| Recorded at | April 10, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Event | TED2022 |
| Duration (min:sec) | 10:20 |
| Video Type | TED Stage Talk |
| Words per minute | 175.59 medium |
| Readability (FK) | 48.13 difficult |
| Speaker | Safi Rauf |
Official TED page for this talk
Synopsis
Sharing his experience of being held captive in a Taliban prison for 105 days, humanitarian Safi Rauf talks about his life's mission to get food, medicine and other critical supplies to Afghans in need -- and urges the world to bolster aid and establish a peaceful presence in the country during these extraordinarily difficult times. (This talk was recorded on April 12, 2022)
| 1 | 00:04 | It's 8:15pm in Afghanistan right now. | ||
| 2 | 00:08 | And at this time, 10 days ago, | ||
| 3 | 00:10 | I was sitting | ||
| 4 | 00:11 | in an eight-foot-by-eight-foot cell | ||
| 5 | 00:13 | in the basement | ||
| 6 | 00:14 | of a maximum-security prison in Kabul, | ||
| 7 | 00:16 | where I was being held captive by the Taliban. | ||
| 8 | 00:18 | I'd been in that cell for 104 days, | ||
| 9 | 00:21 | and yet, I was one of the lucky ones. | ||
| 10 | 00:25 | But I'm getting ahead of myself. | ||
| 11 | 00:28 | Let me go back to the beginning. | ||
| 12 | 00:31 | This is me. | ||
| 13 | 00:33 | I'm five years old and living in an Afghan refugee camp | ||
| 14 | 00:37 | in Peshawar, Pakistan. | ||
| 15 | 00:39 | You can see the two patches on my UNHCR-donated jeans. | ||
| 16 | 00:43 | One patch is an American flag and the other is the Statue of Liberty, | ||
| 17 | 00:48 | the quintessential beacons of the American dream I so badly wanted. | ||
| 18 | 00:53 | But as a refugee, I didn't have a state to call home. | ||
| 19 | 00:56 | And not having a state, I didn't have rights. | ||
| 20 | 01:00 | And not having rights, I didn't have a voice. | ||
| 21 | 01:04 | I needed someone to advocate for me. | ||
| 22 | 01:08 | And I was fortunate to have two advocates. | ||
| 23 | 01:10 | My parents, who had emigrated to the US four years ahead of me, | ||
| 24 | 01:13 | fought tirelessly to get me to America for those four years. | ||
| 25 | 01:18 | They gave me a voice. | ||
| 26 | 01:19 | They gave me the American dream. | ||
| 27 | 01:22 | And my parents' advocacy allowed me to join them, | ||
| 28 | 01:25 | to emigrate to Omaha, Nebraska, | ||
| 29 | 01:27 | to go to high school in the states | ||
| 30 | 01:28 | to serve in the military, | ||
| 31 | 01:30 | to graduate as a Tillman Scholar from Georgetown University, | ||
| 32 | 01:33 | to get accepted into medical school. | ||
| 33 | 01:35 | I became the American dream. | ||
| 34 | 01:37 | (Cheers and applause) | ||
| 35 | 01:43 | And in my dream, everything came full circle. | ||
| 36 | 01:46 | This past summer, I deferred one dream for another | ||
| 37 | 01:48 | when I put medical school on hold, | ||
| 38 | 01:50 | founded Human First Coalition, | ||
| 39 | 01:52 | an organization dedicated to aiding Afghans in need. | ||
| 40 | 01:57 | Having spent the first 17 years of my life stateless, | ||
| 41 | 02:00 | I rather abruptly found myself | ||
| 42 | 02:02 | in the role of the humanitarian aid worker who had shaped so much of my life. | ||
| 43 | 02:08 | I became that advocate and that voice for others. | ||
| 44 | 02:12 | And becoming an aid worker, | ||
| 45 | 02:13 | I got to provide food, medical care and shelter | ||
| 46 | 02:16 | for thousands of Afghans. | ||
| 47 | 02:18 | I got to operate resettlement flights for thousands more, | ||
| 48 | 02:21 | and I got to make multiple trips to Kabul, with the Taliban’s blessing, | ||
| 49 | 02:25 | to oversee it all. | ||
| 50 | 02:27 | But then, on December 18, 2021, | ||
| 51 | 02:29 | everything changed. | ||
| 52 | 02:32 | That morning, which started off like any other morning, | ||
| 53 | 02:34 | I was suddenly, inexplicably and unexpectedly | ||
| 54 | 02:37 | taken into Taliban custody. | ||
| 55 | 02:39 | As I was being driven | ||
| 56 | 02:41 | to the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence headquarters, | ||
| 57 | 02:44 | I was told that I just needed to answer a few routine questions, | ||
| 58 | 02:47 | and then I’d be sent back to my hotel. | ||
| 59 | 02:50 | Instead, a few hours later, I was brought into that basement room. | ||
| 60 | 02:53 | Three roommates, no blanket, no mattress, no pillow, no sun, | ||
| 61 | 02:57 | no way to communicate with the outside world | ||
| 62 | 02:59 | and no clue what was to become of me. | ||
| 63 | 03:02 | And from that moment on, I stayed in that basement | ||
