Positive Sum

Arthur Chrenkoff wrote in OpinionJournal A roundup of the past month's good news from Afghanistan. - Recently, a group of talented young Afghans found themselves abroad as ambassadors for their country--for both good and bad reasons:

Four young Afghan students did more than merely stun their competitors when they came away with some of the top prizes at an international mathematics competition held recently in Almaty, Kazakhstan. They also changed how students from 22 other countries perceive Afghanistan. Ahmad Mustafa Naseri and Mustafa Naseri, both 17 (and unrelated), students at the Turkish-run Afghan-Turk School in Kabul, won gold medals while Omid Sadiqyar and Mohammad Rafi Firoz, also 17 and students at a similar school in the northern Shiberghan province, were awarded silver medals following a day-long algebra competition in May.

Sadly, there aren't enough gifted math students in Afghanistan to send abroad to unmake the negative image the Western media are perpetuating. Focusing almost exclusively on drugs and violence might make for exciting news, but it does great disservice both to the people of Afghanistan, who already have to work under great disadvantages to turn around one of the most impoverished nations on earth, and to the international public, on whose support the Afghans are relying to rebuild their country. Below, the past four weeks' worth of stories from the other Afghanistan.

I urge everyone to read all of the good news items Arthur has provided. As I indicated earlier, this may be one of the last reports we will see from Arthur Chrenkoff, both on Afganistan and Iraq, not because things are going bad in eithr place, but Arthur got a new job which will not allow him to continue with his blog, or his articles in Opinion Journal. I hope someone else steps up to try to fill his shoes, because otherwise all we will have is the distorted negative opinion the Left Wing MSM gives us.