The welcoming speech of Mustafa Hussaini, Star’s Executive Director

Saturday, January 02, 2016 Vol. 1, No. 21

2-3. Community4-5. News

6. Personal Essays7. Literary8. Interview

See Inside Quote of the Week

Welcome to Star Educa-tional Society’s 4th an-nual Futsal Tournament. We are happy to be here today among the athletes

and futsal fans. I am announcing on behalf of Star Educational Society, an institution that has always supported, is supporting and will support cultural, social and sports programs among youth. Star Educational Society is not only a language learning cen-ter, but also a canon of empowering youth with educational programs and a variety of extracurricular activities.

We are pleased to hold this tourna-ment for the fourth year. We appreciate

the participation of all the athletes and the support of our spectators. It is a priority for Star to provide opportunities, such as this tournament, for the young athletes and sports’ fans - especially the youth of west-ern Kabul who have enjoyed many achieve-ments in these past decades. In spite of many economic and social inequalities, se-curity problems and limited opportunities, it is truly an honor for us and for Afghan society to have accomplished athletes like Rohullah Nikpai and Hamid Rahimi to look up to.

But unfortunately there is a huge cul-ture of self-denying and inferiority com-plex in our country because of poor sys-

tem of education where encouragement has no room. We have seen that many Afghans support the Spanish athletes and other international athletes more than our own athletes. Let’s develop pride in Afghan competitors and show our love and sup-port to help make them famous. Join us to support Afghan athletes so that their popu-larity can extend beyond our borders and make them the Messis and Ronaldos of Af-ghanistan. With the ability and talents that our youth have, there are no doubts that they can achieve worldwide popularity and fame. But all of this cannot be accom-plished without the support and encour-agement of the people here today. Your en-

couragement for them can give them the motivation and energy to propel them to greater success.

Thanks warmly for your patience. Be successful. Whatever you do, whether it be sports, or studies, or anything you are do-ing, take yourselves and your efforts seri-ously. If you are someone who takes sports seriously, like Messi or Ronaldo, even if you live in the slums of Barchi (West of Kabul), people will seek you, find you and reward you. Work in silence and cherish your youth, be serious with your time and your skills and try for the best. Let the results be your voice and let the drums be struck when the real fruit of your labor is realized.

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

– Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Star Educational Society Weekly

On the occasion of Star’s 4th Annual Futsal Tournament

Interstellar (adjective): situated or occurring between the stars; conducted, or existing between two or more stars

The Launch of ‘HeForShe’ global campaign in AfghanistanUN Women is a UN organization dedicated to work for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Very recently they launched a campaign called “HeForShe” to end violence against women and... Page 4

Bamyan - a symbol of civility for Afghanistan Page 5

An excerpt from The AlchemistPaulo Coelho wrote the best-selling novel, The Alchemist, which sold 35 million copies and is the most translated book in the world by a living author. Paulo Coelho was born... Page 7

The Last Thousand: One School's Promise in a Nation at WarI want to give credit to many who helped with translations, but I especially want to say that Saeid Madadi and Bismellah Alizada practically co-authored the book with me. They spent hours with me before the interviews... Page 8

January 02nd, 2016

Vol.1, No. 21 Community

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theory and in practice, by holding elec-tions in the schools. The parents of the candidates, some of whom were govern-ment employees, have a great hope and dream of a democratic regime. The movie was able to demonstrate the democratic process very well. The students exercised their right to either be elected or to elect a representative which is one of the human rights. The challenge for the producer to record and raise the voice of the people in a communist regime is appreciable.

In addition to the message about de-mocracy, the film depicts the issues fac-ing women and girls in China. In China, people see women as the second sex and women are not treated as well as men. The message of the movie encourages girls and women not to act from a weak position in political processes and games. Xu Xiaofei did her best to lobby and at-tract the votes of the other girls in the class. Her campaign rested on the weak premise that if Luo Lei was elected, he will shout at the girls and that is why she urged classmates not to vote for him. She

nobody could help her. After the longest and most painful 15 minutes, her voice could no longer be heard. Soon after, Omar exited the room and left the house. Naghma had been beaten badly and she was unconscious in the room. Her dress was torn and blood could be seen on parts of legs.

After surviving a year of torture, Naghma gave birth to her uncle’s daugh-ter. She wasn’t given even the minimal rights of a wife. She was kept in the house as a slave, who worked all day and night doing handicrafts just to earn money to feed her daughter. She didn’t have the authority to make a single decision for herself, like leaving the home to meet her sisters. She didn’t have the authority to put her feet outside of the door. Eventu-ally, Omar was in need of drugs and out of money, so he traded Naghma to his deal-er for a one-week supply of drugs. She became the wife of a drug dealer who ul-timately threw her out of his house when he learned of her child.

To survive, Naghma became a beggar in the streets. Though she tried hard to find her sisters for years, it was impossible

to find a woman in Kan-dahar because women had no public role. Women were so pow-erless that they were invisible in society. They had no author-ity to share their ideas about the simplest of issues, nor could they leave their homes with-out a man’s permis-sion. Naghma turned to prostitution as her only means to survive. She

against each other to be the class monitor. They have a few days to campaign, to demonstrate their abil-ities and skills and to convince their classmates to vote for them. Each of the candidates have two deputies to help them in campaign affairs. The candidates’ parents do their best to support their child to be the winner.

At first, Cheng Cheng performed very well. He was a great lobbyist and was able to draw the attention of the students. Xu Xiaofei, the female candidate, didn’t have enough confi-dence and mostly tried to campaign with the girls for their votes. Luo Lei, who won the election, did not seem very smart at the beginning, but his experience of be-ing the monitor for the past two years and with the great support and help of his parents, he became the monitor. Luo Lei’s father provided a trip for the students and also a gift, shortly before the beginning of the voting.

Though China has done its best to fight against liberalism and individualism and the government provides everything in collective manner, gradually it is be-ing influenced by liberalism and citizens are fervently interested in a democratic culture. In the film, we were able to wit-ness how these concepts stand against each other. The practices of collectivism, communism, holding elections, and lib-eralism are somehow paradoxical in this movie. “Think about it seriously, voting is a sacred matter,” the teacher said. The attempt to localize the term and prac-tice of democracy help to prepare the grounds for a democratic regime both in

slaves. My family was living in Kandahar at this time and witnessed many crimes against women. My mother was a social woman who knew many families suffer-ing these crimes. She shared the follow-ing story with me.

