Fieldnotes on Humanity

Yesterday, a  suicide bomber entered into a classroom of tow-hundred students  in an education center and blew himself up. The attack happened in Dashte Barchi, a predominantly Hazara area in western of Kabul. As a result, 48 people were killed and more than 70 were injured. They were all students aging from ten to eighteen, and they were all from ethnic Hazara. This kind of attacks have been increasing against the Hazaras. The central government which is run by Ashraf Ghani, an ethnocentric leader, has done nothing to stop violence against the Hazaras, instead, he and his government have shown acceptance and enthusiasm for the Taliban  and ISIS insurgents who commit the atrocities. Hazaras are left alone, and targets against them are even justified by the Afghan government. This  BBC journalist tweet  indicates that. An official of the Afghanistan's National Security Council has told him that Hazaras are Iranian spies. This is a dangerous machination to de...

A couple of days ago, I was listening to NPR while making my breakfast. There was an interview with two American veterans in Afghanistan Keith Alaniz and Emily Miller talking about their efforts to import Saffron from Afghanistan and sell it in the United States. (Check out the their  interview here ). I wrote a note for myself to write something about it and today, as I was cleaning the closet, I saw the note. This is actually for the first time an Afghan product is going to be available nationwide in the United States. Saffron is the most coveted and the most costly spice in the world  For the past decade an a half, this "red gold" spice has been given an incentive for Afghan farmers to grow as an alternative to opium poppies, which is a source of heroin. It is exciting to hear that a high quality spice from Afghanistan is going to be found at American kitchens soon. This may provide a different image of Afghanistan and its people, other than war and violence, somet...