My Newest Hero

The other night I went to see The Chicago Counsel on Global Affairs lecture on rebuilding Afghanistan. A foreign correspondent for The New York Times, Dexter Filkins, moderated a discussion by Dr. Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady, Afghanistan's Minister of Finance. It was a great discussion on a topic (the war in Afghanistan) that sadly we don't hear about. I went not only because I was interested in the topic, but also because I was interested in Dexter Filkins. He has spent the greater part of 10 years in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. He is a straight up badass who has seen these countries change year after year. Although the Finance Minister was relatively limited in the comments he could make, Filkins offered a fascinating perspective on what a mess Afghanistan has become. It was wonderful to take a break from lipstick on a pig/bill ayers/maverick information overload and hear about some people in the world who are doing some good. I walked away from the discussion very afraid of how the US is viewed around the world, how blindly we entered these conflicts, but most importantly with a new book that I can't put down. Normally I would never encourage you to spend the $$$ on hardcover books, but since my dad was paying I bought The Forever War by Dexter Filkins and I haven't been able to put it down since.