There was a family with three daugh-ters whose names were Thodpakai, Far-zana, and Naghma. Naghma was 17 and the oldest daughter. Having daughters was considered a sort of shame. As a re-sult, the father tried several times to kill Thodpakai, the youngest daughter, but his wife wouldn’t let him do it. Instead, the man killed his wife, the mother of his children, because giving birth to only daughters was considered a vile offense that, according to the father’s tradition (not civil law), was punishable by death.

Despite feeling compelled to follow tradition, the father couldn’t tolerate the grief of losing his wife. Thus he aban-doned his daughters to their 40-year-old uncle named Omar. Omar was addicted to drugs and he treated his nieces violent-ly. They were beaten every night when he came back home. Life became even more hellish when one night Omar came home drunk. As usual, he first broke a cup, then start-ed beating the girls. He took Naghma to his room and locked the door after him. Nagh-ma started screaming. She screamed more and more. On the other side of the door, her two sisters knocked and kicked the door with all their force. Naghma screamed for a long time in that room, but

Star Educational Society was a screening partner for the 3rd Afghani-stan International Human Rights Film Festival. Among the many international films in the festival, the first movie which was screened at Star was a documen-tary from China, entitled Please Vote for Me. The audience members at Star were eager to watch Please Vote for Me. Hear-ing the words “vote” and “democracy” in a documentary movie in China made us very curious. This film follows a first time election to elect the class monitor in a 3rd grade class in Wuhan, China.

The movie started with the question “What is Democracy?” by a female teach-er in a school in China. The students did not have any view or experience about democracy. Then the teacher said, “Yes! It is a new phenomenon.” The subject of the movie, the classroom election, illustrated the whole process of a campaign and was an excellent teaching method to answer the question “What is Democracy” that was posed to the students.

The teacher of the class teaches about democracy and the voting process and in-volves the students in a practical exercise to learn about democracy by conducting a class election. The candidates, Luo Lei, Xu Xiaofei, and Cheng Cheng, compete

There are many misunderstandings about Islam and women’s rights. Young Afghans have struggled to eliminate the erroneous practices and create better un-derstandings of Islamic teachings. Media has also played an effective role in bring-ing changes. Islam says that a man does not have the authority to harm his wife and that he should consult his wife before making decisions. Abuses against women have been made in Afghanistan in the name of Islam and culture and these practices need to end.

During the last several decades of war, one of the saddest and most horrify-ing environments was in Kandahar Prov-ince, which is located in the south of Af-ghanistan. Kandahar was ruled by men’s priorities. Many women were treated like

did not exhibit her own leadership abili-ties or provide classmates with a compel-ling reason to elect her. If I were Xu Xiao-fei, I would not only rely on the votes of the girls in the class. In politics, ethics is not the concern but the benefit is. So, if you do not want to be kept within bound-aries, walk beyond the cliques.

The movie was received warmly by the audience. At the end, participants discussed different aspects of the film and most of the participants contributed in a heated discussion. Soheila Noori, one of the participants, praised the movie and commented that the education system in China is incomparable with Afghanistan. She said: “The support of the family in making their children’s success plays the key role.” The participants spoke about the strategies, policies and the positive and negative points of the candidates and the election process as well. They found the movie fruitful and heartening and wished such programs continue in the future.

chose to sell herself every night so that her daughter wouldn’t experience what she had experienced. She wanted her child to have a strong enough personality to stand up to this discrimination.

My mother told me this story so that I would have a different perspective of women. She wanted me to understand that women’s voices were not being heard and valued. My mother asked me to be a person who is going to make changes in the world of discrimination. I remember her words when I see how men still abuse women in society.

Though this abuse has decreased among people in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, the uneducated men in remote provinces, and even some in the city, still do not treat women as their equals. I stand with women who have felt this discrimination. I want men to step up together to change this injustice and the unfair violations against women in our country. The men of Afghanistan must own the crimes they have committed against women.

Mahatma Gandhi once said that we should be the change we wish to see in the world. I plan to be that change. I hope that my wife will never feel any kind of discrimination and will have full freedom of speech and action. We will work hand-in-hand to make every decision for our family. Moreover, I will respect the rights of each woman I meet. I won’t tolerate any kind of abuse or injustice towards women and I want all men to do the same. I will start making further changes by telling my future sons and daughters these stories and I will ask them to spread the word and teach their families. I will be the change to make the world a better place for women.

Written by: Jumakhan Rahyab

About the author: Shoaib Mehryar is a former student of the Star Educational Society in Quetta, Pakistan. He studies economics at Bakhtar University in Kabul.

Please Vote for MeA summary and reflection on the film

Women’s rights – lessons from my mother

...My mother told me this story so that I would have a differ-ent perspective of

women. She wanted me to un-derstand that women’s voices were not being heard and valued. My mother asked me to be a person who is going to make changes in the world of discrimination."

January 02nd, 2016

Vol.1, No. 21Community

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suited job. They experience tremendous emotional pain when they cannot secure a position that they are completely quali-fied to fill. Young people are exhausted at the end of everyday looking for a job. They have invested much of their time to study in a field, to apply for the field-related-vacancies, to take employment-related exams. However, when their con-fidence rises and they feel optimistic that they are the most-deserving candidate for a position, they are rejected only because they are not introduced or supported by any officials.

Equal employment opportunity en-

I was born in an uneducated and poor family – in a family whose members were not acquainted with basic educa-tion let alone modern technological sci-ence. The people in my community had many problems as we didn`t have any schools, health clinics or good roads. Our people lived in chaos. In fact, most people did not have enough food to eat. They lived and ate from hand to mouth. As a result of the civil war, the Taliban and inaccessibility to food, we had to eat nothing but grass and vegetables for days. When the Taliban appeared in the vicinity, the people were so frightened that they hid themselves in mountain caves.

My grandfather told me, "I was an officer. One day I went out and I saw three Taliban lying down on the moun-tain. They saw me and opened fire. I fled and concealed myself behind a rock for two hours. I was bleeding terribly be-cause a bullet had penetrated my thigh and into the bone. However, I managed to reach my family and as they gathered around my head, I went unconscious.” With tears in his eyes, he said that they tolerated many problems in the danger-ous mountains. With a deep sigh he talks about how he lost one of his legs. He ex-plains how he is really disappointed that he cannot run or walk anymore and he always needs someone to escort him and to walk with a stick under his arm.

