Ticket to Peace in Afghanistan: Yoga?

A former male supermodel thinks he knows how to heal the rift between Taliban militants and coalition troops in Afghanistan—through yoga and meditation. Cameron Alborzian, who, incidentally, played Madonna's beau in her 1989 music video for "Express Yourself" and has worked as Ellen DeGeneres' private guru, pitched his peace strategy to a British major general in Kabul in July. The 44-year-old explains the process, "American soldiers meditate, Taliban meditate, and, in jails, they meditate together ... and you can find the peace in it together."

Alborzian earned the support of Vice Admiral Robert Harward, the former supervisor of American detention facilities in Afghanistan, reports the Wall Street Journal. The two taught basic yoga poses to several guards in an Afghan jail and—in secret—tutored a former Taliban commander in meditation. However, the unorthodox peace tactic has not been embraced by Task Force 435, which currently manages the insurgent detention centers. One holdup could be the timeline: "The general mainly wanted to know how quickly we thought we could train new teachers and how many per year," Alborzian said of his July meeting. "We explained that meditation needs to be experienced rather than discussed as this is not intellectual therapy, but inner spiritual work." (More meditation stories.)