| 64 | 03:05 | in the dead of the Afghan winter, for 105 days. | ||
| 65 | 03:10 | The entire time, I feared that I might be taken in front of a firing squad, | ||
| 66 | 03:13 | at any minute. | ||
| 67 | 03:16 | And on the 45th day, | ||
| 68 | 03:18 | I was beaten and tortured by 11 men wielding pipes, | ||
| 69 | 03:21 | after eight days on a hunger strike. | ||
| 70 | 03:25 | I had done nothing wrong. | ||
| 71 | 03:29 | But again, I was lucky. | ||
| 72 | 03:30 | I not only had several exceptional advocates, | ||
| 73 | 03:33 | but I had a state. | ||
| 74 | 03:34 | The US government game me a voice | ||
| 75 | 03:36 | and asserted my human rights, | ||
| 76 | 03:37 | and that's what ultimately led to my release | ||
| 77 | 03:40 | 10 days ago. | ||
| 78 | 03:42 | (Applause) | ||
| 79 | 03:48 | And on the day of my release, | ||
| 80 | 03:49 | following a four-hour flight from Kabul to Qatar, | ||
| 81 | 03:52 | the euphoria I felt as I walked off that plane is indescribable. | ||
| 82 | 03:58 | But amidst the triumph and joy of homecoming, | ||
| 83 | 04:00 | something was amiss. | ||
| 84 | 04:03 | On the day of my release, I returned to society | ||
| 85 | 04:06 | to find that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan was only getting worse, | ||
| 86 | 04:09 | the whole world was fixated on Ukraine, | ||
| 87 | 04:11 | and nearly every Afghan resettlement effort | ||
| 88 | 04:13 | was on pause or had ground to a screeching halt, | ||
| 89 | 04:16 | with no effective resolution in sight. | ||
| 90 | 04:21 | And that was a huge letdown. | ||
| 91 | 04:24 | And that is why I decided that before even visiting my family, | ||
| 92 | 04:29 | I had to get back to work. | ||
| 93 | 04:32 | Because the truth of the matter is 95 percent of Afghans | ||
| 94 | 04:35 | are currently not getting enough to eat. | ||
| 95 | 04:37 | 22.8 million are facing crisis levels of hunger. | ||
| 96 | 04:41 | 97 percent are living below the poverty line. | ||
| 97 | 04:45 | And 9 million are living in extreme poverty. | ||
| 98 | 04:49 | And these are the individuals who fought alongside us | ||
| 99 | 04:52 | in the international coalition for the last 20 years. | ||
| 100 | 04:56 | They are our allies. | ||
| 101 | 04:58 | They are our brothers and sisters, | ||
| 102 | 04:59 | and they are in desperate straits. | ||
| 103 | 05:03 | The magnitude of the work ahead is staggering. | ||
| 104 | 05:07 | But we have to start somewhere. | ||
| 105 | 05:09 | And the question becomes "What should we do?" | ||
| 106 | 05:12 | In my mind, four things. | ||
| 107 | 05:15 | First, we must bolster humanitarian aid provisions | ||
| 108 | 05:18 | for the international community | ||
| 109 | 05:19 | by increasing support for and donations to grassroots organizations | ||
| 110 | 05:24 | that have infrastructure to ensure aid is getting directly into the hands | ||
| 111 | 05:28 | of the people who need it the most. | ||
| 112 | 05:31 | And that's not just my organization -- | ||
| 113 | 05:33 | there are so many support-worthy groups doing exceptional work in Afghanistan, | ||
| 114 | 05:38 | and we need resources now. | ||
| 115 | 05:41 | Second, we, government | ||
| 116 | 05:43 | and citizens of the 36 countries who fought in Afghanistan | ||
| 117 | 05:46 | must keep our promises to our Afghan allies, | ||
| 118 | 05:48 | to whom we owe a debt, | ||
| 119 | 05:50 | by fast-tracking their resettlement, | ||
| 120 | 05:52 | be it in the United States or elsewhere. | ||
| 121 | 05:55 | (Applause) | ||
| 122 | 06:00 | This, first and foremost, necessitates resettling refugees | ||
| 123 | 06:03 | who are currently waiting in camps around the world, | ||
| 124 | 06:06 | to reach a place that they can call home. | ||
| 125 | 06:09 | It also calls upon the international community to increase quotas | ||
| 126 | 06:12 | for Afghan allies | ||
| 127 | 06:13 | to accept more at-risk Afghans for permanent resettlement | ||
| 128 | 06:16 | and to expand programs like humanitarian parole, | ||
| 129 | 06:20 | to generate more pathways for those in need. | ||
| 130 | 06:23 | Third ... | ||
| 131 | 06:24 | As we find pathways forward for these individuals, | ||
| 132 | 06:27 | we must not separate families, we must preserve them. | ||
| 133 | 06:31 | (Applause) | ||
| 134 | 06:35 | Or, at the very least, create strict limits | ||
| 135 | 06:37 | for the amount of time that families can be separated. | ||
| 136 | 06:42 | Family separation like mine generates irreparable harm. | ||
| 137 | 06:47 | But clear and specific change to existing admission policies | ||
| 138 | 06:50 | can ensure that other minors do not face the same fate | ||
