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As American war planes and ground troops speed toward the Middle East and President Bush intensifies war rhetoric directed at the Taliban, 40 Afghan Americans held a press conference at UC Berkeley Friday to remind their neighbors that they are not the enemy. 

Citing a backlash of hate crimes against Afghan Americans, including name calling, hate mail and isolated incidents of violence, organizers said the press conference was called to reach out to the Bay Area communities in which an estimated 40,000 Afghan Americans live, work and study. 

“We must distinguish between the terrorists and innocent people,” said Rona Popal, the executive director of the Afghan Coalition. “If we cannot, we become like the terrorists.” 

Louna Amin, 24, a member of the Society of Afghan Professionals, said the tires of her father’s car were slashed Saturday night outside of the family’s home in Tracy. Assuming the incident was a random act of vandalism, Amin said her father did not report the incident to police. But the following night, the tires of her car were slashed.  

“It was very shocking for us to realize that it could have been any of our neighbors,” said Amin, whose family has lived in the United States for 17 years. “It was also shocking to learn that no matter how much I believe in the constitution, no matter how much I believe in this country, my neighbors did not see me that way.” 

Popal said her organization has been advising Afghan Americans not to get into verbal arguments over the terrorist attacks and to stay home as much as possible. 

The Afghan Coalition joined 10 other organizations, including the Associated Students of the University of California, the UC Berkeley Afghan Student Association and the Society of Afghan Professionals to denounce the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. and to call for Bay Area communities to embrace innocent Afghan-Americans.  

“History will judge us by how we treat each other during this crisis,” said ASUC President Wally Adeyemo. “I hope we can treat our Afghan brothers and sisters with dignity.” 

UC Professor Wali Ahmadi said Afghanis have been through two decades of war and that most of them do not support the Taliban. He said 1.5 million Afghans lost their lives during the war with Russia which lasted from 1979 to 1989, then after a Russian-installed Communist government failed in 1992 , four years of factional fighting followed. 

“Then in 1996 the Taliban emerged and misery became more misery for the average Afghani,” Ahmadi said.  

Each of the speakers expressed sadness and empathy for the victims of the terrorist attacks.  

Hadi Azimi, a member of the Society of Afghan Professionals, said Afghan Americans regard the United States as their second home and are very distressed about the terrorist attacks and also full of dread about the impact of American retaliation on innocent Afghan citizens. 

“Regular Afghanis have suffered tremendously over the last two decades,” Azimi said. “We know very well the pain victims of the attacks are going through and we share their pain as Americans now.”