When Pakistani immigrant Kazi Mannan came to the U.S. in 1996 as an impoverished young adult, he could only dream about success. He worked long hours in a series of tough jobs, saved money and learned everything he could about working and living in America.

His hard work paid off. After more than 20 years, he’s now a successful entrepreneur and owner of a popular Pakistani-Indian restaurant just a few blocks from the White House.

But what’s most remarkable about his story is what he’s doing in his restaurant every day.  

Mannan offers free meals to the homeless and anyone else in need.

Paying it forward

He says it’s his way of heeding the principles of his Muslim faith.

“I know God is happy with me, what I do, because I do it with my pure heart, with my pure intention, to uplift others without seeking any reward, any recognition,” he says. “I don’t need any awards, I don’t need any money. I just want to please Him.”

Mannan helps the needy he says, because growing up poor in Pakistan, he knows what it’s like to be hungry.

“I have nine siblings and [we didn’t have] much to eat … when you are poor and you [don’t] have things that other people have, when you get it, you want to appreciate, you want to share with others,” he said.

His desire to share deepened as he worked as a limousine driver in the nation’s capital. He saw homeless people on the street, day and night, in all kinds of weather — looking for food in trash cans.

The experience had an impact.  

“I don’t want to see another human being going through the poverty that I went through. I don’t want to see another human being going through the hunger that I went through. I want them to have that feeling that they were being accepted, so they can come and sit here and eat with respect,” he says.

Just like family

His message is simple. Come to Sakina Halal Grill, which is named after his late mother, ask for food, use the restroom, and sit for as long as you want.

“We will love you and respect you the same way we respect a paying guest. We will treat you like family,” he said.

Marchellor Lesueur, who is homeless, has been coming to the restaurant every day for the past eight months.

“I think that he’s a saint. He’s a beautiful man,” he says about Mannan.  “My stomach was growling, I was looking for a blessing, then he popped up, gave me a card and invited me to a restaurant for lunch. And I was so overwhelmed and happy I couldn’t wait to get here, and ever since then I’ve been coming.”

Hegehiah Griakley is also a regular. He was finishing up a generous portion of rice and chicken, which he described as two meals in one.

“This is more than lunch,” he said. “They give you enough to feed you for the rest of the day I think. The food is great, the people are nice. I wouldn’t mind working here!”

Griakley says he once asked Mannan what he could give him in return for the free food. “Because most people expect you to give back.”

“But he said ‘no, no, no, no, no!’ He just wanted me to have a good meal,” he recalls. “I couldn’t believe that. It was so nice. I loved it.”

Compassionate immigrant

Mannan estimates that he’s provided more than 80,000 free meals since the restaurant opened in 2013.

And when he’s not feeding the needy in his restaurant, Mannan delivers meals to local shelters and churches, and organizes food and clothing drives at nearby parks.

“Some people tell me ‘homeless people are using drugs and you’re feeding them; that’s bad.’” To which he responds, “For you, it’s bad, for me, it’s joy. … I see a person who’s fallen to the ground. Whatever problem they went through to become homeless, it’s not my job to judge — my job is to give them respect and love.”

His paying customers are still his main business. Many of them contribute towards the free meals… and support his cause.

First time customer Geralyn Nathe-Evans was visiting from Minnesota when she read about Mannan’s mission in an article.

“I have a deep interest in social justice, Catholic social teaching … and so to be part of something bigger than myself, my son and I chose to come to lunch here today to support and be a small part of a great thing,” she said.

Serving your fellow man

Mannan uses food as a way to help his fellow man, in practice of his faith. He urges others to do the same with their talents.

“If you’re a medical doctor, can you love him through your practice? If you are a lawyer, can you love him through your practice? Be kind and be compassionate to your client?” he asks.

In doing so, he believes “we will all prosper and flourish” as a society.

Meantime, he says he will continue to nourish both body and soul of all who walk through the door of his restaurant.

“Just uplifting others is a joy for me. It doesn’t matter [what] color, religion you belong to. We are all human. I am focusing on humanity. I’m bringing humanity together and this is my mission.”
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The United States and China clashed Friday over Beijing’s $1 trillion “belt and road” global infrastructure program after the Security Council unanimously approved a bare bones resolution extending the mandate of the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan for six months.

