Fieldnotes on Humanity

It is said that the Afghan-Chinese relationship goes back to the seventh century when Chinese monks traveled through Silk Road to visit the Buddha statues in Bamyian, blown up by Taliban in 2001. The Silk Road was not only used for a pilgrimage purpose, but also an extensive interconnected route for trade which stretched across Afghanistan and connected the Asia. It was not only for religious and business reasons that monks and merchants throughout the history traveled to Afghanistan; in 1957, Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier He Long visited Afghanistan which marked the beginning of the first diplomatic relationship in the history of Afghanistan and China. Since then, Afghanistan and China ties were bound in formal visiting and nothing remarkable happened until 1963, when a boundary treaty was signed between the two countries. Afghanistan shares a 76km border to its north with China which is known as Wakhan Corridor. However, relations between the two countries were quite gloomy...

We live with our memories, and those memories are part of our past, the past which is connected with our tradition, religion, and culture. We are who we are, and sometimes we carry our values with us wherever we go, no matter how far-flung the corners of the world are. I am carrying my people's and villagers' immemorial custom with me, which connects me to a land that takes great pride in itself, no matter if it is devastated by war. Tonight, I shared the customs of Eid al-Fitr with Dickinson students. Telling the story about my village, my family and relatives and how we were celebrating, I felt exalted at the dinner table. Students became more curious about Eid and wanted to learn more about my village. I wish I had had enough time to talk more about it. Most of the students who celebrated Eid were Americans; they either had been on an abroad program in the Middle East, which Dickinson offers, or were pursuing majors in Middle Eastern studies. By the way, these are the lines ...

Eid al Fitr is one the most important holidays among Muslims, especially among Afghans. I've been out of the country for nearly three years and now God knows how much I miss Eid, how much I miss my village, my family and relatives. Until last year, I was resisting not to even about it. I now admit that this year, on the threshold of Eid I began to feel more and more homesick. I now remember those days, hennaining our hands, waking up early and taking bath, washing our teeth and breaking our fast with family. What a joyful days. While thinking about Eid and feeling homesick, I found a clip of an old Afghan song from 1960s - sang by Mohammad Hussain Sarahang who was a master in Afghan classical music. Here is the clip and by the way it's sang in Dari/farsi, underneath of this clip you will find the translation in English. Gladden my spirit, it is sad. Be kind to my heart, it is impoverished. The very first day I laid eyes on you, I said: "The one that will darken my days i...

On Wednesday, May 18, a deadly NATO night raid on a house that left four dead sparked a massive protest that 12 people killed after the police forces opened fire on a 2,000 crowd. Reports on Taloqan's raid are vary, some say that the four people who are killed yesterday were members of Taliban while others strongly believe they were members of Al Qaeda. I have been watching the Afghan news outlets, probing for details but could not find any detail whether those four people who are killed by NATO were the Al Qaeda members or not. However, the Fighting for Bin Laden 's documentary on the PBS website which reveals a lot about the influence of Al Qaeda in northern Afghanistan provides a clue that they might have been linked with Al Qaeda members. Meanwhile 13 others died in a separate incident when a suicide bomber drove an explosive car into a bus carrying police academy trainers in Nangarhar province. These incidents are wracking the country while NATO forces are planning to h...

Many people are writing and discussing the outcome of Osama Bin Laden’s death, will his death make the world safe and is this a final nail in the coffin of Al Qaeda? These are part of the big questions on his death which have been raised during the last 48 hours. Yet, there is a crucial question that no one touched on: was this operation inside Pakistan possible without the ISI assistance? The answer for this question is simply no. The reality that lies behind this operation must have been caused by a deep rift inside the Pakistani intelligence service otherwise this operation would not be possible without cooperation between the ISI and CIA. It is now quite crystal clear for everyone that Osama was under the safeguard of ISI for the past few years. The fortified million dollar compound in which he dwelt and its location next to a military academy makes it clear that he was enjoying living under ISI protection. The ISI has so far simply said that it did not know about the operation, a...

In a country like Saudi Arabia in which media is controlled by the Kingdom, blogs have become an alternative source of news and opinion in recent years. Saudi is ranked second in the Arab world for having the most bloggers, trailing only behind Egypt. According to BBC , the number of Saudi bloggers (both male and female) was between 500-600 in both English and Arabic. Like many other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia is restrictive in its blogosphere. In 2008, Fouad Al-Farhan, a well-known blogger was arrested for his criticism of the government’s corruption and his call for political reform. In 2011, in the wake of uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi government enacted stringent new regulations forcing bloggers to register and obtain government licenses in order to publish online. According to this law , all Saudi news blogs and electronic news sites now must be strictly licensed, and are required to “include the call to the religion of Islam”...

