Washington Post foreign correspondent Pamela Constable related her experiences as a journalist and encouraged students to pursue careers in the field during a speech in ICC Auditorium on Saturday.

Constable served as the newspaper’s South Asia bureau chief for four years, spending most of her time in Kabul, Afghanistan. She has reported on stories in El Salvador, Haiti, South Africa, Nepal and Peru, among other countries.

Constable called the chance to travel the world and write stories for American readers about interesting events a “wonderful opportunity.”

“You need to find ways to get people who live comfortable, busy lives and bring them into a life and a struggle that they know nothing about,” she said.

Constable also cautioned that while many aspects of being a foreign correspondent can appear glamorous and exciting, in reality, it is a very difficult lifestyle to live from year to year.

“You can’t care about the things you care about here,” she said. “You have to care about something else, and if you do, then [journalism] can be the most rewarding thing.”

Constable related frenzied movements from country to country, narrowly escaping danger as well as missed times with families and friends from home.

In a particularly emotional moment, she recalled traveling along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in a convoy of foreign journalists when the truck in front of her was ambushed. Four of her peers were killed and, later that day, she had to report on the event.

She related other experiences when she listened to the stories of refugees and earthquake victims, describing these moments as “times when I know that I’m alive.”

As a reporter in Afghanistan, Constable experienced the environment before and after the 2001 U.S.-led war to overthrow the Taliban.

Constable noted the lifting of the limitations put on both native and foreign women in the country.

“My early experiences there were very restricted and harsh,” she said of her time as a journalist residing in Kabul. “But when we moved back there again, it was almost like witnessing a rebirth.”

Constable, however, took care to say that while many progressive reforms had been made in the cities, there are many rural villages in which nothing has changed in over 500 years – regardless of the Taliban’s control.

In these places, the “scriptures of society” for women are as tough as they ever were, she said.

Constable remained critical of the war in Iraq and the “series of mistakes” she said she felt coalition leaders made. She said she foresaw a rise in resentment and ethnic conflict within the country in the coming months.

Constable noted that Afghanistan, a poor country with more problems prior to the U.S. invasion, was making more progress towards of democracy and unity than Iraq.

Afghanistan, she continued, had finished a bloody civil war and an invasion by the Soviet Union that continued through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, however, provided stability in which old conflicts and sentiments remained repressed.

“The Afghans already finished killing each other, the Iraqis have just started,” Constable said.

Constable returned to the United States last week and will now serve as a Deputy Foreign Editor at the Post, where she will handle coverage of Latin America and Africa.

She said that she often has feelings of culture shock when returning to the United States after long periods abroad, but that she is still confident in finding ways to share her experiences with readers in the U.S.

“Some things are universal like love, hate and fear that anybody will relate to no matter where you are,” Constable said.

Jaqueline Owens, a reporter for Old Dominion University’s ace and Crown newspaper, said she found Constable to be an inspiration.

“I think she has an amazing power to reach the public,” she said.

Constable’s speech was the keynote presentation of the third annual Georgetown University Journalism Conference sponsored by THE HOYA.