After a while, children started at-tending religious studies at the mosque. The Taliban forced boys to wear a turban and cap. The turban and cap weighed more than children themselves did. I be-gan to take lessons at the mosque at this time. I was learning how to read the Holy Quran although they never told us what the verses of the Holy Quran meant and never interpreted or translated any line.

On Thursdays, we had paskhandage,

have little meaning. In Afghanistan, con-nections are often all that matter. Quali-fications are like a strange foreign word negating any official employment-related policy and putting qualified but uncon-nected applicants in a defensive posi-tion. Or to state the matter differently, in Afghanistan applicants do not have to be qualified for the respective vacancies they seek to fill. If they are introduced by a very high-ranking official, it is equivalent to holding a PhD degree and possessing more than the required work-related ex-perience. That is the common process for climbing the employment staircase for a governmental position. If a job seeker has a powerful connection, someone else’s qualifications such as their educational degree and how talented they are will not matter. In other words, the famous saying “You will be asked what your talent is, not who your father is,” is totally reversed in Afghanistan.

In other countries, people can make connections through their education and talent. In Afghanistan, people can-not even begin to climb the employment staircase without connections. Young people with a high spirit of service wish to be assigned their rightful positions in society. They do their utmost to get educated, and work in harsh, hard-labor jobs to earn money while seeking a well-

In most places around the world, to apply for any job vacancies, the applicant should have the required qualifications including educational degrees, related work experience and so on. However, in my opinion, in Afghanistan qualifications

tails unbiased management and judg-ment in all aspects of employment. In Afghanistan, this is rare. In the rare in-stance when a young person without connections is recruited, s/he will face much discrimination on the grounds of gender, nationality and ethnicity and will feel forced to quit to escape from the ha-rassment.

In Afghanistan’s bias-based gov-ernment whose several promises went unfulfilled, the educated youth without connections cannot avail themselves of favoritism-stricken job opportunities. They cannot fight their way through the discriminatory and obsolete office pro-cedures to reach their goals and cannot fairly compete for their positions. These young people are dissuaded, depressed, disappointed, and lost and they find themselves subjected to a harsh, back-breaking life.

Young job seekers find themselves prisoners of discrimination and I fear that this will open the floodgates of disas-ter for Afghanistan, contributing to more brain drain and an irremovable stigma on the face of Afghanistan. With this situa-tion, Afghan assets will be forced to ven-ture into angry waters and head abroad in pursuit of a better life, to go to countries where their intellects and talents will be encouraged, not dissuaded, praised, not disparaged and finally where their inge-nuity will be nurtured, not tortured.

literally translated as ‘review over the previous lessons’. My memories of Thursdays are still a nightmare for me. When a student could not answer the Mullah’s question, he tied our legs with a rope or scarf raised in the air (qaf paei). The Mullah beat us as long as he could. He would not give up until he got frus-trated from beating us with his stick or shalaq, a tool designed by Mullahs with a dense tight rubber at the end.

Once when I could not answer the question exactly as he wanted, he beat the sole and heel of my foot so much that I could not feel my feet anymore. They were numb. My friends informed my father and they carried me home with a cart. I was only seven years old then. Since that time, I always hated any kind of lessons or going somewhere for school. Whenever my parents wanted to send me to mosque or schools, I cried in-tensely and begged them to let me stay at home.

Fortunately, those memories are behind me and most Afghan children do not have those experiences anymore. Now we have a responsibility to improve our schools, universities and country for the next generation. Our next generation should not experience what we did. They should not see any burning in the city, the stoning of people in the provinces or beheadings. In the future, we should improve the country greatly and create a society with humanitarian values.

About the author: Mahdi Hussaini was a senior instructor at Star for four years, the co-founder of C Branch and C Branch’s director for one year. He is finishing the requirements for his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Gharjistan University and currently works as the personal assistant to the Deputy CEO of Afghanistan Independent Land Authority.

About the author: Tooba Rahmati is a Star alumna and teacher. She aims to major in literature in university and to become a professional writer.

About the author: Niaz Mohammad is astudent in Level 6 at Star’s B Branch. Heis a student in the 11th grade at Marefat High School. He has stationery shop and bookstore and plans to become a social and political leader in the future.

Confabulations of educated Afghan job seekers

Sometimes… As a child, I hated education

...In Afghanistan... the educated youth without connections cannot avail themselves of favorit-

ism-stricken job opportuni-ties. They cannot fight their way through the discrimina-tory and obsolete office pro-cedures to reach their goals and cannot fairly compete for their positions."

Sometimes I don’t believe my life It’s just a never-ending nightmare Sadness after sadness with grief I can’t breathe to find the happiness Death surrounds me Tomorrow the death will touch me I can’t dream to find my stars Every day I find bad news around me Every day someone else has died Chains hang around my neck to kill me I search for my happy memories A dark heart alone like the clouds Tears within my eyes like stones Sometimes I can’t believe my life I am going to be honest. I am exhausted that our lives mean nothing

to the people running this country. We all deserve so much better. Our citizens deserve better. The arguments change and swell in intensity, but the reality remains

the same. As we argue, highly preventable deaths continue to happen. Whatever your religious or personal stance, we should be united in

the knowledge that we are all people – that we all deserve a chance to live our lives.

In neighborhoods, in every school, in every home, we should remind ourselves that our lives mean something – that it should not be so easy for someone to take them from us.

We should see ourselves in every senseless death that happens in this country. When you are walking on a sidewalk, or sitting in a classroom with your as yet unrealized dreams still wriggling free as buds from spring soil – remember, it could have been you whose life was cut short.

It could have been your bed that will be empty tonight. It could have been your mother crying and comforting your children

in your absence. It could have been your absence filling the silent, still space where

feet no longer tread and hearts no longer beat.

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Vol.1, No. 21 News

UN Women is a UN organization dedicated to work for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Very recently they launched a campaign called “HeFor-She” to end violence against women and raise voices for gender equality.

HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality that engages men and boys as advocates and stakeholders, to break the silence, raise their voices and take action for the achievement of gen-der equality. Gender equality is not only a women’s issue, it is a human rights issue that affects all women and girls, men and boys. All members of society benefit so-cially, politically and economically from gender equality in their everyday lives. When women are empowered, the whole humanity benefits. Gender equality lib-erates not only women but also men.