Last year’s resolution extending the mission’s mandate for a year welcomed and urged further efforts to strengthen regional economic cooperation involving Afghanistan, including through the massive “belt and road” initiative to link China to Europe, Africa and other parts of Asia. The 2016 and 2017 council resolutions had similar language.

Council diplomats said China wanted the “belt and road” language included in this year’s resolution — but the United States objected.

U.S. deputy ambassador Jonathan Cohen told the council after the vote that “China held the resolution hostage and insisted on making it about Chinese national political priorities rather than the people of Afghanistan.” 

He said the Trump administration opposed China’s demand “that the resolution highlight its belt and road initiative, despite its tenuous ties to Afghanistan and known problems with corruption, debt distress, environmental damage, and lack of transparency.”

China’s deputy ambassador Wu Haitao countered that Cohen’s remarks were “at variance with the facts and are fraught with prejudice.” He also said one council member — almost certainly referring to the U.S. — “poisoned the atmosphere” which led to the council’s failure to adopt a substantive resolution.

Wu noted that since the “belt and road” initiative was launched six years ago, 123 countries and 29 international organizations have signed agreements of cooperation with China on joint development programs.

“The `belt and road’ initiative is conducive to Afghanistan’s reconstruction and economic development,” Wu said. “Under this framework, China and Afghanistan will continue to strengthen cooperation in various fields, promote economic and social development in the country and the integration of Afghanistan into regional development.”

He stressed that the program “has nothing to do with geopolitics.”

Germany’s U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, who drafted the resolution with Indonesia’s U.N. Ambassador Dian Djani, expressed regret that “issues that have nothing to do” with the work of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan made it impossible to adopt a substantive resolution.

“We very much regret that such topics as the upcoming elections (in Afghanistan), the participation of women in the Afghan peace process, the situation of children in armed conflict, the nexus between climate change and security, are no longer reflected in this resolution,” Heusgen said.

The resolution does extend UNAMA’s mission until Sept. 17, 2019 and stresses “the central importance of a comprehensive and inclusive Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political process towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict and a comprehensive political settlement.” And it welcomes “progress in this regard.”

But Heusgen said the text isn’t satisfactory to any of the 15 council members.

He expressed hope that in the next six months the U.N.’s most powerful body would be able to overcome its differences and adopt a resolution that also reflects on the peace process and the upcoming elections.
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Shahed Amanullah, a Muslim American tech entrepreneur from Northern Virginia, says it was hard to sleep after watching a video of a right-wing extremist open fire at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

“It was the picture we’ve all had in our heads for years. And it became real,” Amanullah said of the 17-minute video, apparently recorded by the attacker as he walked room to room, shooting at worshippers. 

A 28-year-old Australian man has been arrested and charged with the attack, which left 49 people dead. Authorities described the man as an “extremist, right-wing violent terrorist.” 

In a hate-filled, anti-immigrant manifesto posted online, the alleged gunman encouraged more attacks on Muslims worldwide and said he hoped the violence would worsen political divisions in the United States. 

As Muslim Americans attended prayer services across the country Friday, many worried about “copycat” incidents, especially now that potential attackers have a video demonstration and training manual, said Amanullah.

“Muslims at prayer are uniquely vulnerable. They’re literally lined up with their backs toward you. You couldn’t get more vulnerable than that,” Amanullah said.

U.S. reassures Muslim-Americans

In a statement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was “doing all it can to protect the homeland from violent extremists.” 

“While we are not aware of any current, credible or active threat domestically, nor of any current information regarding obvious ties between the perpetrators in New Zealand and anyone in the U.S., the department is cognizant of the potential concerns members of Muslim American communities may have as they gather at today’s congregational prayers,” the DHS statement said. 

“Communities with concerns should contact their local law enforcement agency, whom we are committed to supporting as they protect local mosques and reassure local community members,” the statement added. 

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the U.S. “strongly condemns” the “vicious act of hate.” On Twitter, President Donald Trump slammed what he called the “horrible massacre,” but did not directly refer to white supremacists or terrorist activity against Muslims. 