-- Here in a program directed by Riz khan on Al Jazeera, young Palestinians and Israelis face off in a debate about their past, present and future. What do they think about their leaders, and do they think that they will see peace in their lifetime? It seems that to Israeli youth, the pain of Palestinians is not quite understandable. What to blame? Their ignorance? State's manufacturing knowledge and history fed to the youth? How do Israelis learn about their country's history? A country that was built from ashes? Ashes of Palestinians? Who lived there before? What happened to the Palestinians who lived there?  (I assume the same questions apply to settlers of the US, Canada, and Australia. What happened to the indigenous population?) Palestinians have suffered from multiple losses, including losses of territories and also human beings since the formation of Israel in 1948. On the other side, Palestinian youth are complaining about the way they are treated by the Israeli soldie...

I just opened up my twitter account and tweeted Greg Mortenson , the author of the well-known book “Three Cups of Tea”: “What's up Greg? It seems your Three Cups of Tea spilled over dirt. I never heard of your schools in Afghanistan. Why is that?” Last night, the 60 minutes report, raised questions on the accuracy of the Three Cups of Tea. According to CBS , the show "also checked on schools that Central Asia Institute claims to have built in Pakistan and Afghanistan and found that some of them were empty, built by somebody else, or simply didn't exist at all. The principals of a number of schools said they had not received any money from Central Asia Institute in years." CBS also said that the dramatic stories in the best-selling "Three Cups of Tea" have become the source of speeches Mortenson is paid to make and the partial basis of nearly $60 million in donations to the charity he founded. In 2009, while I was at Duke University on a media fellowship pro...

Daunting news from Egypt in post-mubarakism surprised the world by jailing a blogger for three years . It shocked people because even in the Mubarak era, jailing bloggers was not as common as these last two months after Mubarak was forced to leave the power. The only and the first case during Mubarak was K areem Amir who was sentenced to 4 years in jail because of allegedly insulting Islam and Husni Mubarak. According to BBC , Maikel Nabil was arrested last month for blog posts where he criticized the role of the Egyptian Army during anti-government uprising. Based AFP , a military court sentenced him to three years in prison. The Maikel Nabil case harks back to Mubarak era; it seems the Army is still remaining in its authoritarian nature and it would likely be hard to expect changes in institutions like the military. It clearly tells us that Egyptian Army does not tolerate criticism and it raises lots of unanswered questions about whether people’s efforts would finally succeed to a...

Malalai Joya is c urrently touring the United States and I am a bit confused at what she hopes to accomplish here. She speaks poorly of the U.S, NATO, International Communities, and everyone in Afghanistan. She sometimes appears to be a feminist, sometimes a politician, and sometimes a human rights activist. Some believe that she fails to fulfill all these roles, but rather wants to be the center of attention. She does not have a clear agenda as to when she wants the NATO troops out of Afghanistan. She also demands US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a demand she shares with the Taliban. If NATO troops leave Afghanistan Joya would not have chance to speak out like now. Here what she says : “The Afghan people are squashed between three enemies: the Taliban, warlords, and occupation forces.” She always rants and raves about government, the Taliban, NATO forces and warlords which are all pointless. Warlords have no power anymore; they were devastated and disarmed four years ago. They have n...

Finally, after heartbreaking news from mass murder of more than 1,000 people in Ivory Coast, we have got some good news on UN and French troops humanitarian intervention in that country. According to BBC, the UN has said that three generals loyal to Ivory Coast's besieged President Laurent Gbagbo are negotiating terms for surrender in return for guarantees of safety for him and themselves. Also, for the past days, thousands of people crossed the border to take refuge in Liberia. In meantime, the The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has warned that the dispute in Ivory Coast could destabilize adjacent Liberia. Obama has also issued a sternly worded statement for Ivory Coast's besieged former President Laurent Gbabgo, saying: " To end this violence and prevent more bloodshed, former President Gbagbo must stand down immediately ."

