Valley’s Afghan community falls on hard times

Thursday, Sept. 27, 2001 | 10:01 a.m.

Times are difficult for Homayun Qudrat and the rest of the small Las Vegas Afghan community in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Qudrat and his father, Raheem Wahdat, run the Kaywan Journal, a Las Vegas-based newspaper, written in English and Farsi, that bills itself as "an independent news publication for Afghan communities."

Wahdat, a refugee from the days when the Soviet Union took control of Afghanistan in the 1980s, started the tri-weekly paper -- which has a circulation of about 1,000 -- in Los Angeles a couple of years ago and decided to move it here in June to be closer to his son.

The father and son team was having trouble keeping the paper afloat when terrorists, believed to be affiliated with Osama bin Laden, struck in New York and Washington.

They last published on Sept. 10 and aren't sure now when they will be back in print.

"We were having problems getting advertising before and, now with the attacks, that really knocked us back," Qudrat said.

But what concerns Qudrat even more is the racism the 700-member Afghan community faces here, as the United States plans to attack bin Laden and the ruling Taliban government in Afghanistan that has been harboring the world's most notorious terrorist.

"Most Afghans here are afraid," Qudrat said. "They don't know what's going to happen. They're afraid to go to work, and they're afraid to go to school."

The 27-year-old Qudrat, who also runs a gift shop in Las Vegas, said he finds that ironic, considering the Afghan community here and elsewhere in the country "hates" the Taliban regime and wants democracy restored to Afghanistan.

"They don't know anything about governing a country," he said. "They're a religious group, fundamentalist Muslims."

Bin Laden doesn't fare any better in the eyes of the local community.

"The majority of Afghans believe that bin Laden has no business in Afghanistan," Qudrat said. "Because of him innocent Afghans are going to be hurt."

As with the Muslim community, the FBI, which is leading the nationwide criminal investigation into the terrorist attacks, is concerned about possible hate crimes against local Afghans.

"We would welcome any kind of communication from the Afghan community currently residing in Las Vegas," Borst said.