Rising anti-Islam bigotry

For some Muslim American organizations, those comments were not enough, especially amid what they see as an intensifying wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric during Trump’s tenure.

At a Friday press conference, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called for “national action to challenge growing Islamophobia, white supremacy and anti-immigrant bigotry.”

“CAIR has reported an unprecedented spike in bigotry targeting American Muslims, immigrants and members of other minority groups since the election of Donald Trump as president and has repeatedly expressed concern about Islamophobic, white supremacist and racist Trump administration policies and appointments,” the organization said. 

White House officials strongly deny any link between Trump and Islamophobic incidents, noting the president has repeatedly condemned hatred and violence in all forms. 

But as a presidential candidate, Trump called for the “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.” 

Though Trump eventually backed down from that proposal, he later surrounded himself with several senior advisers who had explicitly embraced anti-Islam views. Those advisers include former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who once tweeted that “Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL,” and former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has said the U.S. is the “wrong place” for “sharia-compliant” Muslims. 

Underestimating white nationalist violence?

The White House has also been accused of underestimating the threat posed by white nationalists and other right-wing extremists.

Asked Friday whether white nationalism was a growing threat, Trump replied “not really,” and suggested that such groups are small in number. 

Comments like that are problematic for analysts such as Daniel Byman of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, who said in an online post that the U.S. and other Western governments should begin to prioritize white nationalist and other forms of right-wing terrorism. 

“The Trump administration has cut programs focusing on right-wing groups even amid a growing threat,” Byman said. “Given the recent decline in jihadi violence in the United States, transferring some resources [to deal with white nationalist violence] is appropriate.”

Trump has instead preferred to point out the threat caused by “radical Islamic terrorism” — a phrase he makes a point of repeating. That has pleased many conservatives, including Trump’s Republican allies in Congress, who accused former President Barack Obama of not doing enough to prevent acts by Muslim extremists. 

That political climate is helping to create a scary moment for many American Muslims. But Amanullah said he wouldn’t be scared away from attending Friday prayers. 

“I have a great deal of faith in my fellow Americans,” he said. “The one thing that’s super important to people is setting aside a few minutes on Fridays to push the world away. And we can’t have that stolen from us.”
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President Donald Trump and his national security team had an hourlong, classified meeting on Afghanistan on Friday, a day after a top Afghan official openly complained that the Trump administration was keeping his government in the dark about its negotiations with the Taliban. 

The meeting at the Pentagon included Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, among others. The session was a classified briefing about Afghanistan, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the subject of the private briefing. 

The Pentagon has been developing plans to withdraw up to half of the 14,000 troops still in Afghanistan. Patrick Shanahan, acting secretary of defense, said he has no orders to reduce the U.S. troop presence, although officials say that is at the top of the Taliban’s list of demands in exploratory peace negotiations. 

U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, the administration’s main negotiator with the Taliban, recently concluded a 13-day session with leaders of the insurgent group to try to find a way to end the 17-year war. 

Draft accords

Khalilzad said the two sides reached two “draft agreements” covering the withdrawal of U.S. troops and guarantees that Afghanistan would not revert to a haven for terrorists. But he was unable to persuade the Taliban to launch talks with the Afghan government. 

The two sides seem to be in agreement about the withdrawal of American forces, but divided over the timeline and whether a residual force would remain. 

Taliban officials have told The Associated Press that the insurgents want a full withdrawal within three to five months, but that U.S. officials say it will take 18 months to two years. The Americans are likely to insist on a residual U.S. force to guard the American Embassy and other diplomatic facilities, and may press for a counterterrorism force as well. 

Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib visited Washington on Thursday to publicly complain that the Trump administration has alienated the Afghan government, legitimized the militant network and is crafting a deal that will never lead to peace. His blunt remarks prompted a scolding from State Department officials. 

Mohib, the former Afghan ambassador to the United States, said talks about withdrawing troops should be conducted with the Afghan government, which has a bilateral security agreement with the U.S. He also suggested that the negotiations conducted by Khalilzad, a veteran American diplomat who was born in Afghanistan, are clouded by Khalilzad’s political ambitions to lead his native country.
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