Zahir Qadir Warns Rising Khurasan Province by Islamic StateHaji Zahir Qadir warns against forming Khurasan province by Islamic State in some parts of Afghanistan. He says that Islamic State militants are trying to...Page 4

Christians of KabulRula Ghani, the first lady of Afghanistan, is a Christian. It was beyond people’s imagination. She is the first Christian who became the wife of a leader in Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani faced many challenges during his presidential campaign, one of which was...Page 3

Saturday, November 26, 2016 Vol. 2, No. 58

2. Personal Essays3. Community4-5. News

6. Star Related7. Literary8. Interview

See Inside Quote of the Week“The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings"

― Wendell Berry

Star Educational Society Weekly

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

“Be the Change that you Wish to See in the World” “Be the change that you wish to see in the world” is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi that many of us have heard and been moved by. But even as we have quoted, cited, coached it and counseled with it, we don’t often hear the story behind it..... Page 6

replied, "Oh, I remember you. At that time we were just small girls and attended elementary classes. Now we have just fin-ished our bachelor’s degrees in sociology and plan to study English again." The el-der added. "It is very nice to see you after a decade."

The two left to see the cashier and before leaving the elder girl asked, "By the way uncle, what is your job here?" "My job now? I am the Executive Direc-tor of Star’s five branches and Star High School." They scoffed and silently left the office with very surprised faces. They approached the cashier and asked him, “Excuse me sir, eleven years ago when my sister and I studied in B Branch Mr. Changiz used to be the director, could you please tell us who is responsible for the execution of Star programs now?" The cashier said, "The guy who you were just talking to is our Director."

The girls came back embarrassed and in a very apologetic tone asked me to give them a speaking test. I evaluated them and told them to join their classes. Since then, they are my best students and we have established a great rapport.

An experience such as this one is a gift that illuminates my soul. I reflect on the path that has led me to my esteemed position at Star now and the paths that many Starians have taken to advance and improve in their lives, including these two recent university graduates. As a watch-man many years ago, Star gave me the recognition and self-confidence that no other organization could have given me. And I, on the occasion of Thanksgiving week, take this opportunity to extend my most cordial gratitude to everyone who has passed through these doors with me, including students, teachers, support staff, volunteers and everyone who has been instrumental in making Star a great and memorable place for generations to come.

It has been over a decade that I have been emotionally connected to Star. During these eleven years, I have in-vested both emotionally and physi-cally in making Star a great place for

anyone who passes through the doors of our various branches. At Star, our com-munity is a family of shrewd and gifted Starians who are committed, tolerant to-ward differences, and value strength and quality service.

During these long years of hard work, I have faced both good and bad times, but there has always been one steady thing that has given me strength when I have felt weakened by the load of work or pressure of deadlines - the goal of making Star an ideal educational environment. Sometimes the rewards are not tangible ones, but are rewards much richer than money or material things. The value of a simple “Thank You,” a smile, or witness-ing the pride, pleasure and satisfaction in the eyes of either students or teachers who work for you is greater than anything money can buy.

It was just last month when I stepped into the office and saw two girls busy tak-ing the entrance exam in the corner of the room. I instantly recognized one of them and remembered that I had seen her in Star many years earlier. I kept looking at both girls when one of them glanced back at me and asked, "Uncle, what is your job here?" Without answering them, I asked, "Were you two sisters Star students be-fore?" The elder replied, "Yes, nearly 11 years ago in B branch."

I smiled and approached the seat near them, "I knew I recognized the two of you and remembered you both from many years ago in B Branch in Barchi." The younger one asked me, "How do you know us and what were you doing at that time?" I answered, "I was the watchman at B Branch at that time." The same girl

Uncle what is your job here?A Message from Mustafa Hussaini, the Executive Director of Star Educational Society

Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Kabul Mosque... Page 5

Lessons from my mother, a veteran Afghan nurseMy mother is a nurse. Growing up, she would tell me stories about her work and the women she met at the hos-pitals and homes where she worked. These stories were about fear, bravery, deep cultural flaws, and triumph. They gave me a deep sense... Page 2

The two left to see the cashier and before leaving the elder girl asked, "By the way uncle, what is your job here?" "My job now? I am the Ex-ecutive Director of Star’s five branches and Star High School." They scoffed and silently left the office with very surprised faces.

November 26th, 2016

Vol.2, No. 58 Personal Essays

Page 2

at Mastoraad Hospital (now Maiwand Hospital) and I will make sure you go to nursing school,” she said.

I was in ninth grade then. When the time came, I took the Kankor exam (the national entrance exam for university) and I was accepted to nursing school. I went to study at Mastoraad Hospital’s school. Raheela helped pay for my edu-cational costs for the three years that I was there. I graduated top of my class and I received my diploma from King Mohmmad Zahir Shah himself.

After graduation, I was assigned to the Operations Ward in Ali Abad Hospi-tal. I worked there for 16 years. For more than 12 of those years, I was the head nurse.

Unfortunately, the civil war hap-pened and the turmoil in the country in-creased. Many people were either escap-ing the country or disappearing. That is when I lost touch with Raheela.

I got married and I continued work-ing for another year after my marriage. But the political situation and my own health caused me to ask for an early re-tirement plan.

Raheela’s support may have seemed very small then, but it changed my life. Because I had an education and a job, I was able to help my family financially. When the war broke out, I became a private in-house nurse and midwife in Mazar-e-Sharif, where we fled to during the civil war. When we were in dire situa-tion as refugees in Pakistan and your fa-ther couldn’t find a job, I went back to my profession. I worked at the refugee clinic for four years. Then when we got to Ka-bul…

My mother paused. I knew this was

decided that some old, abandoned shops would be used as classrooms for our school. Four years after the elementary school was established, I was studying 10th grade in another high school. I knew I had the capacity to teach lower classes so my three classmates and I began to work toward that goal. I was always ea-ger to serve the people of my village and teaching seemed like a good path.