Millions of people stand with this global movement and believe equality for women is a human right not just women’s right. They commit to take action against gender discrimination and violence to

Najla Habibyar, former head of Ex-port Promotion Agency of Afghanistan, talked about her own experience and gender inequality in Afghanistan. “I ex-perienced ups and downs. My father was the only support for my education. With his encouragement, I pursued my stud-ies in psychology at Kabul University. Later on I did my masters. As a woman, I was eager to do my studies in medicine but after coming back to the country I couldn’t make it happen. When I started working at Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan, I wished my father never had a daughter but a son so that I didn’t

Mohammad Taqi Tofan, a high school junior and a successful free fighter, was born in 1995. He started doing martial arts at the age of 12 at the same time he and his family returned to Afghanistan from Iran. He faced many obstacles and never gave up on martial arts. Within the past years, he has participated in many competitions inside Afghanistan. He is now a proud member of the Afghan Martial Arts Federation.

“I started doing martial arts and different sports with the intention to stay healthy. With the deep interest I had for sports, martial arts became my passion. My family was always sup-portive of me and they have always been there for me. Perhaps, they were the only ones to motivate me to stand up against the pitfalls and setbacks,” he said.

In a community where poverty pre-vents people from accomplishing great things, Mohammad Taqi managed to overcome the challenges he faced. “At the peak of my family’s poverty, I never gave up doing martial arts. I showed up on a daily basis to the club where we do martial arts,” he said.

In November, Mohammad Taqi and his teammates became aware of International Tournament Open Cup. Taqi and two of his teammates regis-tered for the competition. Taqi and his teammates practiced intently to win the competition. Every morning and evening they met in their club for more practice.

On December 15 of this year they had a flight to Iran for the competi-tion. On December 20, 2015, Moham-mad Taqi Tofan won the bronze medal of the International Tournament Open Cup held in Tehran, Iran by defeating his Iranian rival. The countries that participated in this competition were

President Ghani went to Turkmeni-stan to inaugurate the TAPI project. In President Ghani’s trip cooperative agreements with Turkmenistan officials were signed. If the TAPI project is im-plemented, the gas will be carried from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. The project has long been discussed and was started during the nineties. During that time, an Argen-tinian company and American company were competing for the construction of that project.

At least one of these companies was supported by the tyrannical and oppres-sive Taliban regime at that time in order to secure the ways from which the gas pipelines pass. But for many reasons, this project has been delayed. Many be-lieved that gas transfer from Turkmeni-stan through Afghanistan to South Asian countries was a big dream. However, recent efforts by Afghanistan and Turk-menistan indicate that both sides are try-ing to make this dream become a reality.

Currently, South Asia needs Central Asia’s energy. For example, Pakistan is facing a serious shortage of energy and gas. Pakistan’s forecasts indicate that they are facing a shortage of energy in the coming year because Baluchistan’s re-served energy is consumed and will soon be fully depleted. Furthermore, Indian industries need energy. The Central Asia energy is plentiful, therefore where there is an energy need, it should be supplied. This reality has forced the governments to think about major projects like TAPI.

The TAPI project also has been dis-cussed in a Central Asia summit and has been said that its importance is unques-tionable for South Asia, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan. The implementation of this project binds the countries’ relation-ship, in addition it has many benefits for Afghanistan. Furthermore, the imple-mentation of this project forces the coun-

make a world of equality. For this reason, on Sunday Decem-

ber 6, the UN Women organization in co-operation with Khat Media Organization provided an opportunity to launch this campaign in Afghanistan with the slo-gan, “A brave man stands with women.” The program was held at the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University with the par-ticipation of students, women and youth activists.

The event started with the introduc-tion of the HeForShe global campaign and the observation of gender equality in Afghanistan.

have to face the discriminatory com-ments made to me. This was maybe the reason I left everything behind and gave up. I was completely depressed and dis-appointed. But still my father gave me the hope to show up and serve society.”

Abdull Rauf Gowhar, the chancel-lor of Kabul university, talked about how people can start within their own fami-lies and communities to put an end to violence against women and gender in-equality.

At the end of the program, the par-ticipants were asked to sign and commit to take action against gender inequality.

Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Armenia.

The referee from Afghanistan was Mr. Ali Ahmad Afshar who is also their trainer. There were 20 participants from Afghanistan. Taqi’s teammates won gold and silver medals and Af-ghanistan earned second place in this international tournament. In the next two months, Taqi will participate in an-other competition in Mashhad, Iran.

For Mohammad Taqi, martial arts hold a great value. He has participated in many competitions and has won dif-ferent prizes. He believes that sports can benefit most Afghan youth by giv-ing them an outlet and escape from daily problems. He started sporting when he was very young and credits sports for keeping him motivated and focused. Today he is very active in his community because of sports and he encourages everyone to take part in sports, and practice physical activities like walking in the morning, riding bi-cycles and hiking.

“I hope one day most of Afghans participate in different fields of sports and martial arts. I do my best to teach children and youth some martial arts,” Taqi said.

tries to pay attention to regional security. Currently, terrorism is hindering regional cooperation. International terrorism comes from various countries and places that are out of the government’s control. Intelligence agencies of different coun-tries use terrorism as a tool to strengthen their presence in the region.

If economic and trade relations between the different regional coun-tries will be increased and the idea of connecting South Asia to Central Asia through Afghanistan is to be achieved, then countries in the region will be more likely to address intelligence and security issues and will focus more attention on their economic interests. If the coopera-tion between regional countries will be based on economic interests, and these interests bind the regional countries, it will reduce the maneuvering room for terrorist groups. The economic growth in the region would silence the messages of fundamentalist religious groups.

The TAPI project implementation binds together interests of India and Pakistan in Afghanistan. Pakistan is cur-rently supporting terrorist groups. Islam-abad has confusion about the influence of India in Afghanistan and justifies its support of terrorism with that same con-fusion. If economic interests of countries are bound together, there is a high pos-sibility that their attitudes will change to-wards each other. Governmental support of separatism and fundamentalism will end when countries are economically more dependent on each other. The TAPI project is an important step in this direc-tion.

Mohammad Taqi Tofan, Afghan free fighterTAPI inauguration and regional bond

The Launch of ‘HeForShe’ global campaign in Afghanistan

Reported by: Nematullah Ahangosh

Translated by: Zahra AmiriSource: Hasht E Sobh Daily

Reported by: Alisina Dosti

Page 5January 02nd, 2016

Vol.1, No. 21News

Sports have always been a problem and controversial issue for women in Af-ghanistan. However, in recent years the presence of women in this area has been slowly but steadily growing.

