Fieldnotes on Humanity

A woman who recently went to Kabul for the first time has often posted on her facebook about public sexual harassment on the streets of Kabul. To be honest, sexual harassment is quiet common in Muslim countries where women are restricted not to have public appearance. But, specifically, in the Afghan culture and society which is extremely religious and traditional, public sexual harassment is not only common but people enjoy if they harass women either by their looks or words. Even in less conservative city like Kabul, women are facing intimidation and regular sexual assault on a daily bases . But when it comes to school girls they are often victimized by male carrying knifes and acid. In 2009, the Ministry of Education has reported that within eight months, 138 students and teachers have died and 172 have been wounded in criminal and terror attacks. About 651 schools have closed and another 122 school buildings have been blown up or burned down. Based on United Nations Populatio...

Since a long time ago, I had this in my mind to speak up publicly that I enjoy translation in Afghan languages. I used to work as translator for various publications and publishers in Afghanistan. As you might be aware, it is important for a translator to be well-versed in origin language, grammatical and verbal aspects. I tried to find some of my friends who have been working different NGOs and who have proficiency in at least two foreign languages. So, for several weeks I talked to my friends in Kabul and outside, we made a small group of translation that work as freelancer. I am the director and responsible for any kinds of inquiries. Therefore, if you guys need translator please contact me and what we are doing is as following: Dari/Farsi/Persian translations Translating from Dari* (Farsi) to English or English to Dari (Farsi) is the core strength of our smart team, who have unfathomed capacity to translate any kinds of text. Most of our translators are working with the United Nati...

Last year, President Obama reconsidered some of the assumptions of the counterinsurgency strategy but he forgot to reconsider fighting against drugs. He conceded the perilousness of Taliban and insurgency but he neglected to consider that Afghanistan has a silent and devastating enemy which is drug. According to the Christian Science Monitor , until March 2008, about 1 million of Afghanistan's 34 million people were drug users, and the majority of these lived in the country's principal cities, based on UNODC estimation. Map of Afghanistan showing major poppy fields and intensity of conflict 2007-08 Today, with an estimation, two million Afghans struggling with drug addiction . Even different source offers that there are more than two million drug users in the country. Just in two years, the number of dug users doubled. It is important for for the US and the world communities to reconsider the assumption of the counter-narcotic as a pivotal Afghan problem . Today, mo...

I just published a picture of an addict on my Photography website who I met in the abandoned Russian Cultural Center in Kabul. In the winter of 2008, I was assigned by UNAMA to picture the life of drug addicts in Kabul. I lived two streets away from the area where the addicts congregated during the cold winter. I passed by the wreckage of the building every day. One day, as I walked through the snow, mud and debris adjacent to the building, I found a dead body lying in the snow. Read more...

Interestingly enough, the U.S is now deeply in trouble with Karzai, I was thinking that Karzai made April fool's joke but it seems Karzai is very serious and he once again slammed the United States. On Monday, April 4, President Karzai, who was talking to Pashton tribal elders in Kandahar, once again attacked US and said that the Taliban insurgency would become a legitimate resistance movement if the meddling doesn't stop . According to Wall Street Journal, at one point, Karzai suggested that He himself would be compelled to join the other side —that is, the Taliban—if the parliament didn't back his controversial attempt to take control of the country's electoral watchdog from the United Nations, according to three people who attended the meeting, including an ally of the president. His remarks are widely reflected in Afghan media but all founded naive and destructive for the country. A few of them called upon Karzai that there are two options for him: "joini...

------ I just published a post on my Farsi blog regarding to Karzai’s caustic comments that recently said : "No doubt, there was huge fraud, there was vast fraud," Karzai said Thursday in a speech before the Independent Election Commission. "The fraud is not by the Afghans. This fraud has been done by the foreigners." Also the most toxic part is the one that he provocatively addressed the West that they shouldn't do something against his willing otherwise all Afghans will stand against foreign forces. In the meantime, Abdullah Abdullah, who lost to him in the disputed election, a ccused Karzai of undermining the morale of the Afghan military by implying that the country was under foreign occupation. "It was extraordinary … this is treason to the national interest. What is the message to the thousands of soldiers and national police defending the country?" he said."[Karzai] thinks that by taking that message he has delivered a populist sta...

When he was a child, Nasim Fekrat ’13 stood by a boulder at his parents’ farm in Afghanistan and watched other children heading off to school. His father, taking a break from tending to wheat, cows and sheep, walked over and asked, “Do you want to go to school with those children or do you want to be a shepherd? If you want to be a student, you might have a bright future, but you still have to work hard.” Read more... There is an article written by Bill Sulon one my college's extra features' writers about humble me. I appreciate Bill who actually done a nice job. Briefly, I have talked to him about blogging and the impacts of blog on my life and its impacts on the society as a new tool for freedom of speech. As internet is soaring in Afghanistan, the ministry of information and culture has recently announced that they are going to enact restrictions on web usage. This issue turned into a big concern now and it raising fears of censorship. Anyway, I will specifically ...