The humanitarian intervention of Western power commits a double standard if they do not intervene in Ivory Coast to stop the massacre. People believe that the Western intervention on Libya is based on some benefits rather than a humanitarian intervention. In Ivory Coast, there is a massacre going on right now where 200 UN peacekeepers are not capable of preventing a mass murder. According to aid agencies, at least 1,000 people have been killed in an act of mass murder by forces loyal to President-elect Alassane Quattara. The news came out just a few weeks after NATO’s intervention in the war in Libya. One would ask why do NATO allies not intervene in Ivory Coast to stop the massacre? Well, let’s see what will happen in the next few days. French troops have already taken control of the airport in the commercial capital Abeidjan as the fighting continues in the country. The answer to the aforementioned question is quiet clear. The countries involved in Libya’s war are taking aim to pr...

What the heck is going on in Iran? The Iranian regime put more constraints on its people and now they even have a problem burying their dead. On Thursday, more than 7 people were arrested while attending a funeral for the father of one of the reformist leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi. The Green Movement website says that government security forces surrounded Mousavi’s home in Tehran as people were gathered for a funeral. It says that there was a confrontation between mourners and policemen in plain clothes who seized the coffin, forcefully placed it in a ambulance, and took it to a burial ceremony. Furthermore it says, while a confrontation erupted between mourners and police forces, the police forces in plain clothes attacked mourners, beaten them up and arrested more than seven funeral attendants. It has been since February 14 that opposition’s leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi along with their wives have been put under house arrest, after they called for a rally in support...

Last week I tweeted : "I had a bizarre morning, lost keys and forgot my power adapter at the coffee shop, one of the laundry dryer machines did work, had to redo it ," a few minutes later, I got this tweet from a user saying : " We can get you a new set of keys!" There was also another company who tweeted me saying that they sold the best key leashes. These companies advertise their products through twitter, watching for key words and checking who tweets what, isn't that amazing? Compare these tweets with the tweets that are being sent out from the Middle East, telling of how many people died in anti-government protests while government media denies them. It's quite ironic that on the other side of the world, people use twitter for their liberation from oppressive regimes while on this side of the world, people use twitter to advertise their products. For one part of the world, twitter has become a powerful source of communication, spreading out their ang...

Today, March 21, 2011 marks the fifth anniversary of the first tweet ever sent. PCWorld has counted five milestones from the past five years , two of them are the most important to me: 1. The role of Twitter in coverage of Iranian elections. 2. Twitter in Tunisia and Egypt which help protesters organizing their protests and finally we unexpectedly saw the demise of authoritarian regimes one after another. Here is a fascinating video of some important figures telling why twitter is important to them.

According to a recent news report , the Iranian government jailed two opposition leaders alongside their wives on Sunday, February 27. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi had been under house arrest since the February 14th demonstration. The protest on February 14th, called 25Bahman, was organized by Green movement in sympathy for Egyptian uprising but was cracked down by the government. As Iranian government put more pressure on oppositions, there is some news about the outbreak of a widespread protest tomorrow across Iran. Social networking sites which belong to the Green movement say that tomorrow will be an important day for Iran - an important day on which people would have a peaceful demonstration against the government that jailed their leaders. Tomorrow’s demonstration coincides with Mousavi’s birthday. The Green movement website has already announced that the tomorrow’s demonstration will follow the same pattern as February 14th and will likely continue until their leaders...

It seems like a ridiculous weekend so far. On Friday night, I twisted my knee while I was playing soccer. The ground was quite sticky so I couldn’t turn my body as quickly as I normally would but my weight went on my left leg and tweaked at 90 degrees. My body was spontaneously rotated and rolled on the ground like a rock loosens from its bed and rolls down the valley. First I thought I tore my ACL or tendon, but when I saw part of my knee had popped out, I pushed it back into its usual place. It went back amazingly but the pain has not gone yet. I start walking for little bit when suddenly it popped up again and I again fell to the ground. This time, I could not move my body, so one of the soccer player called emergency and I was taken to the emergency room at Carlisle regional medical center. It took me half an hour to do the paper work- imagine if this were to happen to someone who was in a very critical situation, what would it look like. I was pushed in a wheelchair and a nurse dr...

I have been following the Egyptian uprising closely, and besides blogging I have been tweeting constantly. One would ask why I am so curious and care about Egyptian events, which have seemingly nothing to do with my country. Well, the answer can be anything, particularly including the fact that Egypt is influential on regional level and, more importantly, in Muslim world. It is not clear yet whether these upheavals will put Egypt in a crisis or lead to a prosperous situation However, in any case, changes in Egypt will impact the Muslim world in general and Afghanistan in particular. According to the BBC , since the 1950s, Afghanistan and Egypt have had a long cultural relationship; there has been a formal educational exchange contract between the countries. Since that time, thousands of Afghan students have been sent to Al Azhar University to learn religious subjects. The most obvious impact of Egypt is the birth of the Afghan Muslim Brotherhood party, which was founded by those studen...