Zainab Hussaini is a 25-year-old Af-ghan woman walking the long and dif-ficult path fighting for gender equality through women’s involvement in sports. She is the first Afghan woman who com-pleted Bamyan’s 42 km marathon and be-came the headlines of the news.

“The sparks in my life forced me to do something different, something that would show the world that Afghan wom-en can be strong and run with dozens of men. However, it was not a competition with the men but a struggle toward my better self,” she said.

Zainab Hussaini’s marathon running began by participating in an ultra-mara-thon race in China. She said, “The com-petition was in the Gobi Desert, Xinjiang province, a distance of 250 km, lasting five days with quite a different climate and weather. For the first time, I experi-enced snow, rain, storms and heat above 50 degrees.”

She says that sports became part of her life after that race, and then she was always thinking about the next races. The difficulties she faced in her first mara-thon did not cripple her, but opened the way for the next races. She says, "I saw men in the ultra-marathon race in China who were brought to their knees by the intensity of heat exhaustion and frost-bite. Thinking about the flag (Afghani-stan’s flag) in my backpack, pushed me to go ahead. This hard experience opened the way for me to compete in the Kabul and Bamyan marathons.”

But from the very beginning, even friends and relatives did not believe in her physical ability telling her that she should start with a marathon, not an ul-tra-marathon. In Afghanistan, where 15 years ago women were not even allowed to learn, there is still very little confi-

social barriers, but has tried to adapt to the difficulties of Bamiyan’s climate.Bamiyan Marathon

To take preparation for the mara-thon, Zainab, with her friends and coach-es, ran and practiced in the mountains and valleys of Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. Zainab participated in the first ever international marathon held in Bamiyan, Afghanistan in October this year, and ran a distance of 42 km.

In the Bamiyan Marathon, which was held on October 31 this year, almost 100 male and female athletes ran the dis-tances of 42 and 10 km in the center of the province. The Afghan athletes par-ticipated from different provinces in this marathon. More than 13 foreign athletes from America, Great Britain, Sri Lanka, Belgium, France and several other coun-tries participated.

The marathon was held in two sepa-rate phases with more than 65 Afghan and international athletes, and 45 female athletes from Bamiyan were a separate team who ran a distance of 10 kilometers.

Among the participants, Zainab Hus-saini was the only Afghan woman who was able to run the distance of 42 kilome-ters to reach the finish line. Two women, one from Canada and one from Belgium, from the “Free to Run” organization helped her in this race.

Zainab, who could arrive only one day before the marathon, was not used to the Bamiyan weather and knew that it was a big challenge. But before the mara-thon started, she used the opportunity to go out for a practice run to familiarize herself to the weather of Bamiyan.

Bamiyan is one of the safest provinc-

Many people think that modern cit-ies would have a background of civic values, with towering skyscrapers, and stylish citizens who enjoy modern, urban living standards. The above specifications do not apply to Bamyan City. Bamyan is not a city with stylish, urban citizens and the living standards are low. Bamyan is described as “The Roof of the World.” However, the people of Bayman are liv-ing in caves, they lack access to minimum standards of living, they lack government programs and national and international investments. In spite of all these difficul-

is paid to areas where there is panic, force and violence. However, Bamyan people living in the heart of caves have nurtured civic-oriented thoughts instead of vio-lence. I saw Bamyan as the safest place to live, a safe place for women’s activities, a safe place for the interaction of cultures, religions, and beliefs and a bonding point for all human beings – a symbol of civic values. However, Bamyan, like many plac-es in Hazarajat, has never been in the gov-ernment’s attention. For me, Bamyan is the original creation of civic values. When I see girls in a safe place like Bayman, who are without social concerns and are as free as men, living and enjoying the facilities, I wish all girls were born in Bamyan City. In Afghanistan, all facilities from welfare to education have been divided in two sepa-rate parts between men and women. In this classification, only the proportion of oxygen for men and women to breathe is equal because of its indivisibility. I see the most modern Bamyan fathers as a symbol for fathers in other provinces of Afghani-stan. When we see a Bamyan father try-ing to provide equal opportunities for his daughter and son, when we see a Bamyan girl who is skiing on the top of the moun-tains of Bamyan, when we see a Bamyan girl competing in a bicycle race with boys, when we see women singers feeling that Bamyan is a safe place for their concerts, again, we go back to our first claim that civic thoughts are not confined within the walls and roofs of modern cities. A

ties and obstacles, the people of Bamyan have developed civic mindedness.

The first time I have seen Bamyan was in a Film named “Buddha Collapsed out of Shame.” Poverty, inequality, and in-justice were seen in the face of Bamyan. I imagined Bamyan would be a prison for women. I thought the people who were living in caves would be years away from civilization. I thought many years would be needed to hear the voices of Bamyan’s women and young generation around the world. But today I discovered that the creation of modern thinking, humanism,

and liberalism does not have any relation to living in a cave or in a modern city, or to being stylish or poor.

Bamyan City, re-gardless of the past fourteen years, with untapped resources, unique natural re-sources, peaceful people, and a rich history, was never at the center of govern-mental plans. In Af-ghanistan’s political view, more attention

person who lives in caves can still see the world and environment from the lenses of equality and civility.

Yet another issue that I don’t want to forget is the freedom of expression in Ba-myan. The aim here is not to express the difficulties within the system, nor how corrupted the government is. Neither is the purpose to protest against the system. But the purpose is being able to freely ex-press the inner pains and agony of man. Everything I heard and saw from illiterate and literate people of Bamyan was real. The culture of lying was not within them and Bamyan people do not have the cul-ture of hypocrisy that creates more pain like an artificial ointment.

Most of the heritage of Afghan cities is introduced through its monuments, past history, and strategic position in the world. However, in Bamyan, Salsal and Shahmama depict only the past days of that city. But now we can describe Bamy-an by its characteristics such as liberalism, democracy experience, peace, respect for women and the promotion of civic values. Last but not the least, Bamyan was the 2015 cultural capital of South Asian As-sociation for Regional Cooperation (SAA-RC). If other citizens lived in Bamyan, it would have been more than a symbolic cultural center and would have experi-enced being the real face of the SAARC. So we still talk of unity as a general concept yet equal development across the country is just a motto of the government.

dence in their physical ability to run long distances.

She says, "No one believed that I could even finish one marathon and my trainer was the only one who believed in me. To be honest, I did not tell any of my relatives that I was running. Only some of my friends knew, some of whom were also my opponents. They asked why I would choose running among all the va-riety of sports in the world."