The school principal, manager and other experienced instructors discussed and negotiated the subjects to teach. They made a list of the subjects from

Ten years ago, during the transi-tional government of Afghanistan, for-eign troops came to our beloved country to fight terrorist groups, especially the Taliban. I was in the seventh grade at the time, living in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province. At this time, I was work-ing with my father to support my family members while helping my siblings with their lessons as well.

My siblings were all studying in the Waraqa Village elementary school, Hasa-na Waraqa Elementary School. Originally the school had no building until it was

school. Such an achievement made me feel proud to think of the students as my brothers and sisters. I visited the school several times after I left the area for my university studies. It is the nicest school in all the neighboring areas. I thank God for supporting us and allowing us to wit-ness such great achievements.

Lessons from my mother, a veteran Afghan nurse

My mother is a nurse. Growing up, she would tell me stories about her work and the women she met at the hospitals and homes where she worked. These sto-ries were about fear, bravery, deep cul-tural flaws, and triumph. They gave me a deep sense of solidarity with the women of my country.

Recently I sat to interview my mother with the intention of writing one of her stories. I started by asking her about how she ended up going to school and became a nurse. Here is a part of her story in her own words:

I was born to poor illiterate parents. I was the eldest of seven children. It was hard for my parents to make ends meet. From a very young age, I wanted to be ed-ucated. I was lucky because my parents also knew the value of education so they were supportive. However, due to my family’s financial situation, as a young girl I started working at a public bath-house alongside my mother.

One day at the public bathhouse, a woman came up to me and asked: “Do you go to school, little girl?”

“Yes. I go to school,” I said.“You shouldn’t be working here. You

should be studying,” she responded.“I am here during my breaks.” She went on to ask what I wanted to

become when I am older. When I was a child, Afghanistan was a very different country from what it is now. Nurses wore caps and gowns and those uniforms re-ally appealed to me as a young child. So without hesitation, I told her that I want-ed to become a nurse.

The woman took my hand.“My name is Raheela Mujtaba. I am

the vice president of the nursing school

hard for both of us to say.“Yes, I remember,” I interrupted. My

father passed away suddenly when we re-turned from Pakistan to Kabul. When he died so unexpectedly, we didn’t know how we would survive.

My mother’s courage and tenacity landed her a job with a private clinic in Kabul. She became the sole breadwinner of the family. She had the insurance to stay economically independent from our extended family. She worked hard day and night so that her three children could go to school and receive an education.

Towards the end of our conversation my mother shared an important lesson for her daughters:

You know that I always advocated

for the girls in our family to go to school. I want them to get an education, which is of course crucial, but I also wanted them to study beyond high school and to have a profession. Because, as life has taught us, there are so many hurdles and unex-pected problems. If you are economically dependent, you will have an even hard-er time. But with a profession, you can change that. You will not be economi-cally dependent on anyone, even if you lose a husband or a father. You will have an insurance in their hand that can save you and your community.

In many ways, my mother’s degree was her life insurance. But it didn’t just help her, it helped her entire family, her community, and her country.

the most interesting to the least interest-ing and chose the subjects they wanted to teach. As I sat with them, I lacked the courage to ask them to give me my fa-vorite subjects. Ultimately, they gave me subjects which I knew very little about - Dari, Pashto and English literature and Physics and Mathematics. I had to choose either to teach these subjects or give up being an instructor. Finally, after thoughts circling in my mind for a long time, I made the decision to teach.

I was so interested in teaching. Hence, I worked like a shepherd to pre-pare myself to do a good job. I felt great being respected as a new teacher. There were many issues that we were struggling to resolve, among them was the terrible location of the classrooms. Since the shops were located beside the highway, the muddy road and traffic were a prob-lem. The sound of cars and trucks pass-ing directly in front of the classrooms was a huge distraction.

Although the location of the school had some drawbacks, there were good points about the school as well. Hasana Waraqa Elementary School was a higher quality compared to other neighboring schools. Many of the students from this school became first and second position holders in secondary schools around our village area.

I worked in the school for three years before I left the province to pursue my bachelor’s degree in Kabul. Two years after I was studying in Kabul, the govern-ment finally built a nice building for the

About the author: Abdul Malik Baqeri is a Star alumnus and current teacher at Star’s B Branch. He graduated from Kabul Cen-tral University with a degree in Mechani-cal Engineering. He is also a designer for an HVAC project and an English teacher at Koshan High School.

My Hometown Elementary School

Written by: Maryam LalyRepublished from: http://www.freewomenwriters.org/927-2/

Student nurses attend classes at the maternity hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1950s. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons.

Vol.2, No. 58Community

Page 3November 26th, 2016

30, 1895, encouraged the Armenians of Calcutta to migrate to Kabul to join the small group of Afghan Armenians in Ka-bul in order to help them "not be alone." He had promised them jobs and housing according to their skills.

He sent the letter through an Arme-nian, Saruradin Khan (Lucas Joseph), who was responsible for the Jalalabad bullet making factory, and was going to Calcutta. The next year, he changed his method. That year, he received a letter from Abdul Hamid Sani, the Ottoman Sultan and Caliph of the Muslims, asking him to expel Armenians from their land. The Emir obeyed him and expelled all Armenians from the country. In March 1897, Armenian families left Kabul and Hindi Armenians welcomed them in Pe-shawar.

