I'm about 7,400 miles from home, but that's the least of the distances between the pleasures of Marin and the agonies of war here in Kabul. Across Afghanistan, when the call to prayer greets a new day, the most fervent prayers are for peace.
To the ears of Americans, "peace" may sound a bit wispy or abstract - but here it's a hope-laced word for a lifeline that continues to fray. Thirty years of war have decimated Kabul and much of the rest of Afghanistan.
From the air, looking out on a vast panorama of sandy-colored mountains and valleys near Kabul, I wondered: Where are the trees?
They're gone - destroyed by war and deprivation - victims of countless bombs and the collapse of irrigation.
At home, we push for green sustainability. Here, the streets are blowing with harsh dust, a brutal harvest of war...
Read the full Marin Independent Journal op-ed
Listen to a short interview