Zainab also used to run in the streets, but after the "bad experiences," she stopped running. She says, “Whenever I tried to run in the street, the children threw stones and the men were calling me a whore who would destroy Islam.” She says that she is now accustomed to the threats and insults of men, but it is still “annoying and painful” for her.

Zainab is determined enough to never give up. She is struggling for the day she could run with a group of girls. In addition to concerns of harassment and insults, there are concerns about the threat of kidnapping. Zainab remembers the day she was running with her friend when two cars stopped beside them. Be-fore someone got out of the car, they ran into a shop and asked for the shopkeep-er’s protection until the vehicle left the place. She says that they may not have wanted to kidnap them, but “I will never forget that day.”

Zainab says, after the murder of Farkhunda in Kabul, her mother did not let her run fearing the experience of Fark-hunda. She says that she could not leave the house during those two weeks. In-stead, she ran and trained for the mara-thon in Bamiyan in the garden of their house.

Zainab Hussaini, before participat-ing in October’s marathon in Bamiyan, had participated in an unofficial mara-thon in August with three other women. They ran from Paghman Valley to Kabul City. But she said in the capital where there were mostly men, rather than en-courage and welcome them, the men in-sulted and threw stones at them.

But nothing can stand in her way. She not only crossed the difficulties and

es, and most open societies of Afghani-stan. So, this province was a good place to hold the first marathon of Afghanistan. Zainab Hussaini was born to an Afghan family in Iran and returned to Afghani-stan after 14 years. One year after she re-turned to Afghanistan, she joined a girls’ Taekwondo Club in Mazar-e Sharif. Ms. Hussaini said, "Soon the police closed the club and said that girls should not do martial arts."

But she and her friends did not give up so easily and then tried to establish a basketball team for girls. She said that de-spite the lack of facilities and coach, they have always been the runner-up place holder in the city. She says, "I have three sisters and one brother. My father used to play football when he was young. My mother and my little sisters run with me and my brother is practicing kickboxing.

Zainab is not only an athlete and a student of international relations, but also the sole breadwinner of the family. In addition to her other responsibilities, she works as a program manager at Ska-teistan, an organization which works for orphaned and poor children.

She says, "We try to encourage chil-dren to learn through sports." Zainab says that sports changed her life and she invites other Afghan women to do sports and gain awareness of their rights.

She has big dreams: “I wish that someday, like my coach, I will help a lot of girls, girls who have settled into routines and are waiting for a spark. Who knows who I could be today? Maybe I, just like thousands of other girls, studying was the end of my dreams. I have many big dream ands great hopes, really I do.”

Zainab Hussaini, the first girl who completed a 42 km marathon in Bamiyan

Bamyan - a symbol of civility for Afghanistan

Translated by: Jumakhan RahyabWritten by: Mahjoba NowroziSource: BBC Persian

Translated by: Zahra AmiriWritten by: Arifa PaikarSource: Republic of Silence http://republicofsilence.org/fa-AF/article/9317/

...I learned that day that what-

ever we want is possible in our life as long as we do not give up. We must strug-gle for the things that are impor-tant to us."

Page 6 January 02nd, 2016

Vol.1, No. 21 Personal Essays

I remember being in the first grade of elementary school. We all wore the same uniforms, had the same height and same wishes. We liked eating ice cream and chocolate, looking at cartoon pictures and decorating our notebooks and back-packs to create a small, colorful world. Our fallen baby teeth made us different from others.

School was really enjoyable for me. It had a big yard and there was a nice gar-den with short and tall trees on one side. The garden made our school green and fresh. It was six months after the time that I understood how to hold a pencil in my little hand and had a heart full of ex-

The old shoeshine man was outside the entrance of Star Educational Society just as he had been every other day I went for my classes. But this day was different. It was the day to celebrate the position holders. The old man looked at me kindly and gave me the brush to clean my black sneakers. He asked me, “My daughter, what is up today? You don’t look tired, and you are so happy.” I began to brush the dirt off of my sneakers. My happy heart was bouncing. I put my hand on my heart, took a deep breath and began to tell him about all the difficult moments I had passed and the accomplishments I had achieved.

For many months, every morning I woke up early and said ‘good-bye’ to my father. Every evening I returned home and greeted my father with a ‘hello’. I worked as a teacher at a primary school from morning until 2:00. After my last class, I took my black leather bag and started the one-hour walk to Star. I was alone and tired on my long walk to Star. However, accompanied by my dreams, my goals, and my wishes I never felt alone or tired. When I entered Star, I joined the class with much enthusiasm and inter-est because I was sure that English would open up new doors of opportunity to me and would bring huge positive changes in my life.

I was studying Level 4 and Level 5 si-multaneously. I worked full time during the day and had to study my lessons and do my homework at night. I practiced speaking English by talking to myself on my long walks from work to Star. The only nights I could sleep early were Wednes-

care for my tree properly. Every morning when I opened my eyes, I wished to see my tree taller than the previous day. Fi-nally, many days passed and my tree was growing. On the first day it was very tiny, but day-by-day it grew and became taller. The school year ended in the last month of spring and I went to a new school. Un-fortunately, I was no longer able to see or water my tree.

It is funny but true, I asked God to protect my tree. I hoped that someone would water my tree. Three years later

work assignment. It was sentences about grammar and it was so difficult. I became very discouraged and feared that I would not be able to compete with my class ri-vals. I woke the next day and asked my-self, “How can I go to the class? How can I tell my teacher that I could not do my as-signment?” I asked one of my classmates how she was able to do her homework. In reply, she told me that her brother helped her. At the mention of the word brother, I wanted to escape.

As a child, when my school class-mates said things about their brothers like, “My brother bought me this, gave me this, or helped me,” I used to avoid them and made myself busy with some-thing else. Since I had no brothers, I felt sad, speechless and had nothing to share with them. I considered myself one of the poorest girls in the world. I always prayed and complained to God that I had no brothers to accompany me in life’s dif-ficult moments. But then I realized that

citement to write for the first time. It was the last month of winter and the weather was great. I went to school happily. I was in the class and waited for the school bell to ring for our 15-minute morning break. Everyone waited to go outside, they put their books and note books in their bags and took out their snacks. When, the principal came to our class, we stood up to respect her and she kindly asked us to leave the class in a line and stand up by the garden. We all were shocked and sur-prised and started asking the same ques-tion, “Why by the garden?”