| 139 | 06:53 | that befell me and my family. | ||
| 140 | 06:56 | Fourth -- and this is the most important of them all -- | ||
| 141 | 07:00 | we must reestablish an international diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, | ||
| 142 | 07:05 | to hold the Taliban accountable for their actions | ||
| 143 | 07:08 | and provide consular services to the people. | ||
| 144 | 07:11 | It opens a channel to address Taliban’s actions, | ||
| 145 | 07:14 | rather than cutting off, | ||
| 146 | 07:15 | isolating and eliminating avenues for influence. | ||
| 147 | 07:19 | And I've witnessed what engagement with the Taliban can look like firsthand. | ||
| 148 | 07:23 | The negotiations that resulted in my release from captivity | ||
| 149 | 07:26 | were the direct result of effective diplomacy with the Taliban | ||
| 150 | 07:29 | on the world stage. | ||
| 151 | 07:32 | Diplomats spoke to each other openly and resolved an issue of mutual concern. | ||
| 152 | 07:36 | And while the success of this discussion is perhaps an anomaly, | ||
| 153 | 07:40 | the kind of diplomacy demonstrated by my release | ||
| 154 | 07:42 | can and should serve as a model for achieving other desired change | ||
| 155 | 07:46 | for the future of Afghanistan, | ||
| 156 | 07:48 | such as the restoration of girls' education above grade six, | ||
| 157 | 07:51 | freedom of press, bolstering women's rights, | ||
| 158 | 07:53 | and most urgently, increasing humanitarian assistance. | ||
| 159 | 07:57 | At the same time -- | ||
| 160 | 07:59 | (Applause) | ||
| 161 | 08:00 | At the same time, our diplomacy can't be a blank check. | ||
| 162 | 08:04 | The Taliban must live up to their end of the bargain | ||
| 163 | 08:07 | to demonstrate that they are ready to engage in diplomacy, | ||
| 164 | 08:10 | as an actor that upholds basic human rights, | ||
| 165 | 08:14 | that ensures necessary freedoms | ||
| 166 | 08:16 | and that does not take or hold hostages. | ||
| 167 | 08:19 | (Applause) | ||
| 168 | 08:23 | At the end of the day, | ||
| 169 | 08:24 | the situation in Afghanistan is an extremely complex one. | ||
| 170 | 08:28 | It can't be summed up in an eight-minute talk | ||
| 171 | 08:30 | I wrote four days ago, emerging from captivity. | ||
| 172 | 08:35 | Yet there are tangible solutions, | ||
| 173 | 08:36 | and I'm in the privileged position of being able to advocate for them, | ||
| 174 | 08:40 | but I'm here today to tell you that you are too. | ||
| 175 | 08:44 | The truth of the matter is, | ||
| 176 | 08:45 | especially in the case of Afghanistan, | ||
| 177 | 08:47 | change has always and will continue to start with everyday people. | ||
| 178 | 08:51 | This fall, tens of thousands of people from around the world | ||
| 179 | 08:54 | banded together at the grassroots level to aid Afghans in need. | ||
| 180 | 08:58 | You don't need to be an expert to engage, | ||
| 181 | 09:00 | to volunteer, to contribute, to lobby, | ||
| 182 | 09:03 | or even to simply welcome a refugee to advocate for them. | ||
| 183 | 09:08 | As Margaret Mead once said, | ||
| 184 | 09:10 | "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens | ||
| 185 | 09:14 | can change the world. | ||
| 186 | 09:15 | Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." | ||
| 187 | 09:20 | On the afternoon of my release 10 days ago, | ||
| 188 | 09:23 | I, at long last, climbed out of my basement cell | ||
| 189 | 09:26 | and into the sunlight, | ||
| 190 | 09:27 | without anything binding my hands or covering my eyes. | ||
| 191 | 09:31 | I could see the sky. | ||
| 192 | 09:34 | I traveled out of the prison through Kabul city in a Corolla sedan. | ||
| 193 | 09:37 | I passed the American embassy | ||
| 194 | 09:39 | and arrived at the Kabul International Airport. | ||
| 195 | 09:41 | I walked onto the tarmac, I climbed into the C-17, | ||
| 196 | 09:45 | I shook hands with American, Qatari and British diplomats, | ||
| 197 | 09:49 | and suddenly, I was a free man again. | ||
| 198 | 09:53 | But again, I was one of the lucky ones. | ||
| 199 | 09:57 | Ultimately, being a captive reminded me of a time when I was helpless | ||
| 200 | 10:01 | and needed a voice. | ||
| 201 | 10:02 | Now that I'm released, I have my voice back, | ||
| 202 | 10:05 | and, mercifully, it puts me in a position where I can advocate | ||
| 203 | 10:08 | for that little boy with the Statue of Liberty patch | ||
| 204 | 10:11 | on his UNHCR-donated jeans, | ||
| 205 | 10:13 | chasing the American dream. | ||
| 206 | 10:15 | I hope you'll join me. | ||
| 207 | 10:17 | (Applause) |