Have you ever heard the saying "I think, therefore I am?" Well, that is a philosophical phrase said by Rene Descartes, a 17th century French philosopher. He simply wanted to demonstrate his existence and to prove that he is capable of thinking, therefore he is alive. I've twisted the phrase to "I blog, therefore I am." Today, we are in the 21st century and to simply regurgitate what Descartes has already said, we get a palpable meaning of "I think, therefore I am. It goes beyond its existentialism definition. Perhaps Descartes was trying to explore the reason of existence philosophically, but if he had lived today and been able to observe the changes in today's world, he probably would have said something different. He would see how much the world has changed and, with today's powerful mass communication tools like the internet, everyone has the ability to express themselves and demonstrate that they are because they are able to think and create thi...

Of course everyone is in a state of bewilderment, especially those who follow the news on Egypt's upheavals. For the last hours I have been reading some confusing opinion which were saying that Egypt will meet the same fate that Iran did. It is simply an assumption that doesn't necessarily represent or relate to the major theme but it can be counted as a concern. We should not be confused or naively believe in what we hear from news channels. They are still struggling to realize what to do, how to frame their news, what their narratives should be regarding to Egypt upheavals. But one thing is clear to us that all these news channels are trying their best to cover the uprising. One thing has been vexing me for the last few hours that the Western media are trying to portray the Egyptian uprising as a pro-democracy movement. Of course it's up to them what kind of narrative or interpretation they give out to their audience but if we carefully look at those placards and slogans...

As Egypt uprising enters its seven day and makes its way to the entire Middle East, some countries already shocked and have fears that their citizens might be provoked against their governments. Chinese government has already started blocking micro-blogs that talk about Egyptian unrest. At the same time, Iranian government enforced censorship of the news from Egypt on its news channels. Not only news channels forced to censor news from Egypt, the Iranian regime also blocked he BBC and social networks Facebook and Twitter . For the last days, hundreds of Iranian bloggers were also complaining about news channels that they abstained publishing images of protesters in Egypt. They also have been saying that the Iranian news channels incessantly called the Egyptian uprising an Islamic movement against corruption, secularism and against the government which was pro-Israel and the United States. On popular community website " balatarin " Iranian bloggers discuss that for the last 48...

For the last days, I have been kept saying that uprising became a trendy in the entire Middle East. The Tunisian revolution emulated by Egyptian protesters and today the Egyptian unrest is entering to its fifth day. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak sacked his government after four days of street protests. Today, he named the intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as his first ever vice-president in order to control the situation. As pressure is mounting for President Mubarak due to widespread demonstrations against his government, perhaps, the Western world would ponder and wonder what is next and what they would expect out of all these upheavals in the Middle East. We should keep in mind that we will be witnessing lots of changes in the Middle East in new future. Today, the Tunisian uprising not only inspired Egyptian citizens but also Yemenis. Yemenis already started a similar act against their government, according to New York Times, thousands of people rallied on the streets against ...

Here are some pictures in slide show that I've been taking for past years, roughly between 2003 and 2009. Most of those recent-uploaded pictures are from my workshops that I have been teaching blogging and online journalism for Afghan youth. The workshops have sporadically been taking place between 2006 and 2009. I thought it worth to put them in slide here on my blog as to showcase my works on digital Afghanistan. I'm still working on a project to develop blogging in Afghanistan, hopefully, soon, I will come out with some good news. Anyhow, I'm inviting you to observe these picture from very a volatile and insecure zone like Helmand to quite secure places like Herat, Bamiyan, Kunduz and Kabul.

Let me begin by saying this that Afghanistan is not a safe place for journalists, writers and bloggers. If you think you are safe you must be either supported by the government or some Islamic radical factions otherwise you are on your own and always exposed to different kinds of dangers. Just a few days ago I heard Razaq Mamoon was attacked by an unknown assailant who sprayed acid on his face . I worked with him for a year; I was astonished by his capability and talent. He is not simply a journalist; he is a novelist and a great playwright. In his interview with the media, he accused Iranian intelligence service has hand in the assault. He has been criticizing Iran over a number of issues. Recently, he wrote a book about Ahmad Shah Massoud’s assassination, he claimed in his book that Iran was involved Massoud’s killing . Karzai condemned the attacked and asked promised that his government will investigate the case. I’m having doubt that Karzai have a memory. When Samad Rohani, the BB...