Even though the Armenians were not in Kabul anymore, they had a big influence on people to the extent that the people used to call "Armenian" and "Christian’’ as one name. For example, in 1839, when the British army put Shah Shejah Malik Durani on the elephant and moved him from India to Kabul and that way made him a leader of Afghanistan. The coins of that time had a poem in it, which said: “Coinage of gold and silver, brighter than the sun and the moon.”

According to the Sultan history, peo-ple of Kabul, for sarcastic and political purposes, explained the poem in a dif-ferent way: “Gold coins and gold wires, Armenian Shah Shejah / the brightness of the ‘Lord and Brun’s’ eyes, and the ‘company’s slave.” In here, Lord refers to Lord Auckland, who was the British In-dian ruler of that time and Bruns refers to Alexander Bruns who was the initiator of Anglo-Afghan War and “Company” re-fers to the East India Company existing at those times.

‘Armenian’ used in this poem means Christian, words that were used inter-changeably in those times. From the oth-er side, people did not behave badly with Armenians but they didn’t have positive views about their religion. People called Shah Shejah Armenian and Christian in this poem because people wanted to say that he was not a Muslim and that was the reason they wanted him to leave leading this Islamic country.

Witty ArmenianAfghanistan had religious tolerance

and a good relationships with non-Mus-lims in the country, including in the lyrics of a love poem that is well-known among the people. There is a famous poem in Pashtu about the Hindus which was sang by a famous Afghan singer, Ahmad Za-her, which says “I am a Muslim and my love is a Hindu.”

About Christians in Kabul, there is a love song called “Witty Armenian,” which is sang by several singers such as Profes-sor Amir Mohammad, Sediq Shabab and Sofi Majid Panjshir with different titles, such as “Witty Armenian,” and “Moon of Russia.” “Witty Armenian” has become famous beyond the borders of Afghani-stan as well, so that there is a song by an Iranian singer, Darya Dadvar, entitled “Christian love” and a singer from Tajiki-stan, Omar Timor, with the title “Moon of Russia.”

The song “Witty Armenian” was writ-ten by a Kabuli poet, Sufi Ashqary (1892-1979). But before there was a poem with diverse lines by a poet from Badakhshan, Hussein Maghmum Darwazi (1880-1946), entitled "Moon Country Russian’’ and it has become famous. When Magh-

of the church. Every time he tried to go back up the chimney, he was thrown back down and could not escape. For the fourth time, he was thrown on the floor and then he remained in the church. He was sure that the Christian’s God did not allow him to leave the church. When the person who was in the church saw him, the thief regretted his behavior and asked for forgiveness and asked church leader to convert him into the Christian religion. Those in the church blessed him with the holy water and in that way there was one more Christian in Kabul.

Armenian Prince We do not know much about Emir

Mohammad Azam Khan’s Christian wife, except that after her husband’s reign, she used to live in the Qazi part of western Ka-bul. But we have more information about his son, Ishaq Khan. Ishaq Khan was his son from his Christian wife and lived for years with Emir Abdulrahman Khan in Samarqand and Bukhara. In 1880, after Emir Abdulrahman became the leader of Afghanistan, Ishaq Khan became the mayor of Turkestan; Turkestan at those times was a part of northern Afghanistan.

Ishaq Khan had a calm personal-ity and this caused him to be loved by the people. This was the reason he was chosen as mayor of Turkestan. This also caused him to become a leader in northern Afghanistan for a short period when AbdulRahman Khan had become ill in 1888. AbdulRahman Khan became very angry when Ishaq Khan replaced him, and as soon as he recovered from the dangerous illness, he sent his army to fight Ishaq Khan’s army. The English writer, Jonathan Lee, writes the story of this battle in details in his book: The An-cient Supremacy: Bukhara, Afghanistan and the Battle for Balkh, 1731-1901.

Before Abdul Rahman’s move to Balkh, he had begun the psychological war against Ishaq Khan. Faiz Mohammad Kateb in Seraj-al-Tawarikh mentions about the letters of Emir to their leaders to fight against the "Armenian people." By the decision of Emir MalikSher Darbar and Mirza Shir Ahmad Jalalabadi, one person from a Pashtoon tribe was asked to compose a poem against Ishaq Khan to be spread among people. Jalalabadi composed a poem against Ishaq Khan that was printed on huge posters in-stalled in public places across the coun-try, especially in the northern part of the country. The ode refers to the Chris-tian mother of Ishaq Khan, which starts with: “Armenian mother named Ishaq /disgusting insect, and lies and hypoc-risy.” Then the poet used satire, threats and sarcasm in poetic language and the poem finished with these verses: “in Kho-rasan, you do not have a chance buddy / o donkey catch the easy way Iraq.” The Armenian prince did not escape to Iraq, but on a narrative approach, went to Rus-sian Turkestan, and according to another version, went to Iran, where his father was living.

Deporting ArmeniansThe Afghan people had always been

dealing with the followers of Jesus and Moses with tolerance and compassion in Kabul. But when it changed from religion to politics, the government of Afghani-stan dealt with religious minorities. Ab-dul Rahman, in a letter dated December

Rula Ghani, the first lady of Afghani-stan, is a Christian. It was beyond peo-ple’s imagination. She is the first Chris-tian who became the wife of a leader in Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani faced many challenges during his presi-dential campaign, one of which was his wife. People would say bad things about his Christian wife. However, on Septem-ber 29, when Ashraf Ghani became the president of Afghanistan, no protests were heard about his wife afterwards.

The first Christian First LadyThe first ever leader in Afghanistan

who had a Christian wife was Ameer Mohammad Azam Khan. He served for a short period, beginning October 17, 1867 and ending February 21, 1868. He was a son of Emir Doost Mohammad Khan (1845-1863) and an uncle of Emir Ab-dulRahman Khan (1880-1901). When his brother, Mohammad Afzal Khan (1866-1867) died from illness in Kabul, the time came for Emir Mohammad Azam Khan to serve his country. But very soon, he gave authority to Emir Sher Ali Khan (1868-1879) to lead the country and he himself spent his remaining life in Iran.

