tali-
ban leadership has been adept at promot-
ing an image of strength, moderation and
claimed ability to control extremist jihad-
ists. But on the ground in Afghanistan
and Pakistan are the Taliban foot soldiers,
released jihadist prisoners and newly arriv-
ing foreign jihadists who still believe in the
merciless rule of old.
Disgruntled jihadists can also join the
Taliban’s ultra-brutal archrival, the Islamic
State (ISIS-K). It just breached Taliban
security at the Kabul airport and set off
the horrific Aug. 25 suicide bombings that
killed 13 American military.
Can the Taliban’s leadership therefore
pull together a new Afghan government
to control the jihadist extremists and run a
peaceful, modern-minded Afghanistan? It
seems so very doubtful.
———
Harriet Isom, a former U.S. ambassador
and career diplomat who served in Asia and
Africa from 1961-96, grew up in Pendleton
and has retired to the family ranch.