It was last year at this time of the year; I was torn apart with the grief and sorrow at my mom’s death . I was at school when I heard she passed away. That night, I was left in shock and couldn't recover for a long time. The grief was heavy on my shoulders as I was away from home.  It was fall semester and I experienced a grievous loss. I didn’t tell anyone why I was sad and instead I isolated myself in my room and rarely walked out to the café and gym. I came to Philadelphia to spend my winter break with my host family and friends. My host family celebrated my birthday, and it was the first time in my life. When I was in Afghanistan, I used to consider it unimportant and no one really cared about it.  That night, at dinner table, my hostess told me that when I get back home I should thank my mom for bringing me into this world. A sudden sharp grief chocked in my throat shortly, I resisted and I embraced her suggestion and said to her: “I will, I will.” No one realized the ...

In 2008, during a hot summer of Kabul, while I was wandering around the city of Kabul and trying to raise money in order to rent an internet café to teach blogging and online journalism to the students and journalists who were interested in doing citizen journalism, I approached a young documentary filmmaker who randomly spoke to me about the Oscar Award. He mentioned the movie ‘ Waltz with Bashir ,’ which was nominated for that award, but because I lived in a country that seemed disconnected from the rest of the world, I would never have hoped to watch the latest movies. Therefore, I never expected to watch “Waltz with Bashir” until I was assigned to write about it for my class. The movie “Waltz with Bashir” is an Israeli animated documentary written and directed by Ari Folman. Folman served in the Israeli army and was an infantry soldier. He depicts his memories of nightmares of two refugee camps: Sabra and Shatila. At a time when the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) occupied Beirut and b...

I spent two days last week in New York, having been invivted by Oxfam to cover the events of UN Week, and the Summit on the Millennium Development Goals. These were the final two days, and they were packed full with many great events happening Here I highlight just a few of the many inspirational, informative, and occasionally troubling events that highlighted UN Week Digital Media Lounge. Thursday morning kicked off with an Oxfam breakfast disccussion about the Pakistani flood, which is affecting more people than the Tsunami of 2004, the Earthquake in Haiti, or Hurricane Katrina. The guest speaker was Dr. Donya Aziz, Pakistan’s youngest MP, and a long term advocate for health, education and womens empowerment in Pakistan. The program was moderated by Øistein Moskvil Thorsen, a humanitarian campaigner for the Oxfam. While by now it is common knowledge among international humanitarians that The discussion focussd on the continuing effects of the flood. While it has bee...

As usual, you come back from gym, sit on computer, log onto e-mail, read the newest e-mail and you are suddenly burst with excitement after read them, jump up and down like a child, grab the cell phone, look up the numbers to share the good news with a friend, start scroll through names from top to bottom but you can’t find someone on the list, someone who can express his/her enthusiasm towards your excitement. You pause and think for a moment how lonely you are sometimes. Suddenly, a cold sweat tumble down your cheek and you still think someone is missing from your list.

It is the cruelest week in this season; especially, when its days last longer and its hours operate slower when it is hot and humid. The cruelest part is when the mourning dove starts singing early in the morning and it goes on till frustration deepen to nerves. Then you have to challenge with your sadness that followed by your own insanity. The season that everyone starts leaving or about to leave for a short journey or a long one, it reminds me that this is also the season of when every living thing in desert swoons south toward some dream of a Gulf and better climate (if we human beings respect and protect the environment); I guess they also test the horizon while human beings are not able to see it because of shortsightedness or may be they are not able to be so ambitious to fly that high and see the horizon. Down here is blocked by cloud, fog and bushes. To see the horizon, indeed, we need flying up there to see the better horizon. My mom (Janet) is flying tomorrow, I envy her amb...

In November 2008, I received a phone call at my home in Afghanistan from Information Safety and Freedom ( ISF ) an Italian nongovernmental organization that supports free speech, notifying me that I (and Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a journalism student at Balkh University), were the two international journalists to receive its award. The winners, I was told, would travel to Italy for an awards ceremony. But I knew that would be impossible -- Kambaksh was in Kabul's prison. In October 2007, Afghan police arrested him for blasphemy, after he allegedly downloaded and distributed information about the role of women in Islamic societies, and he was sentenced to death in early 2008. His sentence was later commuted to 20 years in prison, after outcries from Afghan journalists and right groups. I received the ISF award for my work on a weekly satire cartoon magazine and blog, which was shut down in 2004. I received numerous death threats and was forced to leave the country for seven ...