The wife of Mohammad Azam Khan was Timor Khan’s daughter, who was a Christian from Kabul. In the 19th cen-tury, a small group of Christian traders lived in Kabul after they migrated from India to Kabul. Around 200 Christian families migrated to Kabul during Nadir Afshar’s reign, and other families came from Lahor to Kabul during Ahmad Shah Abdali’s reign as a part of his army. There was a church near Balahesar in Kabul where Christians used to live. However, the Englishmen destroyed it during the second Anglo-Afghan war.

In 1842, the father of British army commander Allen visited the Christian church in Kabul and wrote in a report that Armenian people in Afghanistan had increased to 35,000 and they earned money by making and selling wine and other alcoholic drinks. The Central Church, which was located in Asfahan, managed Armenian’s church and a per-son would be sent to Kabul regularly to visit the church. However, from 1830 on-wards, no other person would be sent to this church to visit.

The Central Church existed for sev-eral centuries; however, only one Afghan had converted to Christianity, a man who went to the church with the intention of stealing. This man, who was originally from Kabul, entered the church through the church’s chimney and stole all the silver glasses filled with the holy wa-ter and was looking for a way to get out

mum Darwazi was travelling to Bukhara in 1919 to join a celebration hosted by Emir Alemkhan, the ruler of Bukhara, he was introduced to a beautiful Russian nurse.

At the ceremony two singers sang a song of a poet Mir Said Abdul Ahad Khan of this theme: “Suddenly come witty Ar-menian/ either come and become a Mus-lim or convert me to Christianity now.” People wanted him to compose a poem and dedicate it to the Russian nurse. He composed a poem as requested, which starts with “Russian Moon desire of our religion now / come to mosque, leave the church.” According to Maghmum Dar-wazi, the Russian nurse also spoke Farsi, and gifted him a watch for this poem. Most likely, perhaps all these poems were inspired by a poet in Herat, Saidai Krokhi, who died in 1808.

The only church in KabulIn 1919, when the country declared

its independence, Italy was the first country to recognize it. Amanullah Khan asked the government of Italy what they needed as a gift. The Italian Government asked permission to establish a Catho-lic church in Kabul. Amanullah Khan accepted this and the Italian govern-ment built a church in the courtyard of the embassy in Kabul, which finally was completed in 1933. Today in Kabul, apart from this church, which is still active, no other Church officially exists.

In 1959, President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, visited Ka-bul; he asked Zahir Shah to let him build a Protestant church in Kabul in exchange for the Islamic Center built in Washing-ton. He agreed and the church became operational on 17 May 1970. But the situation changed very quickly and the church was demolished on June 17, 1973, the same day that Daoud Khan came to power in a coup.

Even though Afghanistan tolerated non-Muslims, it always differentiated between the religions. Not only that, the Afghan government also differentiated between Muslim sects, which was all for political purposes and we have many ex-amples from the history. Afghanistan has always used religion as a weapon for po-litical reasons.

Today the Middle East burns in the fire of religious conflicts. New conflicts between “Islamic State,” Iraq and Syria have been created, and aim to massacre non-Muslims. The followers of the Abra-hamic religions who have lived together for centuries in most Muslim countries now are against each other. It is hoped that the first lady of Afghanistan, Rula Ghani, will try to increase tolerance and prevent the penetration of different ideas in the country.

Christians of KabulWritten by: Ali Karimi, PhD student of communications, McGill UniversityTranslated by: Sveto Muhammad IshoqRepublished from: http://8am.af/1393/08/04/kabul-christians-afghanistan-qani/

Page 4

militants. Islamic State militants are trying to enter Tora Bora through Bricher. In case they enter Tora Bora, I personally acknowl-edge that Khurasan Province is going to be formed.”

Tora Bora, an area with lots of caves and tunnels, is located in a distant area in Nen-garhar. Getting advantage of these caves and tunnels, Osama Ben Laden could save his life from the air strikes of the US forces in 2001 and managed to escape to Pakistan. Zahir Qadir claims that Islamic States militants are provided with food and other facilities by some helicopters during the night. However,

Haji Zahir Qadir warns against form-ing Khurasan province by Islamic State in some parts of Afghanistan. He says that Is-lamic State militants are trying to approach Tora Bora. Being in charge of Parliament’s Wednesday’s general meeting, he said, “Is-lamic State militants are only hundreds of meters away from Tora Bora and they are try-ing to occupy the area. In case they enter this area, they will immediately form Khurasan Province in some parts of Afghanistan. Pichi-garam, which is a strategic area, is believed to be under the control of the government but is now being governed by Islamic State

Pakistan has announced to its border tribes that they couldn’t travel to Af-ghanistan without passport and visa of Afghanistan after thirty first of January in the coming year. The people of this area utilize the services of both countries and sometimes they have been known as Af-ghan by the Afghan officials as well. Ear-lier, many Afghans traveled to Pakistan without any passport and visa. However, recently Pakistan announced that having passport and visa is important. Accord-ing to the BBC report, now Pakistan also announced to the residents of its border that they must travel to Afghanistan after taking Pakistani passport and Afghani-stan’s visa unless they would take a seri-ous action. Nonetheless, the officials of

President Ghani says that infraction is counted as a serious crime in the law of election. President Ghani after nego-tiation with candidates of election com-mission and some of the political leaders and governmental ranks said, “Counting the election infraction as a felony can prevent skullduggery.”

