Russell Flagg Shaker Wasiq with his coffee cart in Midtown.Dear Diary:
My world news on Afghanistan comes from my favorite street coffee man on the corner.
My street coffee for the past several years has come from an Afghan family, who immigrated to the United States and started their street coffee-cart business on Lexington Avenue, close to my office.
To make ends meet and pay off some family debts, Abdul, the eldest of the family, decided to go back to Afghanistan as an interpreter and intelligence adviser for the United States Army.
In his place, his cousin, Shaker Wasiq, now has his street coffee cart.
Abdul is in the field, and in harm’s way with his team of American soldiers in Northern Afghanistan.
It is my good fortune that my firsthand news on Afghanistan comes free with my coffee from his cousin, who talks to Abdul by cellphone from time to time.
Dodging bullets and angry Afghans is a far cry from driving a coffee cart at 5 a.m. and serving coffee and doughnuts to office workers in our neighborhood.
But I so admire our wonderful local coffee man, who has spent the last three years in Afghanistan with the armed forces. He is doing his bit for our country, and risking his life every day together with his team of American soldiers in the field.
And to my benefit, his world news to his cousin is only a cellphone call away.
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