When we made a line near the gar-den our teacher gave us information about arboriculture week and also the advantages of planting trees and protect-ing them. She wanted us to celebrate that day by planting trees. She pointed to the shortest trees and told us that they were planted by students last year and showed us how they have changed to big trees with shadows that we can enjoy when the sun is shining. She gave us same seed-lings and instructed us to plant them in the garden.

I will never forget that nice moment. We all took one tiny tree in our small hands in order to beautify our com-munity. We aspired to see the seedlings grow into big and fruitful trees soon. We took turns planting them. When I put the seedling in the earth with my little hands, I had a strange feeling that I had never felt before – the feeling of rebirth the nature. I wished my tree to have fresh weather and an eternal green life.

From that day, I started watering my little tree with a small glass. Some times when I forgot my glass, I watered the seedling with my hands. I carried the water in my bare hands and by the time I reached the tree there was only a few drops of water left. I was determined to

day nights, because on Wednesdays we had discussions in both classes and I didn’t have any homework to do. Howev-er, on Saturday nights I could not sleep. Every Saturday I had to write essays on two topics and prepare for lectures. On those nights, mostly I would sleep for only a short time after morning prayer.

I pushed myself very hard in my stud-ies. Although I knew I could pass both classes successfully, I tried to learn more and more and be the best among others. One night I was unable to do the home-

I was able to visit my old school and I found my tree green and tall. My tree was the second one in the fifth row and I was so excited to see that my little tree had grown and had become taller than me. My heart was beating fast at that mo-ment and I felt the joy and satisfaction of planting and growing something with my own hands. By planting a tree for the first time, I understood the importance of protecting trees. I love all plants and trees like the little seedling I planted and nur-tured in first grade.

not having a brother compelled me to be stronger and more independent. This gave me a positive image and made me work harder.

While talking to my classmate, I re-called the promise that I made myself when I was a younger girl. I promised that I will never pray or cry for this rea-son again. My homework assignment was as important as a quiz. Fighting my disappointment, I realized that nothing can get in my way and I didn’t give up. As soon as I finished my teaching job, I ran all the way to Star and arrived fifteen minutes before my class. I found one of my former teachers and asked for help to complete my assignment. I arrived at the class five minutes late and, fortunately, my kind teacher allowed me to enter the class. After our homework was checked, I received the highest grade. I learned that day that whatever we want is possible in our life as long as we do not give up. We must struggle for the things that are im-portant to us.

After telling this story to the old man, I returned his brush and gave him my money. I said ‘good-bye’ and he told me, “Try your best and you will be more suc-cessful.” I thanked him, took my bag and finished my walk to Star. The celebration began and I received my certificates for second position which was a big achieve-ment. Seeing my photos on the banner made me reflect on the difficult times I overcame to succeed in one of my goals. My friends congratulated me and I hur-ried home to share my success with my kind Dad who supports and inspires me in every path of my life. I am thankful to God that I have him in my life, and thank-ful to all my dear teachers at Star who are the reason for my success in life. This ex-perience taught me how to become suc-cessful, achieve my goal, and never give up.

My little tree

The difficult path to success

About the author: Soheila Noori is a Star alumna and teacher. She plans to major in Economics when she begins her university studies.

About the author: Taiba Atiffi graduated from Rabia Balkhi High School and will study business in university. She is a Star alumna and teacher and has also taught in a primary school.

Page 7January 02nd, 2016

Vol.1, No. 21Literary

Paulo Coelho wrote the best-selling novel, The Alchemist, which sold 35 million copies and is the most translated book in the world by a liv-ing author.

Paulo Coelho was born on August 24, 1947, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He wanted to be a writer from a young age but was discouraged by his par-ents, who saw no future in that profession in Bra-zil. Coelho's rebellious adolescence spurred his parents to commit him to a mental asylum three times, starting when he was 17.

Coelho eventually got out of institutional care and enrolled in law school, but dropped out to indulge in the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" of hippie life in the 1970s. He wrote song lyrics for Brazilian musicians protesting the country's military rule. He was jailed three times for his po-litical activism and subjected to torture in prison.

After drifting among several professions, Coelho changed his life's course while on a visit to Spain in 1986 at the age of 36. Coelho walked more than 500 miles along the Road to Santiago de Compostela, a site of Catholic pilgrimage. The walk and the spiritual awakening he experienced en route inspired him to write The Pilgrimage, an autobiographical account of the trek. He quit his other jobs and devoted himself full-time to the craft of writing. It was his second book, The Alchemist, which made him famous. He has sold 35 million copies and now writes about one book every two years.

An excerpt from The AlchemistBelow is a great excerpt from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist - a conversation between the Alchemist and Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy. Santiago travels from Andalusia in southern Spain to the Egyptian pyramids in search of hidden treasure, learning life lessons along the way.

“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?” the boy asked, when they had made camp that day.

“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”

“But my heart is agitated,” the boy said. “It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and it’s become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when I’m thinking about her.”

“Well, that’s good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say.”

“My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. “It doesn’t want me to go on.”

“That makes sense. Naturally it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.”

“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?”

“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life and about the world.”

“You mean I should listen, even if it’s treasonous?”

“Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them.

“My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

“Every second of the search is an encounter with God,” the boy told his heart.

“Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him,” his heart said. “We, people’s hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them—the path to their destinies, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out indeed, to be a threatening place.

“So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won’t be heard: we don’t want people to suffer because they don’t follow their hearts.”

M y sister is a far cry from the tall and empowering figure she used to be. She is older than me,

and I have always looked up to her. It is difficult to see her in that perilous shape, laying in bed, counting down her days.

She had a stroke. She has been hemiplegic for four years. She can barely move. She needs assistance to perform her basic bodily functions. She needs to constantly rolled over to one side and the other, otherwise her flesh will rot. Her daughters-in-law are having to look after her, and they have a hard time do-ing it.

Those bechara are not to blame. It is difficult to look after someone for so much and for so long. Four months is a long time. Four years is too long.

I saw her last year. We talked all the time. As usual, I went and sat next to her one day. She looked at me and was star-tled. She wept.

Are you my aaghaye? Where have you been? When did you come? Who are all these other people with you?

I had to sit there and explain things to her like I explain them to my baby

I n my days, people had many chil-dren. Some children died. More sons meant more helping hands, more people to work and earn for the family. Bechara girls were

unwanted, uncelebrated at birth and unap-preciated in life. People preferred to have as many sons and as few girls as possible.