He also stressed that performing the election needed the consensus and coop-eration of politicians. The president said that performing a safe election needed accuracy and transparency.

Abdullah Abdullah said, “Performing a successful election needs politicians’ opinions. If politicians make a good de-cision and have cooperation with each

he didn’t say who those militants are sup-ported by.

Zahir Qadir, who will be spending three days in Nengarhar, emphasizes that he is perfectly ready to fight against Islamic State in Nengarhar. According to him, people ex-pect him to take bold action against Islamic State. “We have supplied Khogiani with what we had supplied Shinwar”, said Zahir Qadir. “The people are waiting and we are not go-ing to allow Afghanistan to be transformed to Khurasan. As we previously said that we would make Shinwar a cemetery for Islam-ic State. The bodies, if not already eaten by dogs, might still be there. We have the same plan for Khogiani. We would like to keep moving shoulder to shoulder with the gov-ernment. If we are a nation and we can vote and can make a government, we can also de-fend ourselves. Today, the answers to those issues that I had mentioned a year ago about Islamic State and its supporters will become obvious.”

Last year Zahir Qadir blamed some se-nior officials of the government (Hanif At-mar and Masoom Stanakzai) for supporting and equipping the Islamic State militants in Nengarhar. Opposition among Leaders:

MPs in their yesterday’s meeting strong-ly reacted to opposition among the govern-ment leaders including the president and his first assistant. They wanted the leaders not to increase the concerns of people or weak-en the spirits of security forces. Instead, they need to pay attention to security, political, and economic problems of the country. They must not sacrifice the government for their associates. Khalilullah Sherzada, another MP, also says that the opposition between the leaders has strongly affected the spirits of the security forces and has created a big gap among the people. He says the parlia-ment must take action in case this opposi-tion continues. Describing this opposition very embarrassing, Ghulam Hussain Nassery also says that these leaders have made the religious occasions tribal.

the ministry of border and tribe has said that people of tribal areas did not need any visa to travel to Afghanistan. Abdul Ghafor liwan, the supervisor of this ministry has said to the BBC, Pakistan’s decision about this case belongs to them-selves but Afghanistan would not act the same. He said,” Residents of this area can travel to Afghanistan to visit friends or other special work by the identification card which has been given to them by government. Recently, a lot of Pakistanis border tribes have been trained in differ-ent educational institutions in Afghani-stan.

other, the next election is going to be performed in a better way.” Prior to this, president declared that they were going to announce the final roll after finishing the interviews with qualified candidates as members of the election commission.

President Ghani says that the process of interviewing with introduced candi-dates is finished by electing committee.

These interviews are done in the presence of president Ghani, Abdullah Abdullah, Sarwar Danish, two members of the Supreme Court and Farid Ahmadi, the attorney general. The president’s of-fice says that they are going to announce the final roll of the new members of the committee after interviews.

Recently, the electing committee an-nounced that they have chosen 36 can-didates from hundreds of suppliants and they are going to send their names as new candidates of election commission.

November 26th, 2016

Translated by: Habib Amanpoor Source: Hasht-e-Subh

Translated By: Sadeq AlawiSource: Hasht-e-Subh

Translated by: Zakia GolabzadaSource: Hasht-e-Subh

Translated by: Khalil BahaSource: Hasht-e-Subh

Vol.2, No. 58 News

Accused corrupted officers in court

Infraction felony in election

Pakistanis need visa to enter Afghanistan

Zahir Qadir Warns Rising Khurasan Province by Islamic State

After waiting for many days, finally the first public trial to in-vestigating cases of corruption and heavy crimes was held in the Supreme Court. In this session, a military prosecutor, Abdul Hai, was obviously investigated. Ab-dul Hai was one of military pros-ecutor who has been charged with taking 50 thousands brib-ery. Lawyer of this prosecutor asked for more time to prove his client not guilty. The next session will be held next Saturday. Ac-cording to radio Azadi Shir, Agha Muneeb, chairman of the meet-ing, said: “I assure you that for the sake of justice and the truth we delay ten sessions and your session will be held next Satur-day.” In this openhanded court, Farid Ahmad’s case has also been discussed. Furthermore, the case the former manager of Azizi Bank, who was accused of 152 thousand dollar bribery in Nan-gahar has also been discussed. Shir Agha Muneeb has decided that accused prisoners should pay the graft money. Farid was sentenced to ten years and eight months of imprisonment by Mr. Muneeb. This sentence is not fi-nal and the suspected criminal also has the right to appeal.

Page 5

KABUL—Islamic State claimed re-sponsibility for a suicide bombing that officials said killed at least 30 people in-side a mosque packed with Shiite Muslim worshipers in Kabul on Monday, the lat-est in a string of attacks targeting Afghan-istan’s Shia minority.

The Sunni terror group’s Afghan affil-iate has previously targeted Shiites in the capital. It took responsibility in a state-ment posted to its official Amaq news agency, saying one of its fighters had tar-geted a Shiite congregation hall.

The bomber struck the popular Baq-ir-ul Olum mosque during a religious ceremony marking the end of the 40-day Ashura period of mourning, which com-memorates the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. Photos from the scene of the blast circulated onFacebook by witnesses showed rescue workers picking their way across dozens of bodies strewn across the bloodied floor of the mosque, looking for survivors.

Afghan health officials said at least 85 people were wounded and that the toll could rise as victims reach hospitals and emergency services.

The mosque is in a neighborhood popular with the country’s Hazaras, an ethnic minority group that is mostly Shia and has become an increasing focus of attacks by violent extremists.

Monday’s bombing was the third major attack targeting Hazaras in Kabul since a July blast at a protest killed more than 80 people, one of the deadliest at-tacks to strike the city since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

The affiliate, called Islamic State Khorasan, claimed responsibility for that attack along with the subsequent bomb-ing of a popular Shiite shrine that killed 14 people at the start of Ashura. The group has also taken responsibility for two other attacks in the capital that tar-geted coalition and Afghan government workers.

Islamic State first emerged in east Af-ghanistan in late 2014, as foreign forces were withdrawing. It initially focused its efforts on battling the Taliban to establish a foothold in eastern Nangarhar prov-ince, its main base in the country.

Over the past year, much of that fighting with the Taliban has ceased, and the group has shifted its focus to carrying out high-profile attacks in Kabul. Some

Some of the members of agriculture, live-stock cooperatives and the processers of agriculture seeds have complained from government in Mazar e Sharif. They say not only didn’t they do anything for us so far, but also they have taken cooperative lands from us.Sayed Mustafa and Mohammad Nadir, members of Balkh cooperatives, said to voice of America that some of the farmers have paid membership fee to agricultural cooperatives for years, but some of govern-

Afghan and coalition officials say its new-found ability to strike high-profile targets there reflects a growing influence in the country.

Afghanistan has largely been spared the sectarian strife that has ravaged many of its neighbors. But the bombings are fu-eling concerns that conflict between its religious groups is escalating.

“We are very worried,” said Ahmad Behzad, a parliamentarian who is also a prominent member of a grass-roots movement associated with the Hazaras. “This situation will further increase the violence in the country.”

— Noam Raydan contributed to this article.

mental officials want to rage cooperative lands and repel them.Engineer Mohammad Tahir, head of Balkh cooperatives, said to voice of America that council of ministers have recently decided to give the cooperative lands to ministry of finance and this decision can cause bad ef-fect on economy and farmers. Mr. Tahir said,” We should remind that this lands have been bought by the coopera-tives, we haven’t taken any budged from the government to give them back.

Translated By: Najiba AhmadiSource: Hasht-e-Subh

Vol.2, No. 58News

November 26th, 2016

Farmer’s ask government for agricultural cooperation

Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Kabul Mosque BombingAt least 30 people are reported dead after a suicide bombing inside a mosque packed with Shiite Muslim worshipers

Police arrive at a Shiite mosque and cultural center after a suicide blast in Kabul. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

By EHSANULLAH AMIRI and JESSICA DONATIRepublished from THe WAll STReeT JoURNAl

Afghan municipality workers sweep Baqir-ul Olom mosque after the suicide attack that left at least 30 people dead and 85 or more wounded. PHOTO: RAHMAT GUL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A suicide bomber attacked a Shiite mosque in Kabul, the Afghanistan capi-tal, killing at least 30 worshipers and in-juring dozens. Photo: Getty Images

Page 6 November 26th, 2016

Vol.2, No. 58 Star Related

About the author: Ahmad Shah Karimi studies English Literature at KarAmoz In-stitute of Mid Higher Education. He is a writer and an English instructor.

About the author: Sulaiman Wafa is a Star alumnus and an instructor at Star’s B Branch.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world” is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi that many of us have heard and been moved by. But even as we have quoted, cited, coached it and counseled with it, we don’t often hear the story be-hind it.

Among the hundreds of people waiting to visit Mahatma Gandhi were a mother and her young son. When it was their turn, the woman asked Gan-dhi to speak with her son about eating sugar. Gandhi asked her to come back in two weeks and said he would talk to the boy then. She wondered why he did not speak to her son while he was al-ready there, but she complied with his request. In two weeks, they returned and

ney towards changeOn the other hand, things don’t

change by themselves. If someone has a goal, they need to set an example to reach that goal. People must realize that by putting their words into actions, their aspirations can support their goal when asking others to join their journey. It is very simple to grasp that one must start their journey alone and this will pave the

reading. This newspaper contains vari-ous texts, such as personal essays, news translations, interviews, short stories and more.

Now one of my favorite things to do when I am not working is to read the In-terstellar Bulletin because it gives me in-spiration. This newspaper brings positive changes to students and inspires them which is important because they want to do something with their new English skills and to practice reading.

By reading the Interstellar every week, we are challenged to improve our

she was able to approach Gandhi once again. Hearing her repeated request, Gandhi immediately spoke with the boy, who agreed to begin working to eat less sweets.

After thanking Gandhi for his wise and compassionate words, the mother asked him why he wanted them to return instead of offering his advice the first time. Gandhi replied, “Upon your visit two weeks ago, I too was eating sugar.” He explained that he could not teach her son to not eat sugar if he himself had not taken that journey. This great story teaches people that before they tell oth-ers what to do, they themselves should have experienced this work in order to offer advice to others. In other words, if we don’t do something ourselves we can not expect others to do things when we hesitate to take steps towards doing what we ask others. If we look closely at the history and background of great leaders like Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, we realize that they showed many peo-ple that if they wanted to see a difference in their lives, societies, and even in the world, that they should be the initiator of such works. As you move throughout your life, you can encourage, invite, and convince others to join you on the jour-

way for others by setting an example for them to follow. As we know, peo-ple can point fingers at others’ problems when all the while they have the same problems but decided to point fingers instead of doing some-thing about it them-selves. If we want to see change, prosperity, and a better condition of life, then each of us has to do all we can to create change.

I know bringing change is a difficult task and the road ahead is not easy. There is a great deal of work to do and

To be honest, I have struggled to im-prove my English reading skills. To learn how to read English better, I began to practice reading English books, maga-zines and some articles, but I did not read enthusiastically because either the mate-rials were too difficult to understand or they were not interesting to me.