I had 10 children. I lost one. My first child was a son. I lost him when he was twelve days old. He turned pale yellow and then passed away.

My oldest is Gul Zewar. She has 8 daughters, 2 sons, 36 grand children, and 6 great grand children. Her great grandchil-dren are my great great grandchildren.

Then I had Rubaba. She has 4 sons, 3 daughters, and 14 grandchildren.

After her, there is Habiba. She has 6 daughters, 3 sons, and 11 grandchildren.

My fourth daughter is Hafeeza. She has 6 sons, 3 daughters, and 4 grandchil-dren.

My fifth child is a son Hassan. He has 4 sons, 2 daughters, and 1 grandchild.

Then I had Bakhtawar.

grandson. Old age is a cruel time of life.I pray that if something like that ever

happens to me, I should die quickly. I don’t want to end up like that. Else, I will suffer and so will everyone else.

*bechara = hapless, poor*agghaye = sister

She has 5 daughters, 4 sons, and 4 grand-children.

After her is Sakina. She has 6 daughters, 3 sons, and 11 grandchildren. She lost four others.

Then there is my youngest daughter Zubaida. She has 3 sons and 1 daughter.

My youngest child is Nabi. He has 3 sons.

One day when I am gone, if every child, grandchild and great grandchild of mine prays for me once, that will be sufficient for me. That’s all I ask for.

*Bechara = Hapless

StoriesMy Grandmother

Told Me

29-30 About the author: Hadi Zaher was the first graduate of Quetta's branch of Star Educational Society in the year 1999. He has an MA from the University of Wollongong in Australia and is currently a post-graduate student at the University of New South Wales.

About Paulo Coelho

Saturday, January 02, 2016 Vol. 1, No. 21

About the interviewer: Janet Brongers is a regular reader of the Interstellar Bulletin and the former Admissions Director for the American Univer-sity of Afghanistan. She and her husband lived in Afghanistan from 2007-2009. She has recently retired from 40 years as an ESL instructor and is living in the U.S.

if you will, of why a person used a cer-tain phrase or what the person was re-ferring to. They also helped me to elicit the feelings of the interviewees, what the person was wearing, what a situa-tion smelled like…we spent a lot of time talking but also listening.

As an American, the account early on in ‘The Last Thousand” of General Allen’s resigned acceptance of the reduction in American Forces and Teacher Aziz’s appraisal of the unpreparedness and the unwillingness of Afghan Security Forces to protect ALL citizens regard-less of ethnicity lingered in my mind throughout the book. Any thoughts on the subject? I hesitate to answer. No, I do not feel the current number of forces will bring peace or the war to an end. I like to say I wrote the book to ask the question, not to answer it……the ques-tion that drove me is, when we launch our foreign wars do we inevitably raise in people the desire for things they can-not have forever….it is not a rhetorical question for me, I don’t have an answer, I am interested in reader feedback.

graduating.After overseeing the launch of the

10,000 Women program in Afghanistan, he was hired in 2008 to build a new international program at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where he designed and managed projects that provided civic education to, and exchange with, emerging democracies. The program culminated in a US State Department Funded partnership between a religious minority community in Afghanistan and an inner city school in Philadelphia, in which Afghan and American students worked together to produce an interactive museum exhibition, opening simultaneously in Kabul and Philadelphia.

Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he received his Bachelor’s in Public Policy Studies and a certificate in media and democracy from Duke University, and a Masters in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, where he was named a Graduate Fellow at the Stanford Center for International Conflict and Negotiation.

Jeff, your book, The Last Thousand, is amazing. I could not help thinking while reading it that you barely speak Dari or Farsi and yet, you were able to capture not only the words but the

emotions of the Afghans whom you interviewed. How were you able to do that using interpreters? I want to give credit to many who helped with translations, but I espe-cially want to say that Saeid Madadi and Bismellah Aliza-da practically co-authored the book with me. They spent hours with me before the interviews understand-ing not just the words of the questions but the WHY of the question. Many times they gave me background, history

Jeffrey E. Stern is the author of The Last Thousand, forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press on January 26, 2016. The book takes place during America’s final year of military occupation in Afghanistan. The stakes of war are explored through the intertwining lives of five members of the Marefat School, an institution in the Western slums of Kabul built by one of the country’s most vulnerable minority groups, as the school community prepares for the departure of foreign troops.

At the age of twenty-three, Jeffrey Stern went to Afghanistan as a freelance writer. While reporting on the conflict in the region for several national publications, he worked with the American University of Afghanistan as it launched its Professional Development Institute. He also co-authored a proposal for a women’s business program that became the first Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative. The Afghanistan program has provided training to 300 women, more than 60% of whom either start a new business, or increase their business’s revenue, within a year of

So the question, is war necessary to have peace is not a question you have an answer for? Exactly, I am conflicted, I am torn about it. And it brings up a similar question for me, whether women’s rights and minority rights are universal. If you answer yes, can you be a pacifist? Are those two things incoherent? You can’t be a fighter for rights and a pacifist at the same time.

When you were travelling, researching and interviewing to write this book was there anything that surprised you… something you had not expected? For me it was the women we interviewed. I guess as many Westerners I had a pre-conceived vision of females in Afghani-stan being walled off, private about themselves, their needs, their feelings. I never expected to get to know Afghan women so deeply. In our interviews I was often amazed at their wit, their openness to express their feelings. As soon as they learned what the book was about they were so cooperative and they demand-ed to have their real names used, even though I still feel the risk is too, great. I worry about the potential danger.

Any plans for another book? At the moment I am working on several long lingering projects and I am involved in co-authoring another book. I have a pro-posal into my publisher for a book that asks an even bigger question than The Last Thousand did.

Jeff, thank you very much for your time and I look forward to reading more by you.

The Last Thousand: One School's Promise in a Nation at War

Interview with Jeffrey E. Stern, author of The Last Thousand

Editor-in-Chief: Ali Reza Yasa, ChairmanEditor: Kara LozierDesigner: Musa AutbinDistribution Manager: Najibullah Malikpoor 0785103920

Add: Star Avenue, Sabiqa Stop, Dehburi, Kabul.Phone: +93-785 10 39 20 +93-744 56 37 55Email: interstellarbulletin@gmail.com Website: http://www.star.edu.af

...the question that drove me is, when we launch our foreign wars do we inevitably raise in people the desire for things they

cannot have forever….it is not a rhetorical question for me, I don’t have an answer, I am interested in reader feedback."