More than anything, the hardships discouraged me. I was constantly search-ing for some series of magazines, stories or newspapers to help me become a bet-ter reader. Fortunately, Star Educational Society launched a weekly newspaper called the Interstellar Bulletin to add to their other cultural and educational pro-grams. Every week I receive the Interstel-lar Bulletin, I become enthusiastic about

many obstacles to face, but change is possible. My dear countrymen, whatever changes you would like to happen in our society has to begin with you. Leaders in this world are accountable and respon-sible for their own change. The commit-ment for change does not allow excuses. Stop preaching and try practicing; it is wonderful to see someone want change and begin to work to make it happen.

reading skills, vocabulary and transla-tion abilities. It also helps us to become acquainted with Star’s top teachers, stu-dents and alumni from all branches who are introduced by their articles and inter-views. Finally, the Interstellar Bulletin is one of the greatest assets of Star and is a great resource for teachers to use in their classes.

“Be the Change that you Wish to See in the World”

Interstellar = Inspiration

FRENCHGOVERNMENTSCHOLARSHIPS2017–2018

YouwishtopursueyourstudiesinFranceandyouareeither:þ HoldingaB.A.orB.Sc,orM.AorM.Sc.þ StudentinlastyearofB.AorB.Sc.þ YoungprofessionalworkingforanAfghaninstitution

Youhave:þ Obtainedexcellentacademicresults;

o ForapplicationsinFrench:ADELFB2certificationo For applications in English: A minimum TOEFL (560) or IELTS (6,5)

certification

TheFrenchgovernmentoffersscholarshipsattheMasterandPhDlevel.Pleasenotethatthepriorityfieldsare:Agriculture,Health,Law,Environment,Engineering,

FrenchasaForeignLanguage(FLE)andArcheology.Thehostinstitution,theMinistryofHigherEducationandtheFrenchEmbassywillcertifyyour

application.

Deadlinetosubmittheapplicationformfilledandcompletedwiththerequireddocuments:January31th2016includedat

theMinistryofHigherEducation,ITHall,2ndFloor,OfficeN°1

InformationMeetingSunday,Decemberthe4th2016,from15:00–16:30

(Toparticipateandregistrate,pleasesendane-mailtobourses.francaises@gmail.com

alongwithascanofyourpassportbeforeNovember28)

LocationAttheAuditoriumofFrenchInstituteofAfghanistan–Kabul

Contactinformation

MinistryofHigherEducation,ITHall,2ndFloor,OfficeN°1EverySunday,Tuesday&Wednesdayfrom13:30to15:30

from04/12/2016until11/12/2016andfromJanuary15,2017

Page 7November 26th, 2016

Vol.2, No. 58Literary

StoriesMy Grandmother

Told Me

65

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.

They were not impressed:We have arrived with donkeys, but at

least we have them. When your turn comes, you won’t even have donkeys to flee on.

Ten years later it happened. When the

Masha. When the refugees from Uruzgan first arrived in Jaghori, donkeys and their clothes were all they had. They were in tat-ters. Some people of Jaghori mocked them for having nothing but donkeys.

Jaghori used to get many refugees from Uruzgan. I do not recall whether they were fleeing Pash-tuns or the civil war or both, but they used to arrive in groups of

many families.I used to speak to the ones who

passed through the village. They had sto-ries to tell. Many said they had land and livelihoods, and they had all been taken over by Kochis. Others had fled because of the wars among the mullahs. Some had even left behind their daughters or young children, unable to carry them over the mountains. They had fled on donkeys and horsebacks, walking through the moun-tains for days before arriving in Sang-e-

war came and the people of Jaghori had to flee, many did not even have their own donkeys to flee on. They had nothing but the clothes on their bodies, just like the people of Uruzgan.

In this WorldThe hill pasture, an open place among the trees,

tilts into the valley. The clovers and tall grasses

are in bloom. Along the foot of the hill

dark floodwater moves down the river.

The sun sets. Ahead of nightfall the birds sing.

I have climbed up to water the horses and now sit and rest, high on the hillside,

letting the day gather and pass.Below me

cattle graze out across the wide fields of the bottomlands,

slow and preoccupied as stars. In this world

men are making plans, wearing themselves out, spending their lives, in order to kill each other.

Wendell E. Berry (born August 5, 1934) is a poet, novelist, and environmentalist. He lives on a farm in Port Royal, Kentucky near his birthplace, where he has maintained a farm for over 40 years. Mistrustful of technol-ogy, he holds deep reverence for the land and is a staunch defender of agrarian values. He is the author of over 40 books of poetry, fiction, and essays. His poetry celebrates the holiness of life and everyday miracles often taken for granted.

I learnt so many things about the Af-ghan community from those seven years. When I was 18, I moved to Kabul and I met a guy who lived in the same village as I did, but in the 70s. Even though he was 18 years older than me, we turned out to be best friends, we had many things in com-mon: he was also an outsider, he was born there in that village and when he was 8, he moved to the city, Kabul – the opposite of me that I moved from the big city Tehran to that small village.

In Wolf and Sheep, I imagine a fictional time that we both lived at the same time and we became friends, even if it’s only for very short time.

How did you find the young performers who play them? And did they have any in-fluence on how you made the film? What did they think of the story? I was cast-ing for two years in central Afghanistan. I visited many schools and saw many kids, almost 2,000. As I always work with non-actors, they always influence the film. They play a big part, they play themselves, the way they talk, the way they look in every-day life. We didn’t use any make-up or any costume, everything was natural, coming from them.

They had no clue of the story. I ex-plained them the story of each scene only before shooting of that scene, sometimes they put the scenes we shot in the order of shooting and they guessed something, but that was it. Did they know about the Kashmir Wolf legend before the film? Yes, they all knew the story. Everyone in central Afghani-stan knows the story of the Kashmir wolf. Sometimes the versions are a bit differ-ent, as it’s a verbal story and no one ever writes it down, so people have the freedom to change, or add or delete some parts and make a new version of it. What did their families think about the film? Were they around during shooting? After I found the kids, I cast some of their family members too. When I shot the film, no grown ups were allowed be around the set. I always shot them separately except for the scenes where they have to be to-gether. How was it working with such young ac-tors? How did you look after them on set? Did any of the other cast or crew have chil-dren with them – and if so, how was that? It was not that difficult working with kids, I experienced the same in my short films. What’s nice about working with kids is that they are very simple. You have to make a good relationship with them and every-thing will be fine. They need to understand that you love them and you are looking to have fun with them, and they need to un-

Saturday, November 26, 2016 Vol. 2, No. 58

Shahrbanoo Sadat is a 26 year old Af-ghan woman, scriptwriter and director. She is based in Kabul. She studied docu-mentary film-making at the “Atelier Varan Kabul” a French Workshop. Her first short fiction “Vice Versa One” was selected at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2011.

In 2013, she launched her production company “Wolf Pictures” in Kabul. Wolf and Sheep was developed with the Cannes Cinéfondation Residency in 2010: Sadat was the youngest filmmaker ever selected for the programme. She is currently in de-velopment on The Orphanage, the second part of a series of films following the same character, which begins with Wolf and Sheep.

How did you develop the story for your first fiction feature, Wolf and Sheep? Why did you decide to focus on the young characters, Sediqa and Qodrat? The story is based on my best friend’s childhood (An-war Hashimi) and mine. I lived in the same kind of village in central Afghanistan for seven years between the age of 11 and 18 (from 2001-2008). I was not able to com-municate with other kids, I couldn’t see properly as I need to wear glasses since I was born but no one knew that, not even myself; the first time I wore glasses, I was 18. On top of that, I spoke Persian and not Hazaragi like the people in central Afghani-stan, because I was born in Tehran, Iran as an Afghan refugee. My family lived in Iran for many years as refugees, and after the events of 9/11 they moved back to Afghani-stan, to their small and isolated village in central Afghanistan, where they were born.

derstand what you want from them. I kept in my mind as a director that

they are not actors, they don’t give a shit about film; they are kids and they want to have fun and if they are bored or their mood is off, they will destroy the scene. So I tried to shoot mostly in sequence plan and in one long take so they won’t have to do it again. Most of the time, they surprised me by saying something they were not sup-posed to: I laughed a lot while shooting. Sediqa and Qodrat’s life is quite different from many children in the West. How have international viewers responded? I think the film is very rich for my international audience. There are many things new for them. I keep receiving responses that it was a journey, or it was another world, or ev-erything fresh. They mostly were surprised that women were not wearing burqas. People keep saying me that they experi-ence a different version of Afghanistan has nothing to do with the clichés about Af-ghanistan they have seen and heard every day through the media or other films. That makes me happy. Your film and your work challenge tradi-tions about gender that still hold in rural Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world: what role can film play in making this challenge and making change? The film has a very poor chance of being seen in Afghanistan: we have no real cinemas, and cultural places like French Institute don’t do screenings anymore because of the high security risks.

I think it makes change maybe not for the Afghan audience but for Afghans who worked on the film, like my cast for exam-ple. The film gave the chance to 38 Afghans who had never travelled before to go to Ta-jikistan and be with international people for 2 months, experiencing a completely different life compared to their everyday life. This means a lot and it has the poten-tial to change the direction of kids’ lives. The kids saw that the director is a woman, the producer, the DOP, the sound, the line producer, the first assistant director are all women.

We look like super heroes to the kids and I loved that, because they could see that reality is not supposed to be like their routine and it can be a completely different thing. Is there anyone who has become a role model for you – and why? What has in-spired or shaped the way that you work? If you mean any one from the film world, I must say no one. There are many people who I admire, as people and their work, but I understand we are very different in many ways.

My role model is my best friend, Anwar Hashimi, who trusted me and opened up

his life to me. I am working on a pentalogy, five feature films about his character. Wolf and Sheep was the first part. In other parts, you will see Qodrat in different places and times. I was very inspired and impressed after reading Anwar’s unpublished diary of 800 pages. I keep saying to myself, his story needs to be heard and seen by the world. He is Afghanistan. He is the one taking our hand and let us to explore the real Afghani-stan. I adore him for being survived after being in different wars and experiencing violence. He is a true inspiration for me. Do you involve your own family in your work? How does your experience of grow-ing up shape the stories you want to tell? I involve people around me, my friends, and sometimes family members. I involve all the people that I trust.

I think I have stayed a child in many ways: I don’t count myself as a grown up in my heart. I feel very close to kids’ emotion and behaviors and reactions. In the UK, Wolf and Sheep will be distrib-uted online via The Tide Experiment from 10 October, straight after it screens at the London Film Festival. What do you think this model of online distribution can of-fer to first-time filmmakers ¬– and to au-diences? Wolf and Sheep producer Katja Adomeit says: I think this is an amazing distribution model. The Tide Experiment not only al-lows for non-traditional distribution and tries something new, but also allows to work with the best in marketing, PR and distribu-tion. Together, we can create a buzz about a film at one festival screening, and then any-one can immediately watch the film online at home. For first-time filmmakers, who are not known yet in the world (which I’m sure Shahrbanoo certainly will be), it is just a wonderful opportunity.

Insights from Kabul-based scriptwriter and director

Interview with Shahrbanoo SadatRepublished from: http://www.raisingfilms.com/interview-shahrbanoo-sadat/

Website: http://www.star.edu.af Email: interstellarbulletin@gmail.com

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